It's been over a decade now since the release of Left 4 Dead 2, and now with the community-made "Last Stand" update, what better time to kill hordes of zombies than ever before? On today's Impulse, Justin and I discuss and share our past an...

Last last month, we told you about the final add-on for Left 4 Dead 2. It's not your usual DLC, though. This isn't Valve-developed, but rather Valve-sanctioned. It's a fan-made update, but it also has gotten the blessing (and promotion) fr...

Left 4 Dead 2 has survived longer than anyone thought it would. The 2009 cooperative zombie shooter is still kickin' around, proving that it has the mettle to not die quite yet. It's even getting an update sometime soon. The Left 4 De...

A new update to PC gaming platform Steam aims to block users from purchasing games from regions other than their own, an exploit sometimes used in order to pick up titles for lower prices than they perhaps retail for within their home terri...

Contrary to popular belief, Valve was working on the three-numbered games in those franchises that everyone loves. It wasn't laziness, disinterest, or prioritizing Steam that kept Valve from finishing those games. Instead, it was a problem ...

Live with a weird intro long enough and it becomes normalized. A dude with a valve in the back of his head? Don't worry about it. The guy before him with a plugged-up eye? He's fine. Play some Half-Life. Valve's logo splash screen has evolv...

There are few game developers that carry themselves as mysteriously as Valve does. What happens behind those doors among all those sliding desks? What has Valve worked on, deemed not good enough, and subsequently scrapped?  Some answer...

Half-Life: Alyx is full of a million tiny little touches that make it a splendidly neat VR game. You can wear a bucket on your head and it protects you from Barnacles. There's a fully-functioning piano in a hotel lobby. It's all a bunc...

You're probably vaguely aware of the situation regarding Valve's Artifact, but here's a brief recap. Released in late 2018 to a lot of promise from DOTA 2 fans, Artifact quickly crumbled and over the course of several months, its playerbase...

It's been long known that Valve contracted Arkane Studios in the mid-'00s to make a new Half-Life game. However, little was actually known about that project except that it was set in Ravenholm and that Valve canceled production befor...

Steam is back with another game-backlog-clearing exercise for 2020. I barely made a dent last year, but I enjoyed having a nudge to play – or at least think about playing – some of my library's deep cuts. This time, Steam's Spri...

In the face of competition from other digital PC game storefronts, Valve might be planning a loyalty program with hopes that it'll give consumers some extra incentive to shop on Steam. SteamDB developer and data miner Pavel Djundik found ev...

For the first time in nearly a year, Valve's Twitter account for Artifact, their under-performing card game, actually tweeted something. It was all the way back in March of 2019 that Valve noted that they were working "towards a better Arti...

The internet is incredible but oftentimes predictable. For instance, as soon as I saw a hotel lobby piano in Half-Life: Alyx, I thought "Oh shit, people are gonna play real music on that." And they have. But just because it's predictable do...

Every so often we tackle dual reviews, where two authors share their takes on a game and provide a single combined score. What better game to bring that concept back than Half-Life: Alyx, the first new Half-Life game in ages. Gath...

This 16-second video completely speaks for itself. This is the sort of innovative spirit and can-do attitude that'll get us through these lean times. This is literal inventory management in a medium that has tried to eliminate any actions ...

It's easy to think of an update that's turning-oriented as boring or insubstantial. But, in virtual reality, the locomotion of your character (and, hopefully, how it keeps you from feeling sick) is super important. That's the main focus of ...

Half-Life: Alyx has been available for approximately 27 hours, and Valve just knows someone's already hard at work modding virtual reality out of it. Valve doesn't explicitly know of any specific modders undertaking that project, mind ...

Yep, that's a big 'ol picture of Russell: a guy you meet very early in the game. That's just a spoiler guard though, because most of you probably clicked this because of a puzzle solution.

Half-Life: Alyx has some very long chapters, especially in the early-going. Long, stressful segments in creepy environments where there's never enough downtime to feel a sense of relief. That's why I welcomed the chapter called "Jeff."...

In Half-Life: Alyx, Valve keeps the inventory management relatively simple. For more info on how that all works (which involves minor gameplay and non-story spoilers), read on!

Half-Life: Alyx is a virtual reality game, sure, but it's also a Half-Life game. While it's second nature to go in thinking that it'll be a base-level tech demo with a Half-Life story, it really does feel like past iterations in m...

Honestly, I struggled with whether this puzzle even warranted a guide. I spent far too long trying to figure it out, and then felt dumb for not getting it sooner. But, Chris told me something along the lines of "If you had trouble, some oth...

So Half-Life: Alyx has puzzles in it. Who knew?! The thing is, most of them are optional, granting access to item-filled lockers. Some aren't, as you're required to do them to progress on the critical path. It's very easy to skip them ...

The last time we left Artifact, it was in a really weird place. Valve wasn't quite using the term "maintenance mode" or "abandoned," but it was clear that it was no longer a priority after a series of launch woes. Its lead architect (the le...