Half-Life 2 Is Playable on Nintendo Switch Thanks to New Portal Collection

If there’s a will, there is indeed a way and Half-Life 2 fans found a way to get the beloved Valve game up and running on Nintendo Switch. Half-Life 2 is one of the most acclaimed PC games to ever release, partially because it was such a major leap forward for games at that time. It had amazing graphics, a revolutionary physics system, great gameplay, and a captivating story. It went on to spawn several episodic “sequels”, but the story never really concluded, as the fabled Half-Life 3 has still never been released. The release of Half-Life: Alyx, a prequel to Half-Life 2, ends by picking up where Half-Life 2: Episode 2 left off, possibly suggesting a continuation is on the way… but no one really knows.

Nonetheless, there is a new way to experience Half-Life 2, kind of. Twitter user OatmealDome found a way to mod Half-Life 2 onto the newly released Portal: Companion Collection which brought the two Portal games to Nintendo Switch. Half-Life 2 is running on top of Portal 1 and it’s largely because both games share the same code. Of course, given this isn’t a native port of Gordon Freeman’s adventure, it’s far from perfect. The game crashes a lot, only a certain number of levels are actually available, and so on. Even though this is just a mod and it’s not perfect, this was done in about a day, which is quite impressive. The footage also does show that the game can run quite well, so perhaps Valve will bring Half-Life 2 over at some point or maybe even give us The Orange Box on Nintendo Switch.

If fans want to play the Half-Life series on the go right now, they’ll have to get a Steam Deck. The Valve-made handheld is a beefier Nintendo Switch and can run a lot of really amazing PC games, including titles like Elden Ring. It’s a pretty impressive piece of technology and one that has given the Nintendo Switch a run for its money.

Would you play Half-Life 2 on Nintendo Switch? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.