Half Life 2 is the gold standard for video games.
Had to play it again after the 20 year anniversary!

I remember back in 2006 I got my 2nd PC built, was lucky to get decent one that could play HL2 in med-low settings. I constantly kept searching for best PC games to play and there is was HL2 and it's sequels were charting on top everywhere (it still does surprisingly even today)

HL2 was my absolute favorite game for a very long time like most of my life honestly, but I feel like we reached the point where games have ingested all of its quality and we start to see games that actually make it look and feel, finally, has old has it really is.

If you guys haven't played it, play it with the "it's an 20 years old game" mantra to truly appreciate how much of a game changer HL2 was, truly a landmark title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFIOG-6xsjw