Half-Life 2 is an objectively perfect video game

every insignificant detail is finely tuned and placed in a world that still holds up 20 years after release

not only that, but the broad strokes of the game are perfect too

it's perplexing to see places you have yet to understand

it's interesting to dissect the dialogue and subtext of the character's interactions

it's fun to gun down Metropolice in the canals of City 17

it's exciting to race along toxic sludge and past guided rockets in the Mudskipper

it's fascinating to see how humans and Vortigaunts cohabitate in Black Mesa East

it's horrifying to hear the guttural gurgling and cries of fast-zombies for the first time in Ravenholm

it's depressing to see how once lively places like the beach have been reduced to wind and sand whilst traveling along Highway 17

it's empowering to be beneath the heel of the antlions, only to command them in the assault against Nova Prospekt

it's eye-opening to see that the cruelty of humans fits nicely in the Combine's systematic genocide of humans in Nova Prospekt itself

it's challenging to find the perfect turret positions in the Combine Depot

it's incredible to see how quick humans are to fight against their oppressors, only needing a week to begin an all out war against the aliens they have been beneath for nearly twenty years upon your return to City 17

it's harrowing to face off against seemingly endless armies of striders, but calming to know that you're doing it along the side of your friends

it's adrenaline-pumping when you fling the doll-like corpses of Combine soldiers about the monotonous walls of the monstrous Citadel

and it's sad when you can see into the Combine's homeworld and finally destroy the human face of the Combine, only for the biggest enigma in all of gaming to intervene and halt a perfect experience

EVERYTHING in this game is fun: from watching Gunships gloriously explode in honor of your victory over them, down to playing with physics in a deserted playground

the intricacies of this world are evident in the peeling wallpaper of the tenements and the synthetically-produced striders, even the corkboards and sticky notes have details absconding across them; the Metropolice are even scripted to shoot flares into the sky, alerting their fellow Civil Protection members to your location; the Metropolice even use real-life police codes to communicate with the Overwatch; there are several implications of suicide, which, tragic though they may be, have no place in a game released before people who have just now gotten out of high school were born

this game follows up perfectly on the base the original Hal-Life provided, and it even surpasses it

Valve has yet to follow up on the perfection of Half-Life 2, but seeing as they were able to go leaps and bounds higher than a game previously considered to be one of the greatest PC games ever, I think they might redefine perfection in all the right ways

as I have said: Half-Life 2 is perplexing, interesting, fun, exciting, fascinating, horrifying, depressing, empowering, eye-opening, challenging, incredible, harrowing, adrenaline-pumping, sad, and Perfect