As part of Valve's celebration of Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary, the studio has released 17 minutes of early development footage for the game that was long thought lost.
The demo shows a version of Half-Life 2 partway between HL1 and the final release—it's familiar, yet also surreally, intriguingly different.
The "Get Your Free TVs" demo, so named for a City 17 citizen snagging a boob tube gratis early in the footage, was first shown at the SIGGRAPH graphics conference in 2000.
That places this build two years out from Half-Life 1's release, and two to three before the infamous Half-Life 2 beta that leaked in 2003.
It's a distinct point in the game's evolution, with graphical elements reminiscent of both Half-Life 1's GoldSrc and the final Source engine, as well as a more grim, dark, and industrial art direction.