The Xbox One X backward compatibility program received an important update today. With just a few games, the update is relatively small compared to the full Xbox One backward compatibility list, but we're looking at a quality over quantity situation. Today's update added the very best of Valve's stable of games to the Xbox One X's library of enhanced Xbox 360 games, which boast a higher resolution and display nine times as many pixels according to Microsoft.
The headliner is The Orange Box, a collection featuring Half-Life 2 plus episodes one and two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Quite frankly, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better collection of games. Many people (myself included) still regard Portal as one of the best puzzle games ever made, and modern shooters like Overwatch owe much of their design to Team Fortress 2, which still has an active community to this day. Then there's Half-Life 2, a landmark first-person shooter which doesn't lose any momentum throughout its multiple episodes.
Left 4 Dead and, more importantly, Left 4 Dead 2 are also part of the update. I can only assume the original Left 4 Dead was included for posterity, because Left 4 Dead 2 is basically an infinitely better version of the same game. It's a peerless co-op experience, a fantastic horde mode shooter, and an unmissable game for players who never played it on Xbox 360 or PC. Finally, we have Portal: Still Alive, the original Xbox 360 port of Portal. Still Alive differs from the base game in that it comes with some bonus test chambers, but its story mode is identical. So, even if you just get the Orange Box, you'll be good.
Valve has returned to game development after years of silence. Its next game is Artifact, a Dota 2-inspired card game.
