what is hdr? do i need it in order to play half life 2?

Question

i recently heard about this. apparantly it enhances gameplay. do i need it?

Answer 1

HDR is High Dynamic Range, it is a lighting effect that produces very realistic representation of light and it's effects on the human eye. Which means it's a graphical effect. It's not required to play or finish the game.

In reality, when you're busy shooting at enemies and listening to the sound and cutscenes, the HDR would matter little. As you can still see the backgrounds and characters. If you want to see characters with realistic lighting as well as surfaces reflecting to light in a very realistic manner then HDR is an added bonus.