Combat, story, world, characters, and voice actors are all great. I never beat it back in high school but recently I've remembered how great this game was. I should definitely finish it.
Sometimes I play this for literally like 7 hours straight. My grandma was pro at this on her NES and I lent her my Switch at a family gathering once to show her what I've been playing and she was just as invested in it as she used to be.
THIS WAS MAGICAL. Oh my god this is like the ultimate love letter to Source Engine nostalgia. If you grew up on Steam, please play this. You won't regret it.
I love this game man. It's just fantastic. It never failed to make me happy. I never played the original but I used to watch Let's Plays of it way back in the day. When I got to the new deluxe content, I felt like I was a kid in 2013 again.