Havok, whose software is famed for its use in Half-Life 2 and Elder Scrolls, just showed off its updated physics engine in first YouTube trailer in over ten years

Half-Life 2, Halo 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Knight Rider: The Game. All iconic titles in their own right and all using Havok’s iconic physics or pathfinding engine components. If you haven’t seen the legendary Havok saw logo in some time, a recent physics engine test video could signal a comeback.

Other than a presentation at the Game Developers Conference and another at Develop: Brighton last year, this is the first promotional video posted to the Havok YouTube channel in 10 years. The last was titled “Havok Powered Titles at GDC 2014” and shows off gameplay from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, and Halo 4 among others.

The trailer itself is rather impressive. Starting with a blaring siren and presumed crisis, a figure stands alone in a dig site of some kind, before perfectly destructible rocks start to really test that physics engine. Stone bridges collapse, debris falls, and an electronic figure runs through the remains. Standard ‘show off the engine’ stuff.

However, Havok isn’t finished showing off its fancy engine work here. The trailer continues, showing skulls clattering on Indiana Jones-style spike traps (sorry I can’t stop thinking about the new game), and fire erupting through the ancient halls.

Havok offers three central products to videogame studios: Havok Physics, which deals with real-time particles, collision detection, and more; Havok Cloth, which adds physic-based movement to character clothing; and Havok Navigation, which hands NPC intelligence and pathfinding. Havok Physics is what is being showcased here and the trailer does a good job of doing so.

Despite me name-dropping older games above, Havok has worked with plenty of newer titles, like Helldivers 2, Sonic X Shadow Generations, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

A video like this, due to the fact that Havok doesn’t publish or create its own games, is more likely to be used in pitching to developers, rather than gathering any interest from the general public. This could explain why the YouTube channel has remained largely inactive for some time. The new video coincides with the launch of Havok 2024.2, which upgrades all three of Havok’s products.

However, it’s still nice to see what such an iconic software studio is up to and the dynamic destruction and lighting look great. Truly destructible worlds are a rarity, and as the tech surrounding games only gets more advanced, we could hopefully see the full implementation of this tech in future games.

Excuse me while I go locate my old copy of The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. The nostalgia has got the better of me.