Valve announced earlier this week that a new Half-Life game is in development, but Half-Life: Alyx isn't exactly the sequel we were hoping for.
Releasing in March 2020, Half-Life: Alyx is a full-length VR entry in the Half-Life franchise which will be compatible with all PC-based VR headsets.
However, we can't help but be disappointed that this new entry isn't the long-rumored Half-Life 3 that we've all been waiting for.
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What's the story?
According to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and sees “Alyx Vance and her father Eli secretly mount the resistance to the brutal occupation of Earth by a mysterious alien race known as The Combine.”
Unsurprisingly, given the name, you play as Alyx in a bid to “take the fight to the Combine to save the future of humanity”.
Half-Life: Alyx looks pretty good on paper, but it's certainly not the full-fledged sequel we've been waiting for.
However, according to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx has been “designed from the ground up for virtual reality and features “all of the hallmarks of a classic Half-Life game: world exploration, puzzle solving, visceral combat, and an intricately woven story that connects it all with the characters iconic to the Half-Life universe”.
It sounds pretty legit, but we've seen VR entries in franchises before and this certainly isn't the long-awaited Half-Life 3. However, it's nice to see Valve following through on a Half-Life project as the company has run hot and cold on whether we would ever see another entry in the series. But we forever live in hope for a Half-Life 3.
Check out the trailer below:
“Everyone at Valve is excited to be returning to the world of Half-Life,” Valve founder Gabe Newell wrote in a press release. “VR has energized us. We’ve invested a lot of ourselves in the technology. But we're also game developers at heart, and to be devoting ourselves to a VR game this ambitious is just as exciting.”
Hopefully this breath of life into the franchise makes Half-Life 3 a bit more possible. We can only hope.
Half-Life: Alyx is available for pre-order now for $59.99, while Valve Index VR headset owners can get it for free.
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