Half-Life: Alyx launches in March 2020
Half-Life: Alyx, a new full-length game in the Half-Life series built from the ground for virtual reality, will launch for PC via Steam in March 2020 for $59.99, Valve announced. It will support Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest with PC and link cable, and Windows Mixed Reality devices. Pre-orders are available now with a 10 percent discount.
Geoff Keighley has also released a 20-minute sit-down chat with the development team that delves further into the project, answering questions such as, “Why is this virtual reality?,” “Why isn’t this Half-Life 3?,” and “What took Valve so long to make another single player game?” Keighley will also produce a “Final Hours” feature that tells the story of where Valve has been the past decade, its shelved games, and why it has returned to Half-Life. Keighley also confirmed Half-Life: Alyx will appear at The Game Awards 2019 on December 12.
Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:
About the Game
Half-Life: Alyx is Valve’s VR return to the Half-Life series. It’s the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2.
Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity’s only chance for survival. The Combine’s control of the planet since the Black Mesa incident has only strengthened as they corral the remaining population in cities. Among them are some of Earth’s greatest scientists: you and your father, Dr. Eli Vance.
As founders of a fledgling resistance, you’ve continued your clandestine scientific activity—performing critical research, and building invaluable tools for the few humans brave enough to defy the Combine.
Every day, you learn more about your enemy, and every day you work toward finding a weakness.
About Gameplay in VR
Valve’s return to the Half-Life universe that started it all was built from the ground up for virtual reality. VR was built to enable the gameplay that sits at the heart of Half-Life.
Immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat.
Lean to aim around a broken wall and under a Barnacle to make an impossible shot. Rummage through shelves to find a healing syringe and some shotgun shells. Manipulate tools to hack alien interfaces. Toss a bottle through a window to distract an enemy. Rip a Headcrab off your face and throw it at a Combine soldier.
Extra content for Index owners
Customers who have purchased Valve Index hardware by the end of 2019 will have access to unique bonuses starting early next year:
- Explore environments from Half-Life: Alyx in your SteamVR Home space.
- Alternate gun skins to embellish Alyx’s arsenal.
- Special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2.
- Community-Built Environments – A set of Source 2 tools for building new environments will ship with the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game’s virtual reality gameplay tools and components.
