It has been a while since we have received a new Half-Life game. 13 years, to be exact. Constant fan demand has finally forced Valve's hand to release a new game in the franchise. The highly awaited game Half-Life: Alyx will launch for PC on March 23, 2020. However, the upcoming game is a VR exclusive, so tough luck for the “majority” of fans who don’t have an appropriate headset.
It’s not all bad news, though. In a recent interview with Game Informer, Valve's Robin Walker said that Half-Life "means a lot to us” and that Alyx might not be the last one in the franchise. So, future HL games are possible. He didn’t confirm whether they will be VR games like Alyx or proper AAA PC games. We sure do hope it’s the latter one.
"There are Half-Life: Alyx team members who have been at Valve since Half-Life 2, and quite a few who go back to the original Half-Life," Walker said to Game Informer. "There are also people on the team for whom Half-Life: Alyx is their first time working on this series at all—and many of them certainly hope it's not the last. We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it."
Just because Alyx is a VR Game, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a full-fledged experience. The game acts as a prequel to Half-Life 2 and will be a proper AAA game. It will not be a two-hour-long tech demo, like many other VR games in the market. Developers claim that it will take around 15 hours to finish the game.
"Half-Life: Alyx is a full-fledged entry in the Half-Life series, both in terms of the sheer amount of content as well as the importance and substance of its narrative relative to the rest of the series," Walker said. "It's a critical part of the larger story, and it does push that story forward."
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of virtual reality, however, this game has definitely piqued my interest for the medium. If more games follow suit then VR could actually become relevant and not just an expensive gimmick.
So what do you think? Are you excited about Half-Life Alyx? Or would you rather want a proper sequel to the franchise? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
