13 years after the ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and 15 years since the release of the original game, Valve finally dropped the trailer for Half-Life: Alyx. The game is built entirely with Valve’s new Source 2 game engine, and as per its earlier tweet, the game is going to be a VR exclusive.
Here’s a quick rundown: As the game title suggests, you play as Alyx Vance, the female protagonist that helped Gordon Freeman back in Half-Life 2 and the game’s unfinished episodic titles.
As far as the timeline goes, Half-Life: Alyx supposedly takes place between the Half-Life and Half-Life 2; a time when Alyx and her father, Eli Vance, were supposedly building up the resistance. Oddly enough, Valve – in their official press release – seems to hint that the VR-exclusive title won’t just be a prequel to Half-Life and asks fans to replay Half-Life 2: Episode 2, for “reasons that will become clear as you progress”.
As a VR exclusive title, Valve has reaffirmed that fans of the series will definitely require a VR headset to play Half-Life: Alyx. The good news is, the game won’t be exclusive to Valve’s own Index headset. The game will be playable on any SteamVR compatible headset. Including the Oculus Rift, the Oculus Quest with its new Link Cable, the HTC Vive, as well as the Windows Mixed Reality headset.
As for gameplay mechanics, Valve says that you will be able to play the game either sitting or standing with three different VR movement styles. The first is the teleporting mechanic where you aim the wand (or VR controller) at the point you’d like to go. The second method would be the use of an analog stick, which is a more traditional style of controlling character movements. The last is a mechanic Valve calls a “shift” style.
And yes, just like its Half-Life 2, it’s apparent that Alyx will have access to a variety of gravity manipulating tools like the “Gravity Gloves” that is shown in the trailer.
Half-Life: Alyx is already up for preorder on Steam for RM95, but if you put in your order now, you can get it for just RM85.50. For owners of the Valve Index headset, the game is free of charge and will be playable come March 2020.
