The game company Valve has for the first time in twelve years announced a new game of the shooter series "Half-Life". "Half-Life: Alyx", however, is not a common PC game: it only runs on virtual reality goggles that are connected to a gaming computer. The game will be released in March 2020, according to the official info page about the game.
Many fans are pleased with Valve's announcement because the first-person perspective of "Half-Life" in combination with virtual reality (VR) promises a new, presumably much more intense gaming experience. Valve himself raves in his ad text: "Experience complete immersion in your interaction with the environment, solving puzzles, exploring the world, and realistic combat."
Other fans, who do not have any of the supported VR headsets, are angry: If they want to play the game, they must invest at least several hundred euros in a VR system. "Half-Life: Alyx" is not the third part of the series eagerly awaited by many fans for years, but a game whose plot is located between "Half-Life" and "Half-Life 2". The term "Alyx" in the title refers to the figure Alyx Vance, a resistance leader. She will control the player in the new game.
Series fans have known Vance since "Half-Life 2", where they met with protagonist Gordon Freeman. From the new protagonist, who, according to Valve "the only hope for the survival of mankind" in the fight against alien conquerors, are in a first trailer to the game only the virtual hands to see.
We're thrilled to announce Half-Life: Alyx, a new full-length entry in the Half-Life Series, built by Valve for VR.
Return to Half-Life in March 2020. Pre-purchase now on Steam. pic.twitter.com/GZkhp2Prx1
An exciting title for the VR market
Valve's focus on virtual reality is hardly surprising. Like the Facebook subsidiary Oculus, the company already has its own VR glasses on the market. Already since 2016 you can buy the glasses Vive, developed by Valve together with HTC.
With the new "Half-Life" Valve probably but above all the sales of a newer headset to boost: Since 2019, the company from Bellevue in the US state of Washington also the Valve Index on offer, a self-production.
Valve Index
Valve Index: Virtual reality after the vision from Bellevue
The index is one of the highest quality, but also the most expensive VR systems for end users at all. For the complete package Valve currently requires 1080 euros. In addition, the operation of the headset requires a high-end game computer. If you own the noble system, you will get the new "Half-Life" game for free. The same applies to players who only own the index controllers.
"Half-Life: Alyx" will work with the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift, the Oculus Quest (with the help of the Valve Index) (this requires a link cable to connect the glasses to a PC) and the so-called Windows Mixed Reality headsets from different manufacturers. For these systems you will have to buy the "Alyx" for around 45 euros. Nevertheless, a new "Half-Life" certainly has the potential to make playing in VR for significantly more players than before attractive. There are only a few games brands with the appeal of a "half-life" in the VR world.
Part one is considered a milestone
Valve, the company behind the series, is both game developer ("Portal", "Left 4 Dead", "Dota 2"), as well as operator of Steam, the largest and most important PC gaming platform in the world. Through the platform, which is now also distributed by "Alyx", games from various development studios can be bought and played.
The first part of "Half-Life" was released in 1998 and is considered a milestone of the shooter genre. Here is a 2017 retro-test of the game. The successor "Half-Life 2" came on the market in 2004 and could only play with a Steam account. At the time it was a big uproar, for Steam Valve paved with the coupling but the way to success. The last "Half-Life" game was released in 2007 with "Half-Life 2: Episode Two".
The exact duration of the new "Half-Life: Alyx" is still unclear. But Valve speaks of a "full-length game": "Alyx" should be more than just a short VR experience. According to Steam, "Alyx" can be standing, sitting or playing in the so-called Roomscale mode, where you can move freely in a fixed area in the room. In the game itself, there should be various ways of moving, from teleporting through the game world to continuous movement via analogue stick.