People have been waiting for a brand new Half-Life game for over a decade now. Half-Life 2 was followed up by two episodic releases, which ended on an abrupt cliffhanger that never got a follow up. And over time, it seemed more and more like Valve had lost interest in making single player, story driven games, like the ones they used to be best known for.
Were we never going to see a Half-Life game again? Well, we were. After years of hopes, theories, speculations, rumors, and leaks, earlier this week, Valve confirmed a new Half Life game was coming, and it would be VR only. And today, they finally took the wraps off of that game, with the very first trailer for Half-Life Alyx that you can see for yourself below. It looks remarkably intense, and it feels as though the last 13 Half Life-less years simply never happened, since it seems to pick up without missing a beat.
But why is it VR exclusive? Why would Valve release the first entry in their most beloved franchise in 13 years on a niche subset of gaming that has barely any market penetration? According to Valve head Gabe Newell, it comes down to the fact that they, as developers, found themselves most excited by the potential and possibilities offered by VR.
“Everyone at Valve is excited to be returning to the world of Half-Life. VR has energized us,” Newell said. “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. For that to come in the form of Half-Life feels like the culmination of a lot things we care a lot about: truly great games, cutting edge technology, and open platforms. We can’t wait for people to experience this.”
Half-Life: Alyx will run on every PC VR platform that supports SteamVR (which is all of them). It will be $60, unless you are a Valve Index owner, in which case you actually get it for free. As of right now, the game is planned to launch in March 2020. Hopefully it does not get any delays from there.