After a torturously long hiatus, the Half-Life franchise is finally on the verge of making its comeback with the upcoming VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx. That’s cause for celebration in and of itself, but there are some who are skeptical of how crucial the game is going to be to the larger story being told in the series, not only because it’s a VR-exclusive title, but also because it’s a prequel.
However, according to Valve, none of that has any bearing on the importance of the game. Speaking in an interview with Game Informer, Half-Life: Alyx programmer Robin Walker gave assurances that the game is going to be “a critical part of the larger story” and that it will be pushing that story forward in meaningful ways.
“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,” he said. “It’s a critical part of the larger story, and it does push that story forward.”
When asked if there’s a chance that Half-Life: Alyx ends up giving fans some sort of closure on the cliffhanger ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 – and ending that we’ve been waiting to get some sort of resolution for for over a decade at this point – Walker hinted that it just might- though, of course, he did not explicitly say anything.
“It’s not a bad idea for players to have refreshed themselves on the events of Episode 2 before starting Half-Life: Alyx,” Walker said.
This isn’t the first time that Valve have talked up the important of Half-Life: Alyx. They’ve earlier said that the game is being positioned as the next big Half-Life entry, and that it will have as much content as Half-Life 2 did.
Half-Life: Alyx is out on March 23. Tons of new gameplay footage was recently released- check it out out through here.
