Just days after Valve’s surprise announcement that the company was developing a new Half-Life title, Valve has released the official Half-Life: Alyx announcement trailer. Rather than focusing on cinematics, the trailer puts gameplay at the fore, showcasing what players can expect from a Half-Life VR title. Alongside the trailer, the company also confirmed several details about the game, including its release month and when it takes place in the Half-Life canon.
The Half-Life: Alyx Announcement Trailer and New Details
“Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2,” explains Valve, in their opening premise; “Alyx Vance and her father Eli mount an early resistance to the Combine’s brutal occupation of Earth. The loss of the Seven-Hour War is still fresh. In the shadow of a rising Combine fortress known as the Citadel, residents of City 17 learn to live under the rule of their invaders. But among this scattered population are two of Earth’s most resourceful scientists: Dr. Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx, the founders of a fledgling resistance.”
The setting of Half-Life: Alyx should be instantly recognisable to anyone who played Half-Life 2 and its later episodes; the dense and crumbling urban environment of City 17 is certainly familiar, along with the game’s Combine enemies. What’s different, of course, is that this game will be a VR title. Indeed, Valve first described the new game as a ‘flagship’ title, suggesting that they intend for it to drive interest and sales for SteamVR. Certainly, this isn’t just some short tech demo; according to Valve, Half-Life: Alyx is a “full-length game.”
While a firm release date is unknown for the time being, Valve have confirmed that the game is due to launch sometime during March of 2020. It is available to pre-order from today. Of course, the game was developed using the Valve Index, which is likely to be the best-optimised system for it. However, it will still work with any system that can run SteamVR. That includes the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality. However, Valve are clearly trying to promote sales of the Valve Index; anybody who already owns an Index will get Half-Life: Alyx for free. (You don’t even need to buy the game, it will appear automatically in your Steam library when it launches.) Plus, there will also be some Index-exclusive content. This includes gun skins, environments to explore in SteamVR Home, and Half Life content for CS:GO.