Valve announces new ‘flagship’ Half-Life VR game

After they previously announced they were working on three VR titles, Valve has confirmed one will be a new Half-Life title set to be unveiled on Thursday (21 November).  

Titled Half-Life: Alyx, Valve offered practically no details but described it as a ‘flagship VR game’, indicating this will be more substantial than a mere VR experience with Half-Life branding.  

The name Alyx most likely refers to character Alyx Vance, who was a close friend and ally of protagonist Gordon Freeman last seen in 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode Two.  

According to Ars Technica, Half-Life: Alyx will actually turn back the clock to ‘the period between the first two mainline Half-Life games’ although this is yet to be confirmed.  

More importantly, this marks the first time Valve has announced a new Half-Life since Episode Two’s release – with Half-Life 3 becoming a long-running pipedream among the community.  

It’s unknown what VR platforms Half-Life: Alyx will be released on, although it’s likely it may release first on the Valve Index headset released earlier this year. 

Considering Half-Life 2 set a new benchmark for physics-based gameplay with the gravity gun, a VR game makes sense if it’s aiming to push VR to the next level. But we'll have to see if Valve plans to redefine what a VR title can be. 

Half Life: Alyx will be revealed Thursday 21 November at 10am US Pacific time and 6pm UK time.