Half Life: Alyx has been announced by Valve. The next game in the Half Life franchise is set to release on Steam in March of 2020. The latest game in is a prequel to Half Life 2 where players will play as Alyx Vance, a familiar character to the franchise. Half Life: Alyx is going to be exclusively VR, meaning you will need one of the compatible headsets which we have listed later in the article.
It has been thirteen years since one of the most notorious cliffhangers left us wanting a follow up to the sci-fi cult classic Half Life 2 Ep. 2. Although Half Life: Alyx is not technically a follow up to the last release, fans are excited to get back into the Half Life universe. And while having to shell out the cash for a VR system may be a downside to some fans of the franchise, die-hard Half Life fans will assuredly find a way to get their hands on the game.
What we know about the story of Half Life: Alyx so far
Per the Steam game description, Half-Life: Alyx is Valve’s VR return to the Half-Life series. It’s the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half Life and Half Life 2. Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity’s only chance for survival.
Valve programmer David Speyrer’s also responded to a few questions asked by The Verge:
“It’s not a side story, nor an episodic one — it’s the next part of the Half-Life story, in a game around the same length as Half-Life 2.”
“While it does take place before the events of Half-Life 2, we actually recommend that you play through Half-Life 2: Episode 2 before you play Half-Life: Alyx, for reasons that will become clear as you progress.”
Alyx and her father Eli are most known from the franchise as the driving force behind the resistance to the Combine’s alien occupation of Earth who we met in Half Life 2. While you’re not playing as the beloved Gordon Freeman this time around, players will experience a familiar concept with a VR twist—Gravity Gloves!
If you ever played the original Half Life, you undoubtedly remember the essential gravity gun. This new experience will allow players to reminisce in the nostalgia of the gravity gun but with a more hands on approach as you can see in the trailer and screen shot above.
VR Compatible Headsets
As we stated before, Half Life: Alyx is currently exclusive to VR platforms. No plans have been mentioned of the game making the jump to non-VR platforms such as PC or consoles. But if you are in the market for a headset or you’re going to get one simply because you just have to play the new Half Life, we’ve made a list of the compatible headsets:
Minimum System Requirements
While you may want to have a somewhat beefy setup to get the best experience out of the game, we’ve listed the minimum requirements to run the VR:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600
- Memory: 12 GB RAM
- Graphics: GTX 1060 / RX 580 – 6GB VRAM
As more news and content comes out regarding Half Life: Alyx we’ll be sure to update. Until then stay tuned with Game Enthusiast to stay up to date on the latest news and media from your favorite video game franchises. Let us know what you think about the new Half Life game below in the comments or give us a follow on our active Facebook community to join the conversation.