Valve to reveal details on the new Half-Life: Alyx VR game

Valve has announced a full-length Half-Life VR game.

Half Life: Alyx is the first new title in the acclaimed series in over a decade, and fans are already expressing excitement over Twitter. That includes esports organizations like Cloud9, who responded to the tweet with the question, “Is this real life?” 

Valve stated on Twitter that they will be unveiling their “flagship VR game” on Thursday at 10 am PST. 

“Can’t wait to share it with all of you,” the game developers tweeted from a new Valve software account. So far, the announcement is the handle’s only tweet, but they already over 22,600 followers. 

What we know about Half-Life: Alyx

Aside from the Twitter announcement, nothing more has yet been officially shared about the new Half-Life title.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 came out in 2007, featuring protagonist Gordon Freeman and close ally Alyx Vance. It appears that Alyx will now be the main focus of the new Half-Life game, if the title proves to be any indication. 

In Episode 2, Gordon and Alyx escape a city enslaved by an alien empire known as The Combine in an attempt to destroy the Resistance. Alyx happens to be carrying a Combine transmission that will close the portal that The Combine have opened. The game ends in a dramatic fashion, one featuring grief and mystery. But despite the emotional cliffhanger, fans never saw a third installment in the episodic trilogy, nor did they ever see Half-Life 3.

Former Valve writer Marc Laidlaw created a possible fanfic of Half-Life with barely changed names and plot, including the name Alex Vaunt being substituted for Alyx Vance. It seemed like something that could have been Episode 3 of Half-Life’s much-anticipated series, but there’s no proof it was an actual storyline up for consideration at Valve. The trilogy was basically halted for good when Laidlaw left Valve, and it appeared this story could be all fans would ever get from the series again. 

So far, it’s unclear whether the new VR title will essentially serve as Episode 3, or if it’s something like a prequel. 

Valve’s journey into VR games

Although not as long a cliffhanger as the wait for a new Half-Life game, Valve also left fans on edge after they announced they would be developing three full-length VR games back in 2017. 

“When I say we’re building three games, we’re building three full games, not experiments,” Valve founder Gabe Newell told Eurogamer two years ago.

Of course, there was no news on those three games until now, leaving fans wondering if it was just all talk. But it seems that Half-Life: Alyx is their first step towards Valve making good on that promise. Fans should follow Valve’s new Twitter account for further details on Thursday.