Valve announce flagship VR game Half-Life: Alyx

Valve has confirmed that their flagship VR game will be Half-Life: Alyx, and a full reveal for the game is coming later this year.

The lineup of titles to be shown at this year’s Game Awards show has been in the works for a number of weeks now. Amongst the show will be announcements for new games, and one of these appeared to be a new Half-Life game, though no one knew exactly what it was at the time.

However, on the 21st Anniversary of Half-Life, November 19, 2019, Valve made an announcement via Twitter that Half-Life: Alyx is their next game in the series, and their flagship VR title.

Many fans of the Half-Life series have been begging for a new game since the end of Half-Life 2: Episode 2, but nothing has come until now. The game might not be the Half-Life 3 that fans have been asking for, but it does sound as if it will be a new installment that carries on the story of the series.

The transcript of an interview with the Producer and Creator of The Game Awards, Geoff Keighly, has revealed more potential details about this new VR game in the Half-Life universe. According to snippets from Keighly, Half-Life: Alyx will launch in March 2020, and seems to see players facing off against zombie-like enemies.

This news hints that Half-Life: Alyx could see players take on Headcrab Zombies, in a similar setting to Ravenholm from Half-Life 2. This level is still renowned as one of the most terrifying in the series, and better than a number of actual horror games.

In their official Tweet, Valve explained that they’ll be unveiling Half-Life: Alyx this Thursday, November 21, at 10am PT. It’s likely that Valve will release a trailer for the game that shows some of the story, and indicate when it takes place.

With so much anticipation around this game, Valve need to release something that fans will want if they’re going to make a success with their first VR title. Valve tends to know what they’re doing when it comes to their core franchises, and Half-Life is possibly their most popular.