The next Half-Life experience has been revealed. While Half-Life 3 isn’t on the horizon, a Half-Life Alyx release is imminent. It will arrive on Steam in March 2020. Those with an HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, or Windows Mixed Reality VR headset will be able to play it with tracked motion controllers while seated, standing, or in a room-scale area.
Half-Life: Alyx takes place between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, showing what Alyx Vance was up to before meeting and working directly with Gordon Freeman. You’ll work with the resistance to fight the Combine in VR, fighting aliens and solving puzzles in the first person.
People will also be able to make their own content for Half-Life: Alyx. Valve confirmed that Hammer, its level authoring tool, will be updated to work with it. Also, Source 2 tools will come with the game, so people can make new areas.
A few special offers and preorder bonuses were announced. If people buy Valve Index before 2019 ends, the company’s VR headset, they will get Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 Half-Life: Alyx items to use in those games, extra gun skins for Alyx’s weapons in Half-Life: Alyx, and the ability to make your SteamVR space look like areas from this game. The cheapest Valve Index bundle that comes with everything people need to get started, which means getting a headset, two controllers, two base stations, and a copy of this game, is $999. However, a copy of Half-Life: Alyx now also comes with the $279 controllers, $499 headset, and $749 headset and controller bundle.
Half-Life: Alyx will be available for PCs for those with an HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, or Windows Mixed Reality VR headset in March 2020.
