Check out the Half-Life: Alyx announcement trailer

Shawn Knight

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In a nutshell: The bad news? This is not Half-Life 3. The good news? It’s still a full game that’s about as long as Half-Life 2 and you won't have to have Valve's own VR hardware to play it (but you will need some sort of VR headset).

Valve earlier this week confirmed the existence of a new Half-Life game. The developer described Half-Life: Alyx as its flagship VR title and promised to unveil it to the world on Thursday. Right on schedule, Valve dropped the official announcement trailer on YouTube for all to enjoy.

Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, you’ll play as Alyx Vance – humanity’s only chance for survival against a dangerous alien race known as the Combine.

Valve said the experience has been built from the ground up for VR and “features all of the hallmarks of a classic Half-Life game: world exploration, puzzle solving, visceral combat and an intricately woven story that connects it all with the characters iconic to the Half-Life universe.”

At a minimum, you’ll need a Windows 10 PC running at least an Intel Core i5-7500 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 12GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580 – 6GB VRAM GPU. Recommended system specs haven’t yet been revealed.

The gameplay shown in the trailer looks incredibly smooth and best yet, you’ll be able to play using a wide variety of VR hardware including the HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, an Oculus Rift, an Oculus Quest with PC and Link Cable and of course, the Valve Index.

Half-Life: Alyx carries a tentative launch date of March 2020 and is available to pre-purchase from today priced at $53.99.

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I wonder if it would run on my 980. Although this is a steep price for one game - I can't see buying a vr headset just for this, and especially never experiencing it. :/
 
Wait Valve still make games lol.

Tbf I called a half life game to be made ever since Valve partnered with HTC. It's about time valve invested all the money they've made into making games again.
 
Looks like its time to find out how well my old GTX 1080 runs VR. Polygon counts and character models look to be improved, textures look better, ext. It may not be HL3 but its a new HL game people! Wake up! This is awesome!

A 1080 should run VR fine if you are using something like a Vive or Oculus Rift / S (or Many of the Windows mixed reality headsets). You'd only run into a problem with the higher end HMDs like the index.
 
A 1080 should run VR fine if you are using something like a Vive or Oculus Rift / S (or Many of the Windows mixed reality headsets). You'd only run into a problem with the higher end HMDs like the index.

You'll still be fine on an index. There is such a thing as resolution scaling on VR headsets. A 1080 should probably be the "recommended" settings card for this. From what was in the trailer, I don't know if the old 1070 will be enough. It was for a long time.
 
I think I will wait for poor sales to give them no choice but to allow non VR gamers to play.. Like what happened to Star trek bridge crew
 
I think I will wait for poor sales to give them no choice but to allow non VR gamers to play.. Like what happened to Star trek bridge crew

That's not what happened. The game sold so well it was able to add 2D support at a later date. The game was on the top seller list for awhile before they added 2D support. I think you are completely underestimating how much effort it would take to port a game like the new Half Life vs Star Trek bridge crew. The two are on two different worlds when it comes to the number of VR features. You'd essentially be stripping 90% of the features because we all know you aren't going to get full hand presence with a mouse, let alone the percise finger detection and squeeze pressure that the Index controllers can provide. I'm sure you are aware of hand simulator.
 
This is incredible. It is not Half-Life 3, but it is a brand new Half-Life game. I guess Valve really do things their own way.

One thing I am confident of ; VR is going to kick-off / be heard more than ever before as this game launches. Heck, I'm super excited to see what VR hardware is there to get in order to play this. After 12 years (since the last Half-Life game)... this is like a dream come true.

A new Half-Life game. Wow.
 
FFS! I mean, I actually really enjoy VR, got a friend with the original Vive when it came out and I can see why VR could become something to stay but, the price for these headsets is something I just can't justify. Real shame as I've been waiting for another Half-Life since I left school.
 
That's not what happened. The game sold so well it was able to add 2D support at a later date. The game was on the top seller list for awhile before they added 2D support. I think you are completely underestimating how much effort it would take to port a game like the new Half Life vs Star Trek bridge crew. The two are on two different worlds when it comes to the number of VR features. You'd essentially be stripping 90% of the features because we all know you aren't going to get full hand presence with a mouse, let alone the percise finger detection and squeeze pressure that the Index controllers can provide. I'm sure you are aware of hand simulator.

My comment is a little misleading as I wrote it in haste. Every game made eventually reaches a drop off in sales that will prompt the developers to make changes in the title. such as changing a game from VR to a more standard play setting.

Porting the game maybe be difficult, but not impossible. I'm happy to wait. I'm confidant the will change formats once sales of the new half life game drop.
 
I'm with you on this... I'm not buying a VR headset just for one game...

Well I have two games at least that support VR, Elite Dangerous and Star Trek.. but the VR sets are so expensive! I just can't justify the cost.
 
I'm just happy that someone in Valve still wants to make Half Life games. No, I'm not buying a VR setup just for this one game, as excellent as it looks.

The structure of the company suggests they only work on what the influencers in the office have a thirst to develop for. What has widespread developer backing. This carried through to launch so must have had strong backing.

Who knows, if they get a taste for the old HL universe once again with this, it might just persuade them to go all out and give the people what they want.
 
I like when they do female protagonists. They are all about feelings. Now you get to feel the love for Alyx, and can only dream of the adventure she had before Gordon even knew how awesome she is; what she went through to have such a strong Character. These elements keep the worlds from collapsing. In Half-life we would witness a scattered world bound by a thin connection to the human spirit, at its core.
People say they won't buy a VR headset for this. Think about it though. Hl2 was probably the best game when it came out (when few games were released). Just the nostalgic euphoria and that... what would you want more? New surprise of half life game, and on top of that is in VR which probably will make you enjoy those moments, where you suddenly finished exploring that "darn cave", finally enjoying some vast spaces and sunshine.
 
Awesome... Awesome awesome awesome! I can't wait!

Though I agree they should make a monitor version, but it will be no where as immersive as the VR experience. VR is still a somewhat niche gaming market and it will remain that way until costs come down on quality headsets. But slowly getting more and more VR games with full content is a good direction to be heading.
 
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