Half-Life: Alyx Officially Announced with Gameplay Trailer, Release March 2020

As promised, Valve has announced the VR title, Half-Life: Alyx, which is being described as a full-length game said to be about the same length as Half-Life 2 and it will release March 2020.

Half-Life: Alyx will of course star Alyx Vance, but rather than taking place after the events of Half-Life 2: Episode 2, it will be set before the second game.  Alyx will be the first voiced-hero in the series and she will be played by a new actor, this time by Ozioma Akagha, rather than Merle Dandridge.  We will see the return of G-Man, as well as some other familiar faces and of course, the game will feature Headcrabs, which I imagine will be quite creepy in VR.

Gameplay will comprise of combat, exploration, puzzle segments and it will support Mods.  While Half-Life: Alyx will be fully optimised for the Valve Index and its knuckle controllers, it will also be compatible with other VR systems such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and more.

Below are the minimum requirements for Half-Life: Alyx, as well as the announcement trailer.

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: GTX 1060 / RX 580 – 6GB VRAM

Personally, I think this game looks great, but it’s a shame that we’ve waited 12 years for a new Half-Life and the one that arrives is on formats that will rule out a mass chunk of its fan-base from ever playing it.  Hopefully though, if Half-Life: Alyx does well, it might spark a proper third instalment, but I won’t be getting my hopes up too much.  Let us know your thoughts across our social media channels.