Knighttime Musings – Half-Life: Alyx Announced for VR, Let’s Speculate

(WARNING: Spoilers for Half-Life: Episode Two!!!)

(Author’s Note: Speculation in this op-ed is based solely off of the announcement and Valve’s prior history. While there is a leaked interview floating around, the author hasn’t read it yet in order to prevent his opinions from being influenced.)

It is hard to believe that the Half-Life franchise is now old enough to legally drink (21 years here in the States). Half-Life was released back on November 19, 1998. It’s sequel, Half-Life 2 came out six years later on November 16th and Episode 2 was released three years after that on October 10, 2007. So it has been 12 years since we had a game involving The Freeman. The ending of Episode 2 was a real tearjerker that has haunted fans ever since. But perhaps closure is finally upon us! Valve has announced Half-Life: Alyx which will be a VR game. Now more details will be provided in a couple of days, but let’s speculate as to what this new Half-Life game could entail. 

The ending for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 left us with tears in our eyes over its emotional cliffhanger (not me, I was chopping up onions while I was playing because I am an awesome multitasker). Eli Vance, Alyx’s father, had been killed by an Advisor as they were trying to leave the hangar with Gordon. With Gordon helpless, Alyx, who is then captured by one of the Advisors, is saved by Dog and the scene ends with Alyx sobbing over her father’s lifeless body. 

So where will Half-Life: Alyx begin? Personally, I expect HL: A to pick up either immediately after her father was killed or at least shortly after. However, there is a rumor floating around that it could be a prequel, but I find that highly unlikely. As much as I love Alyx, who is one of the greatest side/companion characters in gaming, a prequel would not be the direction to take. HL: A, as a sequel, would allow the same opportunity to flesh out Alyx as a character and provide more of her backstory. 

While I will not give any credence to the rumor of this being a prequel, neither can I see Valve starting this new game years after the events of Episode 2. It would cheat fans of seeing the conclusion to one of the most heart-wrenching cliffhangers in gaming history. Not to mention miss out on an opportunity to showcase the voice-acting talents of the crew, which was some of the best I have ever heard in a video game (assuming they are all back for this). Unless, they start the new game with a dream sequence that replays that ending scene and has Alyx waking up years later. The latter sounds more likely, but I am hoping that HL: A just picks right up where Episode 2 left off. 

While the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx came as a surprise to many, I think it was the fact that it seems this will be a VR-only game that was the biggest surprise. Personally, I don’t see why that is. After all, the Half-Life franchise has always been used to promote Valve’s engine. Half-Life introduced us to the GoldSrc engine, a modified version of the Quake engine, and Half-Life 2 was used to introduce and promote the Source engine which was completely developed by Valve. In addition, Half-Life 2 also forced PC Gamers to use Steam which is Valves digital distribution platform and the company’s way of combating piracy (which was rampant back then). However, Source 2 has already been out with Dota 2 running on it and Artifact developed on the latest engine. Then there is the fact that Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 were getting VR support years ago would indicate this would be the next step for the franchise.

So it is unsurprising to me that HL: A will be for VR since Valve has been one of the first companies to spearhead the technology. With that in mind, I wonder as to what this game will entail. Will it be a linear FPS? Which is what the Half-Life franchise has always been. But then I remember the rumors that Half-Life 3 could be an open-world FPS but, at the time, I didn’t think that would happen. However, I am older and wiser now (well, certainly older). And thinking about those rumors today, it could be possible for Half-Life to have evolved into an open-world FPS. But that could depend on HL: A.

Now I don’t see Half-Life: Alyx as an open-world game. Rather, it will be a linear FPS like the previous installments. What it will possibly be is a bridge between Episode Two and Half-Life 3. Which could mean that it will be a short game with the intent to offer some closure for fans and the character herself. Perhaps a revenge story because of another traitor in the resistance? Yet its other reason for existence will be to showcase what the Source 2 engine can do in virtual reality. And that could mean some kind of new weapon or gaming mechanic to help showcase the control scheme for VR sets. Perhaps another take on the gravity gun? 

However, the fact that this will be a flagship VR title means there is a high barrier-to-entry. As PC gamers, we shouldn’t be surprised at this. Considering that one of the biggest, and mostly unfounded, criticisms about PC Gaming was that consumers had to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their rigs to stay on par with gaming. How many of you remember the question always asked whenever someone would talk about their PC specs?  

Back when Half-Life 2 was announced, I remembered how a number of friends and I realized we had to upgrade our rigs if we wanted to play the game on a decent graphics setting. Not to mention how many PC gamers upgraded their rigs to play Crysis. So having to invest in order to play a new game is nothing new. That said, the barrier is pretty high considering that the Valve VR Index Kit, which is the entire VR package, costs $999. Yet I am hoping that HL: A will not be platform specific to the Index Kit. At the very least, the Oculus VR Headset could be a cheaper alternative or maybe Valve will offer a cheaper alternative itself. 

However, I want to go out on a limb here and say that the VR-only version will be a timed one. It could be that Valve will release a non-VR version six months or a year down the road, though it will also depend on whether or not there will be a console version (or if the modders don’t do it first). One only has to look at Valve’s history with its IPs to consider this a possibility. 

So what about console gamers? Will Half-Life: Alyx come out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? This would probably be the cheapest entry into VR for a lot of gamers. Yet, Valve has never really released a console counterpart alongside the PC version. Console versions always came later (the Orange Box was released in 2006, two years after Half-Life 2 was released). So I would assume that if HL: A comes to consoles, it will be the next generation and not the current one. However, this bit of speculation will depend on what the requirements are for the game (which are not available at the time of this op-ed’s publication).  

Unsurprisingly, there has been some backlash over the fact that Half-Life: Alyx is VR-only. Yet I feel it is coming from gamers who have never really experienced the need, the desire, or the want to upgrade their PC or build a new one in the pursuit of staying with or ahead of gaming. Personally, I now have a good reason to finally build a new PC (my current rig is 8 or 9 years old). And I have another reason to finally get a VR set. It has been on my wishlist for years, ever since VR was integrated into Dota 2, but I have been waiting for the technology to become cheaper and the kinks worked out. Still, it will take me some time to save up for all of this, but I think that there will be time to get it all done. 

Why? Because I expect HL: A to come out sometime around Q1 2020. 

Yet it would not surprise me to see a lot of gaming news outlets and content creators bemoan the high price of entry to play HL: A, but I don’t think they are taking one thing into account. The Half-Life fans are older. 21 years have passed since the first Half-Life came out and with an older audience, it means that there is more money for them to play with. Even then, I don’t think the fact that the game is VR-only will stop people from buying it. I expect a lot of gamers to purchase it on day one with the hope that they will eventually get a VR headset (I know that is what I will do if I don’t have everything in time for the game’s release and what I used to do when I was a kid). 

So in a nutshell, my assumptions about Half-Life: Alyx is that it will be a linear FPS set shortly after the events in Half-Life: Episode Two with a release date of Q1 2020. It will initially be PC-only and eventually come to console. As for Half-Life 3? I think we will have to wait a couple more years. Valve will wait and see how HL: A does, in addition to VR sales, before making the decision to release HL3 as VR-only or offer a non-VR version as well upon its release. Either way, Half-Life 3 is coming. 

Don’t believe me? Let me do the math! Half-Life came out 21 years ago. 21 divided by 7 is 3. Half-Life: Two came out 6 years later. 6 divided by 2 is 3. Then Half-Life 2: Episode 2 came out 3 years after that. It all comes out to 3!

Half-Life 3 confirmed everyone!

Seriously though, what do you think Half-Life: Alyx will be? Sound off in the comments below!

And don’t forget that more will be revealed this Thursday, 11/21, at 10:00am PST/1:00am EST

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