Half-Life: Alyx is a 2020 virtual reality first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It was released for Windows and Linux with support for most PC-compatible VR headsets. Set five years before Half-Life 2, players control Alyx Vance on a mission to seize a superweapon belonging to the alien Combine
Half-Life: Alyx is a 2020 virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It was released for Windows and Linux with support for most PC-compatible VR headsets. Set five years before Half-Life 2 (2004), players control Alyx Vance on a mission to seize a superweapon belonging to the alien Combine. Like previous Half-Life games, Alyx incorporates combat, puzzles and exploration. Players use VR to interact with the environment and fight enemies, using “gravity gloves” to snatch objects from a distance, similarly to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2.
The previous Half-Life game, Episode Two, was released in 2007 and ended on a cliffhanger. Valve made several attempts to develop further Half-Life games, but could not settle on a direction. In the mid-2010s, Valve began experimenting with VR. Recognizing the demand for a major VR game, they experimented with prototypes using their various intellectual properties such as Portal, and found Half-Life best suited VR.
Alyx entered production using Valve’s new Source 2 engine in 2016, with the largest team in Valve’s history, including members of Campo Santo, a studio acquired by Valve in 2018. VR affected almost every aspect of the design, including combat, movement, level design and pacing. Valve planned to launch Alyx alongside its Index VR headset in 2019, but delayed it to rewrite the story following internal feedback.
Alyx received acclaim for its graphics, voice acting, narrative and atmosphere, and has been cited as VR’s first killer app. It was nominated for numerous awards and won “Best VR/AR” at the 2020 Game Awards. Valve acknowledged that the audience for VR games was limited. Gabe Newell, the president of Valve, described Alyx as a long-term investment into new technologies.
Half-Life: Alyx is a virtual reality game (VR) that supports all SteamVR-compatible VR headsets, which include the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest and all Windows Mixed Reality headsets.[1] As the gameplay was designed for VR, Valve said they had no plans for a non-VR version.[1][2] Half-Life: Alyx also supports user mods via the Steam Workshop.[3] Screenshot showing the VR-perspective hands and user interface Players control the Resistance member Alyx Vance as she and her father Eli Vance fight the Combine, an alien empire that has conquered Earth.[1] The designer David Speyrer said Alyx was not an episodic game or side story, but “the next part of the Half-Life story”, around the same length as Half-Life 2.[4] Players use VR to get supplies, use interfaces, throw objects, and engage in combat. Like the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, the gravity gloves allow players to pick up objects from a distance.[4] The game includes traditional Half-Life elements such as exploration, puzzles, combat, and story.[5] While it is primarily a first-person shooter, it adds elements of the survival horror genre, as health and ammo are more scarce, and includes frightening encounters.[6][7][8] Players can physically move around in room scale to move Alyx in-game. Alternatively, they can use analog sticks on the VR controllers to move Alyx as in a traditional game, teleport to nearby points, or use an intermediate mode to “glide” to selected points. When players teleport, the game simulates movement even though the action is instantaneous. Alyx may die if attacked or moved from too great a height.[9]