New gameplay footage of the Half-Life prequel, Half-Life: Alyx, shows the game’s protagonist using her cool new gravity gloves in a tense fight against Combine soldiers. As the name suggests, Half-Life: Alyx will put players in control of Alyx Vance, who played a major role in Half-Life 2.
Half-Life: Alyx may not be the Half-Life 3 that many players have been waiting so long for, but there’s still plenty of reason to be excited for the game. Not everyone was happy to hear that the return to the Half-Life franchise is going to be in VR, but it looks like a treat for those who’ve adopted the divisive technology, or were among the vast number of people who purchased a Valve Index after Half-Life: Alyx was announced. Recent purchases of a Valve Index include a free copy of the upcoming Half-Life game with them, as well as other bonuses. Valve is offering Half-Life skins for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and special SteamVR home space environments based on Half-Life: Alyx to anyone who buys a Valve Index to make the pricey headset look a little more like a must-have.
Just a few weeks before Half-Life: Alyx’s March release date, Valve released three new gameplay videos showing the game in action. There’s lots to see in the short combat video, but the standout is the gravity gloves, which seem to be an essential part of Half-Life: Alyx’s arsenal. The video shows Alyx using the gloves to pluck grenades thrown by enemies out of midair and throw them back at her attackers, but if they’re anything like the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, there’s likely a lot more to them than that.
Aside from the gravity gloves, the video also shows a hefty dose of gunplay with Half-Life: Alyx’s distinctly DIY-looking firearms. Half-Life: Alyx uses a blend of teleportation and traditional movement to let players move from cover to cover, and at one point in the video, Alyx even pulls open a car door to serve as a shield between her and the soldier on the other side. With Half-Life: Alyx reportedly as big as Half-Life 2, it’s likely holding plenty more surprising uses of VR along the same lines.
With such a long gap between Half-Life 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, there’s a lot riding on the new game, both for fans and Valve itself. Half-Life 3 has basically become a joke at this point, so Half-Life: Alyx could be a sign that the franchise is alive and well or that it’s time to give it up. However it turns out, Valve is clearly treating it like a new flagship game, putting the largest development team in its history to work on it.
Next: Valve’s Index VR Headset Sold Out After Half-Life: Alyx Announcement (In Some Regions)
Half-Life: Alyx will be available on PC March 23, 2020.
Source: Valve
