14 DAY TRIAL // Valve revived the Half-Life series, but the next game will not be launched on a mainstream platform. Half-Life: Alyx was revealed last year as a VR game compatible with the following headsets: Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, and Windows Mixed Reality. Unfortunately, those who don't own one of the headsets listed will not be able to play it as Valve has no plans to launch a non-VR version.
Anyway, Half-Life: Alyx was announced last year and Valve said the game will be released in March, but didn't provide an exact launch date. Today, Valve confirmed the next installment in the Half-Life series will be released about six weeks from now, on March 23.
The game has already been listed on Steam and costs €45 (10% discount included), but all those who own a Valve Index headset or controllers will get Half-Life: Alyx free, plus extra content: alternate gun skins, special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and environments from the game that can be explored in SteamVR Home space.
Story-wise, Half-Life: Alyx is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, so it's not really a sequel nor a prequel. As the name suggests, you'll be playing as Alyx Vance, the daughter of Dr. Eli Vance, one of Earth's greatest scientists.
Along with your father, you manage to put together some sort of resistance to perform critical research and build invaluable tools for the few humans courageous enough to defy the Combine, the entity that took control of the planet since the Black Mesa incident.
On a side note, if you haven't played any of the Half-Life games, you can pick them up for free until Alyx launches in March. The games won't remain in your library, but you can play them for free until then.
