We're all of three weeks away from a new Half-Life game, folks. That's right. Half-Life: Alyx, which is a VR-exclusive title, is a real game from Valve that is actually happening. It's not a numbered sequel, so the developer successfully maintains that old "Valve Can't Count to Three" adage. But let's be honest here: 3 or no 3, this is basically Half-Life 3. Despite it being a prequel; it takes place before Alyx Vance ever met the legendary Master Chief of the Half-Life universe, Gordon Freeman.
Today, Valve released three (get it?) Half-Life: Alyx gameplay videos—bam bam bam. Right in a row. Get a combined 10.58333 (repeating) minutes of VR gameplay right there in good ol' City 17, the poster child for dystopian Euro city-states.
Couple things to note, though. There are two forms of movement available: teleport and locomotion. Teleport is where you see Alyx snapping from spot to spot. Locomotion is where there's some walking happening in-game. Teleportation is weird, but some folks fare better against motion sickness when using this form of movement. So that's what you're seeing there. Also, at some point, I think it's in the third video, but Alyx grabs a syringe out of a loaded port-a-potty and then jams it into her wrist. Gross. Also, not a great time to be doing that kind of thing unless the first DLC is titled COVID-19.
Either way, I'm just glad VR got its first killer app, its first real system seller. I've had a good run of yelling "VR is dead!" in our Slack channel, but I have to shut my mouth at least until Half-Life: Alyx is out on March 23.
