Half-Life: Alyx, the first Half-Life title in far too long has now been officially revealed with the Steam store page for it now available and you can also pre-purchase. However, their email clearly stated that Half-Life: Alyx will be "Free for owners of the Valve Index VR headset".
This is a title built from the ground up for Virtual Reality, so only those with a VR kit will be able to play. Valve said it has "all of the hallmarks of a classic Half-Life game" including exploration, puzzle solving, visceral combat and a story that connects it all together with the Half-Life universe. Valve also said it will be compatible with "all PC-based VR headsets", it's powered by their own Source 2 game engine and it will release in March 2020.
You can see the trailer below:
Direct Link
From the press release sent to use earlier:
"Everyone at Valve is excited to be returning to the world of Half-Life", says Valve founder Gabe Newell. "VR has energized us. We've invested a lot of ourselves in the technology. But we're also game developers at heart, and to be devoting ourselves to a VR game this ambitious is just as exciting. For that to come in the form of Half-Life feels like the culmination of a lot things we care a lot about: truly great games, cutting edge technology, and open platforms. We can't wait for people to experience this."
If you end up buying Valve Index hardware before the end of 2019, Valve also said they will throw in a few bonuses which include:
- Explore environments from Half-Life: Alyx in your SteamVR Home space
- Alternate gun skins to embellish Alyx's arsenal
- Special Half-Life: Alyx-themed content for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2
There's also going to be a focus on community-created content as well, with a set of Source 2 tools that will be available with the game.
Some of the team at Valve had a chat with Geoff Keighley too, which you can see in this video.
Currently the Steam store page and the official site for Half-Life: Alyx only state Windows support. Since Source 2 and SteamVR do work on Linux, it might be that the state of SteamVR on Linux isn't good enough just yet. Hopefully they're working on it though! I've reached out to Valve to ensure it will see a Linux release too and will update you when I know.
Update 19:40 UTC: Valve press emailed back, they said "Right now we can only confirm windows for this product".
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
no_information_here Nov 22, 2019
Well, I still hope they sell a boatload of copies and start actually making more (real) games instead of only online crap I don't care about.
Me, bitter?
Quoting: TheRiddickQuoting: jarhead_h3900X/X570/5700XT
The GPU will be the major decider on framerate, Getting a 3700 + B450 board would free up some cash to get a even faster GPU and cost nothing substantial in framerate.
I don't understand why so many people think getting more cores and a faster CPU is going to magically give them the best framerates. The 5700XT is really a 100fps at 1440p type of GPU, AT BEST. (games like KCD will give you less however).
*snip* - don't be rude - Liam
I'm a new content creator. I need the video editing horsepower because as shocking as it sounds my current PhenomII 960T/AM3 mobo/GTX1060-6GB just isn't the greatest for that sort of thing. Gaming is the least of my concerns these days, and that $2500 is for a system based around 1440P. 4K would be another $1000 for the monitor alone and honestly I don't view either NVIDIA or AMD as having a real 4K GPU yet, although NVIDIA is almost there. Ram ain't cheap. Large amounts of storage ain't cheap. A decent overclocking mobo that will end up with two or three different CPUs in it's life span ain't cheap. The previously mentioned 960T is the third CPU in my 9 year old mobo which is also on it's second set of DDR3 and like fifth boot drive because I clonezillaed my 250GB 840EVO over to my new 500GB 860EVO and then grew the XFS filesystem via LVM because it's Linux so we get to do that.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 22 November 2019 at 8:16 am UTC
Quoting: orochi_kyoValve really knows how to middle finger their fanbase. Their next game will be exclusive for some new Valve hardware only a few have access, maybe it could be the Valve wheel, Half Life Carting. Or the Valve guitar, Half Life Soundtrack Best hits. Both Valve guitar and Wheel will cost only 1000$ each, quite cheap.
VR is huge deal. Valve released the best VR headset and controller available in the consumer market, the controller can be used with the HTC Vive, they work with Linux.
They promised 3 games for it. Everyone was always saying how bad it was that Valve almost stopped making games, now we may get 3 games from them.
They will even give Index's owner the game for free.
And you think this is a middle finger to their fanbase?
I don't have an Index but the trailer looks great and I'm really happy to know that Valve seems to be pushing VR. Currently this could be the best game for VR.
So, I couldn't disagree more. I can understand you if you think VR is like a Nintendo gimmick but for some of us this is the future.
Quoting: wvstolzingI wonder what Portal would look like in VR, at this graphical fidelity.
This is what portal looks like... https://store.steampowered.com/app/446750/Portal_Stories_VR/
Also I think Half Life might be the game for me to bring my Vive out of retirement.
And Ryzen 3700x and 5700xt works fantastic for VR. Even my old fx8350 and r9 290x could do VR.
Last edited by stud68 on 22 November 2019 at 9:03 am UTC
Quoting: stud68Quoting: wvstolzingI wonder what Portal would look like in VR, at this graphical fidelity.
This is what portal looks like... https://store.steampowered.com/app/446750/Portal_Stories_VR/
Still need to try that one. I understand that it doesn't actually contain any portals since it is a UE4 creation using the assets. This might actually be a good thing. Portal could be disorienting in 2d. I imagine that the motion that Portal is based on would be having you running for a toilet in minutes.
But does that mean Valve integrated openXR in Source2 ? (Or they just have their in-house wrappers ?)
Having OpenXR in or at least prepared the engine for it would be game changing for future releases. (even though it's currently still a very young specification)
Anyway I'm curious about that on case anyone has information. :)
Quoting: aokamiIt will be available for all VR platform, alright I get that.
But does that mean Valve integrated openXR in Source2 ? (Or they just have their in-house wrappers ?)
Having OpenXR in or at least prepared the engine for it would be game changing for future releases. (even though it's currently still a very young specification)
Anyway I'm curious about that on case anyone has information. :)
No information, but considering the state of the current OpenXR implementations, it is highly unlikely. That stuff will need more time to mature. So almost guaranteed to be SteamVR (=OpenVR).
But as I am old enough, a few weeks or months doesn't matter.
So I will wait and see, what this game really is like. Actually Information is rare but the game seems to really have potential to be great.
Comandante Ñoñardo Jan 18, 2020
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