Half-Life: Alyx is built entirely with virtual reality in mind, with Valve pushing it as a “flagship title” for its Index headset. I can confidently say that Half-Life is back and isn’t going anywhere, and as a consequence will never be the same again and I’m happily going along for the ride. It’s quite the opposite, with Alyx transcending what came before it and rewriting the foundations of this franchise both mechanically and narratively.
Half-Life: Alyx is a new benchmark for virtual reality, showing that experiences needn’t be hamstrung by half-baked mechanics and strange omissions to compete with their traditional siblings. Throwing the fate of its biggest franchise into a polarising medium could’ve been a recipe for disaster, but Valve has proven naysayers wrong, and I count myself in that cabal. Half-Life: Alyx is a complete experience, yet takes the series to a medium its creators are determined to prove themselves in – virtual reality. It remains a cultural phenomenon with fan projects, memes and discussion being omnipresent, but Valve had seemingly forgotten its existence, making the arrival of Half-Life: Alyx all the more palpable. After a frankly agonising cliffhanger at the end of Episode Two way back in 2007, the franchise had fallen into obscurity.
It’s almost cathartic to be playing Half-Life again.
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