TWIFT | Esport | New, But Not the Third. What is Wrong with Half-Life: Alyx

New, But Not the Third. What is Wrong with Half-Life: Alyx

Games about the adventures of theoretical physicist Gordon Freeman saving the Earth have made several revolutions in computer games.

The last part of the Half Life series was released 15 years ago and during that time became legendary. Despite the success of the game, the development company Valve refused to do a sequel for a long time.

The long-awaited moment for gamers around the world came last month, but most players were disappointed even before the release of the game, which is scheduled for March 2020.

Between First and Second 

The new part was announced without a pathos presentation, it was just a modest Twitter post on November 19. The gameplay trailer was soon published.

“We are pleased to introduce Half-Life: Alyx, our flagship VR game. We can’t wait to share it with all of you!” — the description said. 

The game will be intended only for virtual reality headset any that support SteamVR. Valve emphasized that despite this, the gameplay will remain generally the same as in previous games in the series.

The first disappointment from Half-Life: Alyx is exclusive to VR. Most likely, the game will still be limited both in the gameplay and in graphic terms. This is definitely not what the fans of the series were counting on.

Alyx is not the third part of Half-Life, but only an offshoot of the plot of the previous parts. The plot will tell about one of the main characters the companion of Gordon Freeman Alix Vance.

Alix is ​​the daughter of a scientist from the secret laboratory Black Mesa Eli Vance, who commands resistance in Half Life 2.

The actions of the VR project will take place in a 20-year gap between the first two parts. The main character will have to raise the Resistance and fight the brutal Alliance. The passage will take approximately 15 hours.

Based on the canons of virtual reality games, Half Life Alyx is likely to be an uncomplicated short shooter. The game will not get much popularity due to the high cost of VR headsets, and as developers say, you won’t be able to play with the keyboard and mouse.

The game will be built on the Source 2 engine, known for Dota 2 and CS: GO. Whether the engine acts with VR remains unknown. 

The team of developers told  in an interview why the new part is spin-offs and not a sequel. The answer was simple. Valve is constrained by the success of the first parts, fearing to release an unsuccessful third part.

Thus, Half-Life 3 turned into a “frightening prospect”, and “virtual reality in some way became a beacon,” thanks to which the studio believed in the prospects of the project.

When the developers were asked the direct question “will there be Half Life 3?” through gritted teeth they answered that they would like to release more content on the franchise.

Alyx will be in March 2020

Already now you can pre-order it. The news that the new project will be available only for VR divided the players into two camps: they are preparing to buy the necessary headset, but they criticize Valve.

Fans of the cult series encourage developers to think about the remaining 99.62 percent of the players. Others write that they are too lazy to move at least something other than fingers to complete the game.

Some advocate for Half Life: Alyx, calling it a possible breakthrough in virtual games.

Let’s see every small detail that we know about HL 3.

Development

– The first playtests of the game were 4.5 years ago.

– The largest team in the history of Valve is working on the game, a huge part of the developers worked on Half-Life 2 and Half-Life.

– Marc Laidlaw (screenwriter of the original Half-Life and Portal dilogy), who left Valve, helps writers work on Half-Life: Alyx.

– Half-Life: Alyx created from the techno-VR demo of Destinations, it is the unique capabilities of VR that formed the basis of the game.

– In February 2017, Gabe Newel announced that there are 3 (THREE!) full-fledged VR projects in development.

Gameplay

– In the game, in addition to gravel gloves, there is a “multi-tool” that Alyx used in Half-Life 2.

 – The game will be present “realistic inventory” located on the character itself.

– Physics and everything related to it will reach a new level.

– The game supports the destructibility of the geometry of the levels and is able to distinguish between the strength of interaction with game objects.

– The game has an advanced stealth system and the enemies will have a sense of smell.

– The arsenal of Half-Life: Alyx is more meagre than in Half-Life 2, however, the development and interaction with these weapons (and tools) will be on a whole new level.

– Weapons can be improved with various additions.

– At the moment the game has pistols, shotguns, SG, energy weapons, grenades (there are Zen grenades, mine traps and ordinary grenades), grenade launchers and melee weapons (mount is also present).

– Environment items will again be able to act as weapons.

World and environment

– MOST of the development of the only character movement system was teleportation, so most levels are designed for it. There will also be a displacement method (from point A to B) and the usual walking with running through an analog stick, but it was added recently.

– The game will support real-time reloading of levels (no more “Loading …” every 5 minutes).

– The game promises an unprecedented level of elaboration of every detail, for example, in September 2019, designer Cary Davis devoted half an hour to a story about door design and interaction with it at a VR conference for developers.

– Some zombies in the game may become blind and will be guided by the “smell” of the player, so a new type of zombie capable of resurrecting its relatives.

– In addition, the game will have new types of headcrabs and soldier-combines.

General information

– The plot of Half-Life: Alyx was rewritten earlier this year and Valve had to throw out large pieces of the game, so there is a chance of transferring the game’s release.

– Initially, Half-Life: Alyx was to be released simultaneously with the Valve Index.

– Valve expects Half-Life: Alyx to be the first VR experience for many and prioritizes player comfort.

– All owners of Valve Index and those who buy it before the end of 2019 will have Half-Life: Alyx in the library automatically (nothing needs to be done). Also, additional content will be available to the Index owner.

– With the game release, a new episode of Half-Life: Final Hours will be added. it is a documentary video about the creation of the game.

– Valve also promised to add a set for modding Source 2 (and possibly a full engine) plus VR-tools with the release of the game.

Title

– Half-Life: Alyx is not a side story, not an episode, it’s a full-fledged new part of the series.

– This is a prequel to Half-Life 2, but Valve strongly recommends to play Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to get started.

– At the end of the trailer, Alyx’s father, Eli, tells the same phrase as in the Episode 2 finale.

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