Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Half-Life: Alyx.
Half-Life Alyx finally brings the franchise back after a 13-year hiatus. The VR game has some big implications for the story of Half-Life and has fans now wondering what's going to come next.
Fans have been begging for any news on Half-Life 3 for years, and Valve has remained frustratingly tight-lipped year after year. Valve has become a publisher for than a developer with the Steam platform, but Half-Life: Alyx presents an opportunity for them to return to their most famous series.
There's still a lot unknown about where Half-Life might go next, but it seems guaranteed that Valve has more in store. Here's everything we know about a potential Half-Life 3, and where the series could go next.
Half-Life 3 Release Date - Is Half-Life 3 Being Made?
Valve has made it clear that they're hoping to make more Half-Life, and in a recent interview developers Robin Walker and Chris Remo, said that they hope it happens a lot sooner. At the moment, however, it's not clear if that next game might be Half-Life 3, Half-Life: Alyx 2, or something else entirely. At one point Valve was working on a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 as the lead writer, Marc Laidlaw, released an official synopsis of the plot for the now-defunct game. Disappointingly, the development of Episode 3 was canceled at some point as Valve moved onto other projects, and their Source 2 engine took up more development time. There's clearly more plans for Half-Life, but at the moment it's unclear what shape that will take. Although, after the ending of Alyx, Half-Life 3 seems the most likely option.
Half-Life 3 Story - How Half-Life: Alyx Sets Up the Next Game
Half-Life: Alyx takes place in between the first Half-Life and Half-Life 2, but actually has some massive implications on the overall story. The new game takes place in City 17, and partway through the game, Alyx breaks into a massive vault hanging above the city. Although she thinks Gordon Freeman is trapped inside, it's actually the supernatural entity called G-Man.
G-Man recruits Alyx as a replacement for his rebellious employee, Gordon. From here Half-Life: Alyx completely retcons the ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2. G-Man takes Alyx forward in time to the end of Episode 2, where she kills the Combine Advisor and saves her father, Eli Vance. The final scene of the game is played from the perspective of Gordon, as Elie hands the hero a crowbar and says they have work to do. With Alyx now trapped in stasis by G-Man, it's going to be up to Gordon, Eli, and Dog to save her.
At this point, it seems like the next game will have players once again controlling Gordon Freeman, as he tries to save Alyx from an unknown fate. With Gordon returning that certainly suggests a Half-Life 3, rather than a spin-off.
Half-Life 3 Gameplay - Will It Be VR?
Half-Life: Alyx is a great showcase for the potential of VR, and it's one of the best experiences you can find on any VR platform. Valve started experimenting with a VR game in 2015, and the fruits of their labor are finally paying off. The most impressive thing is that Alyx is a full-fledged Half-Life game, clocking in around 10 hours. With another Half-Life game coming at some point, could it also be in VR?
Valve has clearly harnessed the technology like few are able to, and that expertise could easily be put to use again. However, the problem with Half-Life: Alyx is that there's a severely limited user-base that can play it. On launch day the number of viewers on Twitch was nearly ten times the number of people actually playing Half-Life: Alyx. It's a huge discrepancy, and although VR's popularity is one the rise, the technology is still simply to expensive for many players to invest in. Because of that, it's unlikely that a big game like Half-Life 3 would be a VR exclusive. At the same time, though, it's unlikely that Valve would create VR tech and never use it again. Half-Life 3 could easily feature a VR option or mode, but not make it required in any way.