Half-Life Alyx is the first Half-Life game in nearly thirteen years, coming as a huge surprise announcement from Valve in 2019. It's not exactly the Half-Life 3 fans have been pining for all these years, but reviews indicate it's still something special.
Unlike past Half-Life games, players don't take control of the scientist Gordan Freeman, instead playing as his closest friend, Alyx Vance. The VR game still uses all the physics-based combat of the series, while introducing some interesting new wrinkles.
Of course, the biggest questions about Half-Life: Alyx deal with its story, and how it ties into the other games. Here's exactly when Half-Life: Alyx takes place.
Half-Life: Alyx's Place In the Timeline
Half-Life: Alyx takes place smack-dab in between the events of the first game and the second, roughly five years before Half-Life 2. It's a period that, until now, has remained largely unexplored by the Half-Life series. After the events of the first Half-Life the Combine flood into Earth, resulting in the Seven-Hour War that essentially destroys most of humanity. From there, the Combine occupies Earth and the events of Half-Life: Alyx take place in City 17, the city where Gordon Freeman reemerges at the start of Half-Life 2.
The story follows Alyx, and her father Eli, as they struggle to fight the Combine forces and create a ragtag group of resistance fighters. Half-Life: Alyx is roughly the same length as past Half-Life games, but the gameplay is entirely VR-focused. A new device known as the Gravity Gloves lets Alyx manipulate gravity and use both weapons and items in interesting ways.
Could Alyx Lead to More Half-Life?
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Half-Life Alyx.
The big question now, after the release of Half-Life: Alyx, is if this might lead to a return for the series. The ending of Alyx certainly seems to indicate this might be the case. The game answers some big questions about the enigmatic G-Man, and by the end, Alyx is basically in his employ and captured in stasis. Without spoiling everything, the end of Alyx sees players looking through the eyes of Gordon Freeman once again, with a now alive Eli Vance saying there's work to do.
This is Valve, however, so it doesn't necessarily mean there's anything else in the works. A recent interview on Half-Life with one of Valve's level designers sheds light on why it's been so long between releases. A big part of the problem was the company's work on its Source 2 engine, which simply took up too much time and resources. With Half-Life: Alyx finally out in the wild, however, that might change. The game is a showcase for the potential of VR, and the story twists and surprises clearly show that Valve still wants to do something with the series.