Half-Life 3 may be MIA – but a Half-Life VR game could still be in the works
Is Half-Life: Alyx one of the three rumored VR titles Valve is cooking?
For a game that's never been officially announced, Half-Life 3 might be the most long-awaited game of all time. And while its series developer, Valve, shows no sign of revealing it any time soon, there's a glimmer of hope for headcrab-blasting fans in VR.
What is claimed to be a leaked interview transcript between Valve executives suggests that a new Half-Life title is on the way called Half-Life: Alyx, and that it'll be a virtual reality exclusive.
The interview is said to be between a "Geoff", which is likely games broadcaster Geoff Keighley (responsible for the annual Game Awards and the 'Final Hours' documentaries about Valve games), Robin Walker (co-developer of Team Fortress 2) and an unnamed third party.
"March 2020, 'Half-Life: Alyx' comin' out", says the Geoff in the transcript, which also suggests the game will be revealed at The Game Awards on December 12.
- Valve Index review: the VR headset to beat?
- The best Steam games: get your gaming rig loaded up with these gems
- Best VR headsets: get lost in other worlds with this amazing kit
VR focus
For the time being, and if the transcript is to be believed, the focus is very much on VR at the moment, rather than an optional keyboard and mouse version.
"I mean we would love to be delivering a version of this that you could play with a mouse and a keyboard, but like as we said, it began as an exploration of VR," says the unnamed person.
Leaked by the same source that revealed DOTA Underlords, there are a few details that add veracity to the piece, such as this quote on play testers:
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
"You can see their whole body-- [sic]Respond to the situation. You know, panicking, dropping clips on the ground as they fumble their weapons 'cause a zombie's in front of them, all these things, they're just - it's been really fun watching playtests."
So, can it be believed? Any mention of new Half-Life content from Valve has to be taken with a pinch of salt – it's known that the company has played with ideas around the franchise for many years, but it's highly secretive and has as-yet failed to commit to any of its Half-Life experiments.
However, with the release of its Valve Index VR headset earlier this year, Valve did state that it would be releasing a 'flagship VR game' before the end of the year. There wouldn't be a bigger flagship property for Valve than Half-Life.
Via: PC Gamer
Gerald is Editor-in-Chief of iMore.com. Previously he was the Executive Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site's home cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and audio output. He loves gaming, but don't expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Before TechRadar, Gerald was Editor of Gizmodo UK. He is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press.