A new Half-Life is coming, and while it's not Half-Life 3, or even Episode 3, it feels very good to type that out. Half-Life: Alyx is a VR spin-off set before Half-Life 2, though, so what about the series' future and other platforms? While we probably won't see Alyx appear outside of VR, Valve still has plans for Half-Life beyond the latest outing.
The Verge asked designer David Speyrer if this was a full return to Half-Life and if we could expect more games in the series now that Valve has finally brought it out of stasis. He confirmed that it was, adding that Valve's found news ways to tell stories and make games through Half-Life: Alyx's development that it wants to continue to explore.
"It’s probably no surprise that many people at Valve have been wanting to get back to the Half-Life universe for a long time, and this experience has only reinforced that," he said. "In the process of creating Half-Life: Alyx, we’ve had to explore new ways to tell stories with these characters and this world, and we’ve discovered a lot of new gameplay experiences that go beyond what we’ve been able to do before. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how people react to Half-Life: Alyx once it’s out, but we’d love to continue pushing forward."
After years of waiting, it feels like we're closer than ever to Half-Life 3, but for all the anticipation I'm increasingly glad that Valve's return to the series is something a bit different, rather than the sequel we've been hungering for. While some might rankle at the thought of shelling out £300 for a headset, at the low end, it's about time VR had a system-selling game.