We already knew Half-Life: Alyx is coming out next Monday, but developer Valve revealed in a tweet that the much-anticipated VR prequel to Half-Life 2 will be available at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET/5 p.m. GMT/4:00 a.m. AEDT) that day. You can start preloading this Friday, so you might want to double-check your VR setup now.
Half-Life: Alyx releases March 23rd, 10am Pacific Time. https://t.co/NCOLWqSp3e
— Valve (@valvesoftware) March 17, 2020
Steam pre-load begins this Friday. #HalfLifeAlyx pic.twitter.com/F57tj04tME
Half-Life: Alyx is "the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine," according to Steam. "Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity's only chance for survival."
You'll need a VR headset it, but you can prepurchase the game now for $53.99. Preorder bonuses include Steam VR Home environments that are "inspired by locations in Half-Life: Alyx."
Valve announced Half-Life: Alyx back in November, revealing last month that it was almost done making the game ahead of its March launch. The developer, which owns gaming platform Steam, also developed the games Portal, Half-Life and Team Fortress before announcing way back in Feb. 2017 that it was working on three VR games.
The first Half-Life game came out in 1998, and at the time was called "revolutionary" by CNET sister site GameSpot (it also just got a rather good fan-made remake, Black Mesa). Half-Life 2 dropped in 2004. Since then, we've been waiting for a third installment of the franchise, as Half-Life 2: Episode One dropped in 2006 and Half-Life 2: Episode Two appeared in 2007, both as shorter games.
