Valve says it would ‘love to continue pushing forward’ on new Half-Life games

Today, Valve finally unveiled Half-Life: Alyx, its first full-fledged VR game and, more importantly, the developer’s long-awaited return to the Half-Life series. The game will be out in March 2020, and it marks the first new Half-Life title since Episode 2 in 2007. And according to Valve, we might not have to wait another decade to see the series continue — but that depends on the success of Alyx.

“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,” Valve’s David Speyrer tells The Verge. “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.”

The new VR game is something of a prequel, taking place before the events of Half-Life 2, and Speyrer says that people should play through Episode 2 before hopping into the new game. But he also notes that it’s not just a short tech demo or spinoff, as is typical with VR games. “It’s not a side story, nor an episodic one — it’s the next part of the Half-Life story, in a game around the same length as Half-Life 2,” he explains.

For more on the game, be sure to check out our announcement story with all of the details we know so far.