Valve has named the date for the release of Half-Life: Alyx. In a Tweet a few hours ago the games, Steam, and hardware maker said that Half-Life: Alyx would become available from Monday, 23rd March.
Half-Life: Alyx has been pre-orderable for a number of weeks already, but at least potential buyers now have a firm date to mark on their calendar. As a reminder this is a VR game which will work on your PC with a tethered HMD such as the Valve Index, HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift series. Half-Life: Alyx is set between Half-Life 1 and 2, and as the protagonist you will "immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat."
If you already own a Valve Index headset or controllers then you will get Half-Life: Alyx free, plus extra content. Others are currently being offered a 'sale' price of £41.84. Those who have never ventured into the Half-Life universe might like to know that all games in the Half-Life Collection are free to play for Steam users, from now until the day Alyx launches.
Alongside the news of the release date Valve has shared a trio of new screenshots showing various scenes from City 17. I've embedded them at low-ish resolution throughout this story but you can check out the detailed 4K screengrabs via the above Twitter post link.
As well as needing one of the recommended PC HMDs to play, you will require a PC with the following minimum specs:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600
- Memory: 12GB RAM
- Graphics: GTX 1060 / RX 580 - 6GB VRAM
HEXUS previously reported on the decimation of Valve Index stocks in the wake of the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx. It turns out sale of this very capable HMD system doubled after the game announcement. In another Tweet a few hours ago Valve promised it has will provide "more information on upcoming Valve Index availability soon". Perhaps it will still be possible to snag a Valve Index and order the game before 23rd March (about 5 weeks to go).
