Gamers have been waiting for a new part of the "Half-Life" series for many years. "Alyx" will appear on Monday. This is how the game is started.
It may not be the third part of the "Half-Life" series that has been eagerly awaited for more than a decade, but the VR adventure "Half-Life: Alyx" will once again send players to battle alien conquerors from March 23 .
It's all about this
"Half-Life: Alyx" is not a real successor, but plays between the events from "Half-Life" and "Half-Life 2". In the role of series star Alyx Vance, players lead the fight against the Combine. The alien conquerors have crammed the remaining people into cities and have long seized dominance over the earth. Adventure is not only about eliminating enemies, but also solving puzzles.
"Alyx" therefore fits perfectly into the existing universe. What is new, however, is that the game can only be played on a PC and with virtual reality glasses (VR) such as Valve Index, HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. Some fans should be angry with that. VR enthusiasts will be pleased that the game was created from the ground up for virtual reality and not just adapted. You can play both sitting and standing.
According to Valve, the minimum requirements for running the game are a Windows 10 computer with a Core i5-7500 or Ryzen 5-1600 processor, 12 gigabytes of RAM and a GTX 1060 or RX-580 graphics card with 6GB VRAM .
That's what the trade press says
At least Gabe Newell (57), the legendary co-founder of the responsible software company Valve, is happy in a video interview with "IGN". He is "super happy" with the game, as he explains. The first trailers and gameplay videos recently promised an intense experience that has never been seen before. But what do trade media think of "Half-Life: Alyx"? Can the game possibly become the new benchmark for VR gaming?
Different specialist publications agree that "Half-Life: Alyx" is a good to fantastic game. "GamesRadar" speaks of a "technical masterpiece" and appoints "Alyx" as the best VR game ever. "Kotaku" describes the game a bit more sober. The game is filled with "groundbreaking ideas", but sometimes the title feels "too ambitious and too conservative" in its implementation.
"4players.de" meanwhile raves that the game "sets new standards for its genre" and praises the "impressive staging with its bombastic backdrop" and the "inspiring use of motion control", even if there are "small weaknesses". "IGN" also rates the game as a "masterpiece", which should be groundbreaking for VR. It feels "like a game from the future" – one that other developers "will need a while to catch up or outperform."