Half-Lifeis known for making big leaps with each new game. Historically,Valvehas only been interested in revisiting the franchise when it can do something fresh and innovative. That makes the pressure of returning to the series — which data miners have revealedValve is currently in the process of doing with a new game codenamed Project White Sands— overwhelming.
Half-Life Has Always Moved Forward
The first game was a breakthrough moment for first-person shooters, pairing environmental verisimilitude with a heavy narrative emphasis to create a template that triple-A shooters have followed for decades.Half-Life 2took the rudimentary physics of the first game — which allowed you to do simple things like push boxes around — and took them to the next level, with physics-based puzzles and the iconic Gravity Gun which let you pick up and hurl objects in the environment.Half-Life: Alyxbuilt on both, but transplanted the action into virtual reality, for an immersive, horrifying experience that offered greater expressiveness and freedom in how you interacted with its world more than any shooter I had played before.
Each Half-Life is a landmark game. But, as lead photo editor James Troughton recently argued,Half-Life 3 doesn’t need to be. The long-anticipated FPS, which has taken on mythic status in the 20 years since Half-Life 2, seems to finally be in development at Valve. Theending of Alyxstrongly suggested we were headed here, and Valve developers who spoke in Geoff Keighley’s interactive reported piece The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx about how making the spin-off had put them in a place where they were “not afraid of Half-Life no more.” Alyx’s ending perfectly set up Half-Life 3, while also perfectly evading the decade-plus of built-up expectations. I’m primed to finally get my hands on Valve’s long-awaited sequel, and I’m excited for whatever the team decides to do. My only request is that this time around Half-Life’s return isn’t inVR.
Alyx being in VR made sense. After so long away from the series, Valve needed something, anything, to shake it out of the years of inertia. Playing with VR tech as it prepared to help launch the HTC Vive was what put Valve on the path to developing Half-Life: Alyx, and that process pushed the company to develop its own VR headset, the Index, for which Alyx was flagship tech. Virtual reality was key in the journey back to Half-Life, and if the choice was no Half-Life or Half-Life in VR, I was happy to play Half-Life in VR.
If VR Isn’t The Future, What Is?
But,VR just isn’t something that fits into my life, and given how small a market VR is, there are many aging Half-Life fans who don’t even own headsets. If Half-Life 3 ends up being a VR exclusive like Alyx, I’ll figure it out, I’ll find a space, and I’ll play it. The series is important enough to me that I wouldn’t miss a game just because playing it would be an inconvenience. I can’t say that about 99 percent of the series I’ve played, so that’s a major credit to Valve.
When I pitched this article, James suggested that a Half-Life 3 that is playable in and out of VR would be the best option, and I won’t argue with that.
But, I’m more interested in seeing Valve innovate through game design than I am interested in seeing it innovate through new tech. The next Half-Life could be a VR exclusive or a Steam Deck exclusive, but wouldn’t it be fun to see Valve let loose on creative new level design and mechanical ideas instead? So many cool things have happened in the first-person space since Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Walking simulators likeGone Homeand What Remains of Edith Finch, first-person horror games likeAmnesia: The Dark Descentand Outlast, boomer shooters likeDuskand Amid Evil, cool high-concept indies likeSuperhotand Metal: Hellsinger, speedrunning FPSes like Neon White andAnger Foot— there have been so many innovations that have moved the genre forward in small ways.
Half-Life has always been an innovative series, taking the industry in bold new directions. Since Half-Life 2, indie games have stepped into Valve’s shoes, and done so without emphasizing new tech. If Valve wants to really impress with Half-Life, it doesn’t need new tech; it just needs new ideas.
