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Half-Life: Alyx is Just As Big As Half-Life 2
The fact that Half-Life: Alyx is a VR title led many fans to believe that it would be a short game, but the developers have confirmed that the it's roughly the same length as Half-Life 2. VR games are generally shorter than other titles, which is due to how small the market is in comparison to regular games.
Developers and publishers around the world have been reticent to create lengthy triple-A virtual reality experiences, but Valve recently stepped up to the plate when it announced that Half-Life: Alyx is a VR game. The Half-Life series has been dormant since the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Two in 2007, but Valve is returning to the franchise as part of its push to promote VR gaming and the Valve Index headset. The fact that the Valve Index is sold out in several regions suggests that the company has been successful in hyping people up to return to the world of Half-Life.
A virtual reality headset for PC is an expensive prospect and some people might not be encouraged to spend a lot of money just to play one game, especially as VR titles are generally short. It turns out that Half-Life: Alyx will buck this trend, as members of the development team for the game recently took part in a Reddit AMA, where they confirmed that Half-Life: Alyx will take roughly as long to complete as Half-Life 2.
Quote:
"Playtesters have taken a similar amount of time to complete Half-Life: Alyx as they did to complete Half-Life 2. The games are comparable in terms of total amount of content."
The comparison between the two titles is apt, as it has also been confirmed that Half-Life: Alyx will bridge the gap between the first two Half-Life games. The average runtime for Half-Life 2 is around twelve to fifteen hours, depending on the skill level of the player, so it's difficult to gauge exactly how long Half-Life: Alyx will be for most gamers. This doesn't take Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two into consideration, as they would add around ten more hours to the runtime.
Valve is clearly putting a lot of effort into Half-Life: Alyx and the footage that has been released so far has seemingly dispelled any notion of it being a heartless cash-in on the company's most beloved franchise. Half-Life: Alyx is being made by Valve's biggest team, so it's easy to believe that the game will feature a long story that is comparable to those of the first two Half-Life games. The only question now is whether gamers can handle a fifteen-hour VR Half-Life experience, as not everyone can enjoy virtual reality for lengthy periods of time.
Half-Life: Alyx will be released in March 2020 on Steam VR.
