Valve fans everywhere rejoiced after shaking off the disbelief that a new Half-Life game would be released in the form of Half-Life: Alyx. However, some fans expressed disappointment that the game won't help to wrap up the events of Half-Life 2, Episode Two all these years after its cliffhanger ending. It's now been revealed, though, that those fans may get to see more Half-Life after all.
Half:Life Alyx is set to release in March of 2020 as a virtual reality game, to the disappointment of some. The game is set between the events of Half-Life 1 and 2, acting as a sort of prequel to what gamers last enjoyed in the Half-Life universe.
While that may be the case for now, Valve has shown signs that it's already looking to the future of more Half-Life games. When Valve programmer David Speyrer was asked some questions about the game by The Verge, an interesting quote emerged. Speyrer states that Valve is first waiting to see how fans react to Half-Life: Alyx, but that "we’d love to continue pushing forward."
Presumably, this means that Valve isn't against the idea of revisiting the Half-Life universe following Alyx. This is great news for fans, as the fate of Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman has been largely left up in the air following the ending of Half Life 2 Episode Two.
Of course, some fans may now start worrying that a further continuation of the Half-Life series could be exclusively VR. This remains to be seen; Valve has now developed the Source 2 engine, which is clearly capable of playing VR games, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's all the developer will do with it going forward. While Valve clearly wants to interest players in the possibility of VR - and likely sell some Valve Index headsets in the process - a mainline entry to the franchise could potentially return to a standard game format, or be playable both in and outside of VR, unlike Half-Life Alyx.
While the future of Half-Life is uncertain after Alyx ships, fans are likely just happy to see Valve back developing full-length games. Perhaps some of their other flagship titles, like Portal and Left 4 Dead, will also get full-length continuations at some point, with or without VR.
Source: The Verge