Bottom line: Virtual reality hasn't exactly caught on as rapidly as some anticipated. A quality game from a flagship franchise like Half-Life, however, could go a long way to help further the movement. The first official Half-Life game in well over a decade is set to arrive early next week and in a matter of days, you'll be able to start pre-loading it.
Half-Life: Alyx is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 and tells "the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine." Curiously enough, it's a virtual reality exclusive meaning you'll need some sort of VR headset to play it. Fortunately, it is compatible with most major offerings including the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest and Windows Mixed Reality devices.
Valve in a Twitter post said Steam pre-loading will begin this Friday, March 18, ahead of the game's launch on March 23 at 10 a.m. Pacific.
Interested parties can pre-purchase the game as of writing with a 10 percent discount, bringing the cost down to just $53.99.
Worth mentioning is the fact that Valve Index buyers will get the game for free. What's more, it was revealed today that the Vive Cosmos Elite will also ship with a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx.
In addition to a VR headset, Valve recommends a PC with at least a Core i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 12GB of RAM and a GTX 1060 / RX 580 - 6GB VRAM graphics card.