Valve makes Half-Life games free until Alyx release
Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and all expansions available cost-free on Steam
Valve has made the first two Half-Life games and their expansions available for free for the next two months.
The Source-powered version of Half-Life, expansions Blue Shift and Opposing Force, and Half-Life 2 and expansions Episode One and Episode Two will be free until March via Steam.
March is the release window for VR-only Half-Life: Alyx, the series’ first major instalment in over a decade.
In addition, Valve confirmed it will hold an AMA on Reddit this Wednesday, January 22, to discuss the new game.
Powered by SteamVR on Valve’s Source 2 engine, Alyx is set for release in March 2020 and will be compatible with multiple PC-based VR headsets, Valve announced in November.
The game, which Valve insists is not a spin-off but “the next part” of the story, can be pre-purchased for $59.99 and is free for owners of the Valve Index VR headset or Index controllers.
Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, the game sees protagonist Alyx Vance and her father Eli secretly mount a resistance to the occupation of Earth by a mysterious alien race known as The Combine.
Valve says Half-Life: Alyx was “designed from the ground up” for Virtual Reality and “features all of the hallmarks of a classic Half-Life game,” including “world exploration, puzzle solving, visceral combat, and an intricately woven story that connects it all with the characters iconic to the Half-Life universe.”
The Half-Life series has been on hiatus since 2007’s Episode Two, which was originally planned as the middle part of a trilogy which was ultimately never completed.