Valve announces 'Half-Life: Alyx', a VR game that is not 'Half-Life 3'

Grab a jacket if you're heading to Hell, because Valve is making Half-Life games again! Don't get too excited though — it isn't Half-Life 3.

In the first post to Valve's verified Twitter account, the developer announced today that it will reveal a new game in the much-loved Half-Life series later this week: VR title Half-Life: Alyx.

"We're excited to unveil Half-Life: Alyx, our flagship VR game, this Thursday at 10am Pacific Time," said the tweet. "Can't wait to share it with all of you!"

Many fans can't wait to hear more about it either. Debuting with Half-Life in 1998, the video game franchise has maintained a massive and persistent fanbase despite its last game being released over a decade ago.

Fervent believers have searched for any sign that Half-Life 3 may be coming in the intervening years, desperately clinging to rumors and hope. Half-Life 3 is essentially the Winds of Winter of video games, only instead of George R.R. Martin promising that he's definitely working on it, we have only tumbleweeds and dreams.

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Valve's new VR game may not be that elusive gaming Sasquatch, but it is an indication the Half-Life series is still breathing.

We'll have to wait until Thursday for further details on Half-Life: Alyx, but we can already draw a few deductions from the title. 'Alyx' is presumably a reference to Alyx Vance, a friend and companion to the protagonist Gordon Freeman in the previous Half-Life games.

Alyx was very well received at the time, and is still held up as an exemplar of non-playable companions in video games. It'll be interesting to revisit her now, particularly considering how much games and gamers' expectations have changed since we last saw her.

However, the fact that Half-Life: Alyx is a VR game has put a damper on some fans' enthusiasm. VR sets are expensive, not to mention the rigs required to run them. This combined with a relative lack of games has made VR a poor investment for many gamers, which could make the new Half-Life inaccessible to them.

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Half-Life: Alyx isn't exactly the Half-Life continuation that players have been howling about for over a decade. Even so, any sniff of a return to Gordon Freeman's universe is bound to excite fans. At least it's something to tide us over while Valve learns to count to three.