After years of waiting the next episode in the Half-Life series is finally set to drop in the next few days in the form of 'Half-Life: Alyx' a brand new VR game, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2.
Keen to know more? Before we continue, here's the plot description:
"It’s the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2.
"Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity’s only chance for survival. The Combine’s control of the planet since the Black Mesa incident has only strengthened as they corral the remaining population in cities. Among them are some of Earth’s greatest scientists: you and your father, Dr. Eli Vance.
"As founders of a fledgling resistance, you’ve continued your clandestine scientific activity—performing critical research, and building invaluable tools for the few humans brave enough to defy the Combine.
"Every day, you learn more about your enemy, and every day you work toward finding a weakness."
Now you're all caught up, you probably want to know when you can start playing? Well, read on.
WHEN DOES HALF-LIFE: ALYX PRELOAD BEGIN?
According to the developers at Valve, Steam pre-load for Half-Life: Alyx is confirmed to begin on Friday, March 20.
Now, in the UK, it's nearly 11pm GMT, meaning there's only one hour to go until it's no longer Friday, March 20.
The thing is, Valve didn't specify when on Friday preload will begin and technically in some parts of the world there's over 11 hours to go until we're all on Saturday, March 21.
So it could be any minute, but could also be hours away, too.
The good news, we guess, is that as soon as the preload drops before this weekend, there's ages for you to download the game ahead of the release date. Speaking of which…
WHAT IS THE HALF-LIFE: ALYX RELEASE DATE?
An easy one. The Half-Life: Alyx release date has been set in stone for Monday, March 23rd.
In addition, the game also has a release date time confirmed as 10am Pacific Time.
For those in the UK that actually means the game will release on Monday, March 23rd at 5pm GMT in the evening.
WHAT IS THE HALF-LIFE: ALYX DOWNLOAD SIZE AND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS?
The game requires 12 GB RAM in order to install Half-Life: Alyx.
On top of the required memory, players will also need (of course) a virtual reality headset. Of which, there is a lot of choice, including: Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there is no Half-Life: Alyx support for PlayStation VR. Although it sounds like it could arrive one day in the future.
It's worth noting that if you already own a Valve Index headset you'll get Half-Life: Alyx free, plus extra content.
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