• News

Half-Life: Alyx is 'done' and Valve is confident in their release date

With the exception of some small tweaks, Valve claims Half-Life: Alyx is pretty much complete and are confident they will be ready for their intended release date.

TJ Denzer

January 22, 2020 9:50 AM

9

In a season chockfull of delays, crunch, and pushback on some of 2020's most anticipated games, the folks at Valve are set on ensuring Half-Life: Alyx doesn’t get the same treatment. In a recent Q&A, Valve claimed that Half-Life: Alyx is pretty much done with the exception of some very final bug fixes, and that the VR game will absolutely launch on its intended date.

The Half-Life: Alyx team at Valve hosted a Q&A on Reddit on January 22, 2020 in which they took various questions from fans about the game. One of the questions answered by the team focused on how confident they were in their March 2020 release date announced in Half-Life: Alyx’s reveal. To this question, the Half-Life: Alyx team stated plainly that it was pretty much complete.

“With the exception of some tweaks to the absolute final scene, the game is done,” The team replied. “Lots of us at Valve, as well as playtesters, have played through the entire game multiple times. Right now, we're primarily polishing and fixing bugs, which is where we'd hope to be at this point in the development cycle. We're confident we'll hit our intended release.”

The concern on the part of fans and players is valid. This season we’ve seen delays hit Square Enix with pushbacks on both the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and The Avengers. CD Projekt Red also delayed Cyberpunk 2077 and Techland pushed back Dying Light 2, clearing what was once a very packed March and April on the 2020 gaming calendar. With so many prominent games having been hit with delays, it’s a little bit comforting to see Valve, who only just revealed Half-Life: Alyx in November 2019, is on track to meet their March 2020 launch so close to the game’s announcement.

Half-Life: Alyx is set to launch on Steam and Windows platforms in March 2020 on all applicable VR devices. Are you excited to play Half-Life: Alyx? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comment section below.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.