The 2020 video game that became Valve’s first Half-Life title designed specifically for VR was Half-Life: Alyx.
Valve released Half-Life: Alyx on March 23, 2020, for Windows and Linux-based systems supporting SteamVR. It is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 and follows Alyx Vance during humanity’s struggle against the Combine occupation. Valve built the game around motion-controlled interaction and room-scale VR.
Players manipulate objects, operate weapons, solve environmental puzzles, and communicate with the game world using tracked controllers. The design made interaction a central part of play rather than simply placing a conventional first-person game inside a headset.
Half-Life: Alyx is sometimes mistaken for a VR version of Half-Life 2. It is a separate prequel story and a full-length title created for VR. Valve had previously explored VR through The Lab, a 2016 collection of shorter experiments, but Alyx was the major Half-Life VR release.