Half-Life: Alyx and how Valve 'overthrows' what you already know about Half-Life

With a plot that overturns what gamers already know about Half-Life, Half-Life: Alyx could be the beginning of new surprises in the future.

The End of Half-Life: Alyx is an open ending, overthrowing everything that gamers know about Half-Life after playing Half-Life: Episode 2 released 13 years ago. Although the game started before Half-Life 2, it ended at the same time as Half-Life: Episode 2 ended, giving gamers the world a shock to learn about the fate of the most important characters. in the series, including father and daughter Eli Vance and Alyx Vance. This set a launch pad for the sequels of Half-Life (which is undisputed, since Valve has confirmed there will be next titles), but here I feel like I need to lay out a Question: How will this legendary series continue?

Warning: the article contains content Half-Life: Alyx.

Not known yet!

Among the writers who have participated in writing the script for Half-Life versions before, the most important characters are Marc Laidlaw (who wrote the original Half-Life version) and Erik Wolpaw (script writer) Half-Life 2) have left the studio. However, Erik still contributed to the development of Half-Life: Alyx after returning to work with Valve in 2017, although not as a full-time employee. So, although Marc Laidlaw released a rough version of Half-Life 3 in 2017, we can be sure that the new Half-Life titles will be much different from the original idea of who made the first two Half-Life titles.

Half-Life: Alyx and how Valve 'overthrows' what you already know about Half-Life Picture 1

'End of Half-Life: Alyx indeed gave some directions that we were all excited about, so it's not like we haven't got any ideas yet (for the next games), but just not sure. be sure of something, '' said Jay Pinkerton, one of Valve's script writers. Erik Wolpaw agrees with this, and jokes that if Marc Laidlaw had a secret 300-page secret book, containing the script of all three subsequent Half-Life, it would be a great thing. .

What happens in Half-Life: Alyx?

Half-Life: Alyx started when Alyx Vance went on a journey to rescue her father, Dr. Eli Vance, who is now in the hands of Combine. You know the result of this journey from 13 years ago by Dr. Eli still alive in Half-Life: Episode 2 before he was killed by an Advisor at the end of the game. So, the game solved this problem quickly when Alyx successfully rescued his father, but you received a new goal when Dr. Eli revealed that during the arrest, he . hacked. into Combine data and realize that the Nova Prospekt prison he almost became a guest is a place to store a secret weapon that the Combine floods do not want outsiders to know.

With information from his father and the help of the Vortigaunts, Eli Vance knew he needed to find a giant ship called Vault. After many more dangers, Alyx realized that the weapon she wanted to find was actually a survivor of the Black Mesa accident many years ago, and that Vault was actually not a chest containing weapons - it was a Huge prison holds him. Dr. Eli believes that inside Vault could only be Gordon Freeman and he advised his daughter to rescue Gordon, but it was a false information that he could not correct with his daughter before she entered Vault. to face what is hidden there.

So who is locked in Vault? The correct answer is G-Man, the mysterious 'government employee' who has appeared in all previous games. Alyx successfully rescues the character, and is rewarded by him showing her the dark future where Dr. Eli dies. G-Man then made an offer that Alyx could not refuse: becoming his employee instead of the currently missing 'Gordon Freeman,' and he would give Alyx the opportunity to change that future. .

What happened after that can be summed up with a short sentence: Alyx successfully saved his father, the Advisor was destroyed, but the timeline has completely changed. Dr. Eli Vance wakes up and sees G-Man standing from a nearby balcony, realizing that 'the immeasurable consequences' are his (death and revival) death and Alyx gets entangled inside. G-Man's web. Dr. Eli vows to kill G-Man for what he did, handing Gordon the Half-Life crowbar with the promise that much more will happen.

Half-Life: Alyx and how Valve 'overthrows' what you already know about Half-Life Picture 2

G-Man chose Alyx to replace Gordon Freeman.

Half-Life: Alyx and how Valve 'overthrows' what you already know about Half-Life Picture 3

With Half-Life: Alyx, Valve has set the standard for future VR games

Although Half-Life: Alyx was just born, I would like to boldly use the word "to" to show how far Valve has gone in making VR games.

Future?

By now, we have learned one thing: when Gordon Freeman closed the portal of space in the Citadel in City 17, the Combines no longer had reinforcements. Now, the Earth people are facing the opportunity to regain their freedom, though they will surely pay a very expensive price. For Valve, however, this means that they need to find a new direction for the game, and after considering all the aspects, that direction is nothing but the mysterious G-Man.

'Our idea is that when a god is locked up in a box and you free him, he owes you a favor,' author Jay Pinkeron said. 'That favor will have to be great. And what does Alyx want? '

As the Earth being dominated, of course, what Alyx wants is that the G-Man snapped his fingers and caused the Combines to disappear from the planet's surface. But if that happens, the game will no longer be interesting - Valve knows it so G-Man says that he will not do this. Instead, G-Man 'refreshes' Alyx's original goal: after saving his father from the train to Nova Prospekt, Alyx will have to save Dr. Eli from the future we once knew would happen. .

Half-Life: Alyx and how Valve 'overthrows' what you already know about Half-Life Picture 4

With the plot overturning what happened in Half-Life: Episode 2, the challenge of Valve's writing team was to make sure the gamers did not feel that what they experienced was meaningless and should have been replaced. with a cutscene or a part of Half-Life: Episode 2. Mr. Erik Wolpaw said that when the game ends like this, it both 'refreshes' the impression of Half-Life in the heart of the gamer, both poses both old and new questions, giving gamers new speculations about the future of the game.

An example of an old question: when Half-Life: Alyx ended, Dr. Eli's death did not happen, but Alyx Vance is now in a certain dimension - perhaps where Gordon Freeman once lay. between Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2 - waiting for the day to be awakened by G-Man. Where is that place, and do we have a way to rescue Alyx without having to wait for G-Man to wake her up?

Questions about G-Man are also one thing that gamers will repeat when discussing the game. Who is G-Man and his boss, the old question, while the new question is what they do / can do / cannot do. These new questions are posed by all the Half-Life titles that have been released, the G-Man is always covered in a mysterious layer: he is powerful, but never direct. dive in and seem to be bound by rules that have never been told. Valve said that they have set the rules for a long time, but intentionally hide from gamers because they do not want to make gamers lose the pleasure of discovering what they do not know in the game.

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Meanwhile, a whole new question is how Dr. Eli Vance could realize what G-Man did just by seeing him. This is a mystery because when the Advisor was defeated, the timeline was completely changed and his killing by Advisor did not happen. The game development team said they used to want some clues to show that G-Man was there, but ultimately did not do so directly to G-Man watching Eli Vance from afar to set off. evokes the gamer's curiosity most directly.

Valve says they have answers to these questions, but don't want to disclose them. 'We make sure we have the answer, but we don't want to say it,' said Jay Pinketon. Perhaps we'll have to wait until the release of the next version of Half-Life, and Valve promises gamers won't have to wait another 13 years.