In November 2019, Valve shocked the world by announcing Half-Life: Alyx, a virtual reality-based interquel set between the first two Half-Life games. This is the first official game to explore the Half-Life universe since Portal-inspired VR experience The Lab, which released alongside the HTC Vive in April 2016. More importantly, this was the first time Half-Life received a full new entry since Half-Life 2: Episode 2 in 2007. That’s a long time to wait for one of the more story-focused first-person shooter franchises to receive a new installment, and it was only made more painful by Episode 2’s cliffhanger. Half-Life: Alyx appeared during an age when it felt like a new Half-Life game was never happening.