Action · March 23, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx (2020)

trophy42 achievementsextension1 DLClocal_offer-70% current discountgroup1M–10M ownerstrending_up202 peak concurrentrecommend88.3k recommendations
Half-Life: Alyx is Valve’s VR return to the Half-Life series. 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. ABOUT GAMEPLAY IN VR: Valve’s return to the Half-Life universe that started it all was built from the ground up for virtual reality. VR was built to enable the gameplay that sits at the heart of Half-Life. Immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat. Lean to aim around a broken wall and under a Barnacle to make an impossible shot. Rummage through shelves to find a healing syringe and some shotgun shells. Manipulate tools to hack alien interfaces. Toss a bottle through a window to distract an enemy. Rip a Headcrab off your face and throw it out the window. COMMUNITY-BUILT ENVIRONMENTS A set of Source 2 tools for building new levels is included with the game, enabling any player to build and contribute new environments for the community to enjoy through Half-Life: Alyx's Steam Workshop. Hammer, Valve’s level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.

Action releases from 2020

236 Action titles launched in 2020 — top 6 by review volume.

More from Valve

Valve has 29 titles indexed — top 6 by review volume below.

Position in Action

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume97.2k Steam reviewsTop 7% in Action
Positive rating98% positiveGenre average: 83% — this title sits in top 3%
Metacritic93/100Genre average 77 — top 1% of Action titles
Concurrent peak202 playersTop 25% in Action by live player count
Engagement hours11 h averageTop 43% for session depth among Action

Peer Action titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • VR · 2.3k
  • FPS · 2.0k
  • Story Rich · 2.0k
  • Horror · 2.0k
  • Female Protagonist · 2.0k
  • Shooter · 1.9k
  • Singleplayer · 1.9k
  • First-Person · 1.9k
  • Action · 1.8k
  • Sci-fi · 1.8k
  • Atmospheric · 1.8k
  • Zombies · 1.8k
  • Beautiful · 1.8k
  • Aliens · 1.7k
  • Adventure · 1.7k

Localization Coverage

Interface / Subtitles (12)

  • English volume_up
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish - Spain
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Spanish - Latin America
  • Traditional Chinese
  • Italian
  • Czech

Full audio (2)

  • English
  • Swedish

Reception Metrics

Steam community

98%Overwhelmingly Positive · 97.2k reviews

95.3k positive · 1.9k negative

Metacritic

93/100 critic aggregate

Open Metacritic page

Metacritic user score

9.2/10

Curator recommendations

88.3k

Peak concurrent players

202

Features & Capabilities

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Workshop

Accessibility

  • Captions available
  • Adjustable Difficulty
  • Subtitle Options

Input & Comfort

  • Tracked Controller Support
  • VR Only
  • VR Support
  • Custom Volume Controls
  • Stereo Sound

Other

  • Single-player
  • Save Anytime

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

11h

short (5–15 hours)

Median

6h

Typical completion time

2-week avg

1h

Current engagement

Achievements

42

Steam unlocks available

Release & Availability

Release dateMar 23, 2020
DeveloperValve
Base price$17.99 -70%
DLC / Add-ons1 released
PlatformsWindows
Estimated owners1M–10M
External linksOfficial site · Metacritic page · Support

Content Notes

Includes violence and gore.

Editions & Packages

  • Buy Half-Life: Alyx