Half-Life: Alyx launches on Monday at 10AM PT. Luckily, you can now start pre-loading the game on Steam so that you’re ready to go as soon as it launches.

Update (March 20th, 2020): Valve has announced that Half-Life: Alyx pre-loading has begun. Pre-loading allows players to install the game files on Steam ahead of time to be ready to play as soon as the game launches on Monday at 10AM PT (see release time in your local time zone here). Half-Life: Alyx’s file size is 48GB when downloaded but may reach closer to 67GB when unpacked.

Original Article (March 18th, 2020): Valve today announced that Half-Life: Alyx, its rapidly approaching flagship VR title, will release precisely at 10 AM PT on March 23rd (local time here).

Starting Friday, you’ll also be able to preemptively hit that download button to make the most of your time. Most modern household Internet connections should be able to chew through what promises to be a fairly chunky file size over the course of the weekend.

Did you buy any Valve Index hardware? Then you already have Half-Life: Alyx for free, as Valve has given it away with every Index package, save the single SteamVR 2.0 base stations.

And if you didn’t, well, it’s at least guaranteed to support all SteamVR-compatible headsets, which includes Oculus Rift & Rift S, all flavors of HTC Vive, Pimax headsets, Windows MR, and Vive Cosmos.

If you have an Oculus Quest, don’t forget you can play it too, provided you have a long enough Link cable and a suitable VR-ready PC at your disposal.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sebastien Mathieu

    Oculus quest with link is supported too….

    • NooYawker

      Most every headset is supported.

    • D-_-RAiL

      Yes but with no corporation from Facebook sooo it might be fine. Valve put a lot of work in to get to work.

  • Gamer1st

    Got my controllers Monday. Tech has evolved as far as it need to. I can now flip people off in VR with my actual fingers. Or I could if my right hand wasn’t in a splint…

    • Looks like some divine force is stopping you from the flipping of the people off.

      • Gamer1st

        No, it was just overuse of my hand and old age.

        • Gamer1st

          Sadly it looks like ooluigioo has had a humorectomy at some point.

  • NooYawker

    I often say I can’t wait for the weekend but I’ve never said, I hope this weekend is over quickly. And I never ever imagined I’d say, I can’t wait for Monday.

    • Andrew McEvoy

      lol! thank you for verbalising my feelings so perfectly

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  • I am SUPER EXCITED!!!

  • NooYawker

    So… when will they allow you to preload? Or does it download on it’s own?

    • Jack Liddon

      Go to Half-Life Alyx in your library. There’s a button to preload.

      • NooYawker

        Thanks. It’s already downloaded.

  • gothicvillas

    Monday can’t come soon enough.. wait, something is not right with this

  • mirak

    Valve said they will refund Alyx cost of you get an index after buying Alyx.
    It should be mentioned somewhere.

  • Brian Brown

    This is going to be epic. I can’t wait for Monday!!

  • Marcus

    I almost consider buying a PC because of this game, which is crazy.

    • Coming from the Quest – I did.
      Yes, it sounds crazy but there are so many great games and experiences that I think its worth every penny.

      • Marcus

        It’s not only the money or searching for the right PC. It’s also about getting tethered again. I really enjoy the freedom of my Quest.

        • I know. The tether is indeed a huge downside!
          But then, I choose to play games with lots of movement (BoxVR, ElevenVR, Beat Saber etc.) on the Quest and enjoy the visual fidelity of the high end PC titles linked.

          For me, the downside of the (feeling and managing) cable is trumped by the benefits in immersion by the superior graphics. It sounds such a small factor, since gameplay is always more important than graphics, imho.

          But then, when you go through the environments from Half-Life Alyx in SteamVR home (especially the laboratory), knowing that the amount of detail will get even better in the game, it becomes clear that, yes, graphics do indeed matter.

          Best thing would be, if you could try before you buy….with games/experiences that fit your needs. And if you really don’t need that amount of detail to get lost in the VR worlds.

    • mirak

      Don’t, you will not see a big game for quite sometime after that.
      Doom Eternal was a good candidate for VR considering Doom VFR was released and sold not bad.
      But it’s not for VR.
      That’s where we are at.

      • Because The Walking Dead is not worth it? Or the fantastic Hellblade (with its immersive binaural sound). Asgards Wrath or SkyrimVR? Lone Echo and Lone Echo 2 (this year)? Or Elite Dangerous?

        Not to mention all those little beautiful things like Google EarthVR, the Sistine Chapel, The Lab and so on and so forth…

        Yes, totally not worth it. Just wait a couple of years before going full VR.
        (/s)

        • mirak

          Walking Dead was released before Alyx.
          It’s very good, and better than Alyx on some points, but not as good as Alyx overall.

          I don’t play Oculus exclusive, they are not supported on my headset.

          • …? So what? You suggested that buying a PC isnt recommended for VR – but I do.
            It doesnt matter if great VR games are new or old – they are still there and even after the fantastic masterpiece that HLA is, still very much to consider playing.

            So yes, I still strongly recommend builing a PC for VR and especially for HLA!

  • ArSh

    Let’s hope it lives up to the hype! Hype trains tend to derail more often than not on launch…

  • Can we all please appreciate that Valve didn’t took their Valve Time anymore?!
    This is groundbreaking.

    • mirak

      Considering the Vive was released 4 years ago, and that they started to work on VR l’île 2 years earlier, and that VR isnthe main “feature of Alyx”, that’s a very long time.to release what was expected since we know they are working on VR.
      Like 6 years or so.

      • So what? They released experiments like The Lab to test the waters (and they greatly succeeded at that). Valve never said that they will release a Half Life VR game alongside their Index. It was all pure speculation!
        When they announced it with a release date, they kept their promise. And now they deliver, tomorrow is THE day.

        One could argue that they took 13 years to finally release a new HL game but thats something completely different.

        • kuhpunkt

          They said they had their Valve time internally this time. They even announced a flagship title publically for 2019.

    • Baldrickk

      To quote Valve (ok, paraphrase) – “We already had our valve time, it’s already finished”

  • What’s the game’s performance on 980ti’s?

    • kuhpunkt

      Nobody knows. If you got 6GB vram, it could work.

  • kuhpunkt

    They announced the flagship title for 2019 when they showed the Index for the first time in April 2019.

  • Thanks for the “In Death” heads up. I didnt know about it and I might try it once I have enough of City 17….which might take a while ;-)

  • Jonathan Winters III

    67GB – WOW that’s a lot of content. Looking forward to this.

  • Fabian

    I have about a hundred games in VR and “In Death” is the one with the most play time. Totally awesome, everyone should have that game

    • mirak

      My go to game is Pavlov.
      Will try in death when I finish other games.