When it comes to completely unexpected game announcements that caught us completely off-guard, few come close to that of Half-Life: Alyx. Back when it was announced in last year’s November, the whole gaming community collectively lost their minds over the fact that we will be getting an actual new Half-Life game. After the huge failure that was Artifact, fans of Valve games are hoping that this new project will be the game that redeems the company, and creates a promising future for Valve games yet to come.

Let’s take a look at the reasons why Half-Life: Alyx will be the game marking the comeback of Valve as a game developer, as well as why there are some who think it might be a bit too late.

10 Comeback: Revisiting An Old Franchise

One of the main reasons Valve as a game developer has had so much popularity is the memorable franchises it created, the most influential of which being the Half-Life franchise. It has inspired multiple games that came out later and its code was also used by fans to create one of the best-known online FPS games Counter-Strike. Now that Valve is finally revisiting this legendary franchise might mean that the company is turning a new chapter and preparing for a new line of games to show us this decade.

Whether you love it or hate it, there is no denying the influence that the Half-Life franchise has had on gaming as a whole, and getting a new game means that Valve has not given up on creating innovative games just yet.

9 Too Late: The Hype Has Died Down

There is a difference between building up hype for a new project that’s a sequel by making the fans wait for a while, and completely abandoning the franchise for thirteen years before announcing a new game completely out of the blue. In this case, it was the latter, seeing as Half-Life 2: Episode Two came out in 2007, as well as interviews saying that the story has been abandoned altogether.

Even though we are happy to hear that a new game is coming, the way the whole franchise was handled after the last game made our hype die down.

8 Comeback: Innovation

Just as the games that came before it, what we have seen from Half-Life: Alyx so far really seems that it will carry on with the franchise’s tradition of trying to create innovation in FPS gaming. While it has been confirmed that the way the game functions have been greatly inspired by the systems of Boneworks, it’s safe to assume that the teams working on the game will include a lot of their own systems that will deeply impress anyone who has a VR system.

Although VR systems have been around for a while now, it really does seem that games like Half-Life: Alyx will try to further push the limitations of VR by creating one of the most immersive experiences to date.

7 Too Late: The Lost Touch

There are a plethora of examples of creative media developers taking extended breaks from creating projects, only to come back a tad too late, leading to a sub-par project due to the developer losing their touch. Unfortunately, this was the case with Valve as well when they released their first game in years called Artifact, which bombed and has been nearly abandoned by everyone since.

While it would be extremely improbable that the people working on Half-Life: Alyx are the same people that worked on either any of the Half-Life games or Artifact, it is still Valve making them, meaning that there is no guarantee that they won’t make critical mistakes.

6 Comeback: Changing Things Up

What makes this unexpected announcement even more exciting regarding Valve’s future is that it seems to be interested in experimenting and changing up old formulas. The most obvious thing being the fact that the game will be using Valve’s own VR system, but it’s also important to note that the story in the game won’t be a continuation of the initial Half-Life 2 story, but rather a prequel to it. Prequels aren’t something Valve tends to make often, making this a shake-up for fans’ expectations, combined with the advanced systems of VR.

Judging from the trailers it really does look like Valve isn’t relying solely on what they have made years ago, and have been experimenting vigorously so that the experience would feel fresh.

5 Too Late: Uncertain Creative Freedom

Anyone who has followed the Half-Life series or the history of Valve as a company knows that Valve has not had their focus set on video game development for multiple years now. This is most likely because of the business side of things, seeing how well Steam has been doing it comes as no surprise that they would rather focus on their platform. This, in turn, forms some unease, as there is no guarantee that the team working on the game will have the creative freedom needed to make a Half-Life game that people would talk about positively for years to come.

We can only hope that Valve has truly missed making ground-breaking games, and will set a large amount of their focus on the development of this potentially amazing game.

4 Comeback: Selling Like Hot Cakes

Even though not everyone is as hyped about the game as they would have been, had it been announced a couple of years ago, this did not stop it from selling at incredible speeds. This is evident by the fact that the stock of Valve’s Index VR system has been completely sold out since the game will be bundled with the hardware for free for those who order it. While the system can be used to play other VR games, this spike in sales is definitely caused by the enormous wave of attention from fans.

Sure, we won’t know how good the game actually is before it comes out, but the fact that there are so many people ordering the VR hardware to play the game shows that there are enough people around that care about it enough to invest in said hardware.

3 Too Late: Strong Competition

Back when both the original Half-Life as well as its episodic sequel came out, the games had a lot to offer in terms of originality, world-building, writing and game mechanic innovation in general. These days, however, the series will have to go head-to-head with other innovative FPS games that are extremely promising such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Doom Eternal.

While we believe that Half-Life: Alyx will most likely be a good game, there is the worrying thought that it will not live up to the quality of the competition, making the game fade into history.

2 Comeback: Hope For The Future

Although it is very exciting that we’re getting a new Half-Life game very soon, what’s even more exciting is the possibility of this game being the first step for Valve in re-entering the game developing world in a big way. Hopefully, if this game is a success Valve will continue developing games, be it sequels to their established franchises, or something completely new.

In the best-case scenario, Valve continues making big-budget games after this, giving us more amazing content. After all, they would probably be glad to get rid of the “not being able to count to three” meme.

1 Too Late: Focus On Hardware

Everyone knows that Valve has dabbled in creating hardware to varying success, be it their controllers, VR hardware, or the fabled Steam Machines. While it’s great that they’re interested in making original products aimed at making the gaming experience better, the current VR generation has lived quite a few years, and huge innovations are expected to happen soon. If the Valve Index goes out of date because of it, they could set their focus on improving it.

Valve’s interest in creating new gaming hardware has probably been one of the main reasons as to why they moved away from game development, meaning there is no guarantee that once Half-Life: Alyx comes out that they will stick to making more games.

NEXT: 5 Best PSVR Games Ever (& 5 Worst)