I've now just finished Half-Life: Alyx and while I need it all to sink in before I write it over the next few days, an interesting development has happened in the form of an ARG.
What is an ARG you ask? An ARG is an Alternate Reality Game, where some gamers have begun to pick up clues of an ARG hidden within Half-Life: Alyx. The ARG itself begins at the start of Half-Life: Alyx where you will be faced with a radio, if you tune the dial clockwise you will access a radio station playing fuzzy music.
But, if you pull the antenna out and slowly turn the dial with your other hand, you will access a "numbers station". Over on the /r/GameDetectives subreddit, gaming sleuths have begun digging through Half-Life: Alyx and seeing what the hell this ARG is all about -- which is something I want to see completely ripped apart and detailed now.
Valve isn't a stranger to ARGs hidden in their games, where the original Portal having radios that led right into the announcement of Portal 2, and seeing ARG players rebooting GlADoS. It's an interesting game-within-a-game trick by Valve, and considering it's within the Half-Life universe it makes it all the more interesting.
Does this mean Half-Life 3 confirmed? Not just yet, but with over 500,000 copies of Half-Life: Alyx sold, and reviews of the game absolutely beaming (I'm personally calling it a masterpiece), it would come as no surprise to see Half-Life 3 in the near future.
More on Half-Life: Alyx
PC hardware and VR headset recommendations: If you want some PC hardware recommendations like CPU, motherboard, RAM, and graphics card then I have a Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide right here. In this article, I cover the important hardware required to run the game, as well as the VR headsets you'll need (as Half-Life: Alyx is a VR-only game) to play it.
- Half-Life: Alyx update: many fixes, and new 'Continuous Turn' option
- Valve talks Left 4 Dead 3 in the middle of Half-Life: Alyx launch hype
- Half-Life: Alyx becomes #1 most-played game on VR on its launch day
- Valve: Half-Life games are technical achievements, not just games
- Half-Life: Alyx unlock time zone details: what you need to know
- Half-Life: Alyx pre-load begins, requires 67GB of storage
- Valve boss Gabe Newell was a World of Warcraft gold farmer for a while
- Gabe Newell says we're closer to Matrix-level technology than we think
- HTC: Vive Cosmos Elite headsets include free copy of Half-Life: Alyx
- Half-Life: Alyx -- pre-loading and launch time details are here
- Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide: PC Hardware & VR Headset Recommendations
- Valve sells out of new wave of Valve Index in less than 30 minutes
- Valve Index VR headset back on sale March 9 for $999
- Half-Life: Alyx is just the beginning of Half-Life's resurgence
- Half-Life: Alyx is VR's killer app, and new gameplay footage proves it
- Half-Life's head crabs come to Death Stranding in Steam PC crossover
- Valve announces Half-Life: Alyx release date: March 23, 2020
- Valve sold 103,000 Index VR headsets after Half-Life: Alyx reveal
- Half-Life: Alyx is an extremely dynamic and reactive VR game
- Valve confirms Half-Life: Alyx is 'done' and is now being polished
- Half-Life: Alyx team: 80 people, single-largest team EVER at Valve
- All Half-Life games are free to play ahead of Half-Life Alyx's launch
- VR brings new dimension of replayability to Half-Life: Alyx
- Cyberpunk 2077 developer not worried about Half-Life: Alyx
- Here's the Half-Life: Alyx PC requirements -- RX 580/GTX 1060 required
- Half-Life: Alyx is basically practice for more Half-Life games
- Half-Life 3 is still possible, Valve says other Half-Life games coming
- Half-Life: Alyx supports mods via new VR-optimized Source 2 tools
- Half-Life: Alyx VR is a Half-Life 2 prequel, coming March 2020
- New Half-Life VR game confirmed by Valve