What The End Of Half-Life: Alyx Means For Half-Life 3
Along with everyone else, I played Half-Life: Alyx expecting a standalone prequel that would expand on the series' mythology, but in a way that didn't step on the toes of a potential sequel to Half-Life 2. Then, as the credits rolled, I realised that Valve had just set the gears in motion to continue the story of Gordon Freeman. Where the series goes next—and whether it'll be the fabled Half-Life 3—remains to be seen, but Alyx's finale could mean big things for the series.
After rescuing her father, Eli, from the Combine, Alyx heads to a location known as the Vault—an ominous looking structure floating above City 17. New ally Russell has learned that the Combine are storing a 'superweapon' there that could help the Resistance reclaim Earth. But Alyx overhears a woman (whose identity is currently unknown) talking to a Combine Advisor and suggesting that whatever's locked in the Vault is more significant than that.
Related: Half-Life: Alyx Is A Reminder Of What An Incredible Setting City 17 Is
Russell and Alyx excitedly assume Gordon Freeman is in the Vault, and so the pair work together to infiltrate it. Alyx brings the floating structure down, gets inside, unlocks the Vault, only to find the G-Man—the strange, powerful being who lurks in every Half-Life game, and whose motives are always mysteriously opaque. He thanks Alyx for freeing him and offers her a reward for her efforts, and it's here where Half-Life suddenly has a future again.
"Some believe the fate of our worlds is inflexible," he tells Alyx. "My employers disagree. They authorise me to nudge things in a particular direction from time to time." Then he shares a terrifying glimpse of the future with her. It's the tragic final moments of Half-Life 2: Episode
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