Today, Valve finally unveiled Half-Life: Alyx, its first full-fledged VR game and, more importantly, the developer’s long-awaited return to the Half-Life series. The game will be out in March 2020, and it marks the first new Half-Life title since Episode 2 in 2007. And according to Valve, we might not have to wait another decade to see the series continue — but that depends on the success of Alyx.

“We’ve had to explore new ways to tell stories with these characters and this world.”

“It’s probably no surprise that many people at Valve have been wanting to get back to the Half-Life universe for a long time, and this experience has only reinforced that,” Valve’s David Speyrer tells The Verge. “In the process of creating Half-Life: Alyx, we’ve had to explore new ways to tell stories with these characters and this world, and we’ve discovered a lot of new gameplay experiences that go beyond what we’ve been able to do before. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how people react to Half-Life: Alyx once it’s out, but we’d love to continue pushing forward.”

The new VR game is something of a prequel, taking place before the events of Half-Life 2, and Speyrer says that people should play through Episode 2 before hopping into the new game. But he also notes that it’s not just a short tech demo or spinoff, as is typical with VR games. “It’s not a side story, nor an episodic one — it’s the next part of the Half-Life story, in a game around the same length as Half-Life 2,” he explains.

For more on the game, be sure to check out our announcement story with all of the details we know so far.