April 1, 2020

Following the success of Half-Life: Alyx and the inability of Valve to count to the number 3, the team behind the cult game series announces a new title in Gordon Freeman’s universe: Half-Life: ARyx. The upcoming hit is an Augmented Reality app and the minimum requirements are Android 5.1.1 or iOS 9 and a crowbar.

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When launched on the phone, the game scans your surroundings and procedurally generates puzzles and enemies: when you open a cupboard a headcrab might jump you from the inside; when you look at the ceiling, you may notice a Barnacle drooling for your flesh; and when you turn a corner, there is a nice chance a Lightning Dog Zombie would attempt hugging you. Due to the limitations of the real world (criminal laws, for example) gamers can’t use real shotguns against virtual foes, so the weapon the game requires is a simple crowbar.

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‘We’re very proud of the original concept of the game, and how smart the title came together‘, says John Caveson, leader of the sub-team, called Valveture Science. ‘ARyx is a combination of AR or Augmented Reality, and y and x – the two main axes in our surrounding world. This is because the upcoming Half-Life gives you the freedom to move in all directions. Yes, VR gave the same freedom, but can you please stop being so negative? We don’t need this negativity in these uncertain times and conditions!’

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The team made a humble disclaimer that they are not responsible for any damages to the users’ surroundings, a.k.a. gaming environment.

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On a different note, Caveson shared some inside information from the dev process: before coming up with ARyx, Valveture Science was working on PortAR – a new Portal game with Augmented Reality (again due to the lack of knowledge as to what follows after the number 2).

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‘At first we had some issues because of the resistance of solid surfaces in the real world, but later we succeeded in real-life teleportation’, John explains. ‘We were rather proud, but Black Mesa… um, the Military invaded our Labs and obtained the rights to our technology. So now you’ll have to hit imaginary headcrabs with a crowbar in your kitchen.'

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Half-Life: ARyx is expected to be released sometime after society has been rebuilt and will cost 99 Nuka-cola caps or 3 rolls of toilet paper.

