"Half-Life: Alyx takes place after Half-Life and 5 years before Half-Life 2. In the game, we learn about G-Man's imprisonment, possibly explaining Freeman's extended 'leave' of the almost 20 years that bridge that gap. It refers to the planned-but-never-released Episode 3, offering an alternate timeline to the Episode 2 climax."
You decided to hide spoilers on one thing, but didn't hide spoilers on the other thing. And that other thing is why it can be considered Episode 2.5 after all. Literally after all.
The main reason is because Alyx replaces what would have been HL2:E3. Episode 2 ended on a cliffhanger, Alyx resolved that cliffhanger (and subsequently introduced its own). The entire story regardless of time period, was designed to ultimately resolve the ending to Episode 2.
Think of it like this: HL:A didn't resolve any burning questions we had about the period between HL1 and HL2. Instead, the questions it was designed to answer was what happens after Episode 2. It's not made to "fill in the gaps" but to finish the episodes to pave way for HL3.
But perhaps most importantly, if you were to get someone who had never played Half-Life before to play them... in what order would you tell them to play these games?
I agree with you generally, but strong disagree on your last bit of attempted reasoning. The proper order to watch/play a series is usually the order it was released regardless on prequel/sequel status.
What I didnt set as spoiler isnt specific. I set the spoiler on explicit events from HL Alyx. If i hadnt played Alyx and read this with only the one spoiler tag, I wouldnt have any specifics about what to expect from the end of Alyx.
"Half-Life: Alyx takes place after Half-Life and 5 years before Half-Life 2". To me this says HL 1.5. I get the alt TL point but wouldnt that be post HL Alyx?
Maybe thats why they called it Alyx and not 1.5 or 2.5.
Its also possible I havent played HL 2 in a long time (it came out in 2006/7) and have conflated how the progress of events went.
To me this screams a flash back episode that comes near the climax of a season to fill us in on missing details. >! If it didn't jump to future events, I'd agree and say it's a 1.5, but since HLA alters the events of Episode 2, it cannot exist without the original ending to Episode 2. So while most of the story takes place before HL2, for the ending of HLA to have impact, it must be placed after Episode 2.!<
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u/storm_the_castle 26d ago
Its like HalfLife 1.5