Codename Citadel as an asymmetrical game with a half-life connection for...

Valve Software is said to be developing a new game in the half-life universe for PC and virtual reality called “Codename Citadel”. According to information from Tyler McVicker (Valve News Network), the project has been worked on for several years, but only after the completion of Half-Life: Alyx probably crystallized a viable concept that should be pursued further. McVicker was among the first sources to reveal information about Half-Life: Alyx before the project was officially launched.
In the summer of 2020, Geoff Keighley (The Game Awards) also spoke about possible new VR projects of the studio in the documentary “The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx”. According to him, there would already be a secret project that a small team had been working on since early 2018. This project is said to be “Citadel” and McVicker claims to have confirmed this information from three different sources.

“Codename Citadel” comprises a single player campaign with its own story, but should be more geared towards the asymmetrical multiplayer mode. According to this, VR players will be able to play with PC users (on “normal” screens) and vice versa. The game approach is described as a mixture of cooperative and competitive (PvPvE), but concrete information about modes, number of players and process has not yet been leaked.

The VR players should be able to control the characters from the first person perspective as in Half-Life: Alyx (use skills and weapons + ammunition), especially sneaking should be important. According to McVicker, PC gamers should very likely see the playing field from a side or isometric perspective à la Dota 2. At the same time, bots, which can be divided into three classes (offensive, defensive, support), should play an important role. You could control these bots like puppets or record their movements and retrieve them later, they say. It is unclear whether the PC players place or command these bots on the playing field and the VR players can then control these bots from the first person perspective. An ominous level system is also planned.

Apart from the fact that the Citadel code name had already appeared in the source code of a Dota 2 update in mid-2018, according to the VNN, updated development tools and data would also indicate that the previous code and the content that had already been implemented was updated to the status of Half- Life: Alyx were brought. They would also reuse many of the Alyx graphics, concepts, and assets in Citadel.