Valve apparently tried finding a way to include melee combat, but the developers “just never found something we liked.”
Players controlled Gordon Freeman as he haphazardly wrecked wooden crates and smashed Combine’s in the face while trying to do a gun-free run.
Half-Life: Alyx might not feature melee combat, but as revealed by VG247, there were plans for not only melee combat, but also the introduction of the crowbar for the player to wield.
However, despite the desire to have the iconic crowbar, Valve listened to playtesters who felt that the weapon is strongly associated with Gordon Freeman, and doesn’t belong to Alyx Vance, the protagonist in Half Life: Alyx.