I genuinely can’t believe Half Life Alyx is five years old.
No other video game has felt the way Alyx felt. No one else has taken such a bold swing in what a video game can be. It’s burned into my mind as my Half Life game, the one that came out at just the right time for me.
It was also my “pandemic” game. While everyone else was playing Animal Crossing or Doom Eternal, I was playing and replaying Half Life Alyx.
It definitely feels like it’s somewhat doomed to be less remembered in the popular consciousness than most big games that come out, and indeed the rest of the games in the Half Life lineage. Cries of “Half Life 3 when?” still abound in spite of the very clear effort Alyx made to move the story forward. But to me it feels like a game that still hasn’t been topped in the five years since it came out, not by a long shot.
Half Life Alyx received a Game of the Year win from GameSpot, and nominations from a few other publications. When it came to events like The Game Awards with a dedicated “Best VR Game” category, it won handily.
Five years and I still don’t have a VR headset lol. These things are enthusiast tech and I am not that enthusiastic about having one.
Half-Life Alyx wasn’t called Half-Life 3 because it came out on a platform most people don’t have/can’t afford. It’s essentially a really cool spin-off that I will never play.
Cool that you liked it though, love that for you.
Spoilers, but the ending of the game greatly affects the Half Life story. It’s not just a spin off.
Yeah. It reads like fan fiction. Marc Laidlaw wasn’t involved. Hell, they didn’t ask Merle Dandridge to reprise her role.
It also doesn’t effect the story if there’s no more story. I’ll stick to the fan made spinoffs.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion.
I’m confused though. The platform is the same cost as a gaming console if not cheaper? You can buy a quest3 at a good price.
If you already have a (lower midrange) PC, then yes.
I managed to scoop one up for $100.
Incredible game. If you ever get the chance I 10000% recommend playing it.
It is such a beautiful game. One of my top gaming experiences.
The environments, the pacing, the story telling, the interactivity - just excellent.
If you are interested in playing it and you don’t have a PC with a 1060 or better; or can’t afford PSVR2 or Quest 3s, then consider giving it a go at a VR game cafe.
I was really hoping for a PSVR2 port of Alyx, and the timing with a lot of PS games coming to Steam had my theorizing that was a compromise they made with Valve to make it happen but I think that was just wishful thinking now.
Whoa. A bit off from your point but I was going to say if you could use the psvr2 on pc it would have sold a lot better. Turns out Sony seemingly shadow dropped a pc adapter and now you can!
Honestly if that was a launch feature I would have probably bought one since ps5 doesn’t really have a compelling library for it to be worth it alone. Now I’m too broke to justify it :(
That’s actually how I played hl2 Alyx! Great headset, game was awesome. Wish there were more games of the same quality
PSVR2 works on PC now :)
What’s the status of VR games on Linux? With headsets that don’t require weird accounts (Meta)
As I mentioned in another comment it plays quite well. At least with the Steam Index that I use. Most games seem to work out of the box. One thing that isn’t currently implemented is BT communication with the lighthouses which is a bit annoying but there are other apps and tools to workaround that.
If you have a Quest headset, ALVR allows you to stream SteamVR to it.
I believe the Valve Index allows for Linux usage, but I’ve never owned one.
Seems like WiVRn is also a good solution these days, just tried it out for the first time a few hours ago and I’m very impressed.
Wow never heard of this application. I’ll have to give it a try.
It wasn’t “my” Half Life but it was a damn good one. It felt true to the series and that brought a tear to my eye. The writing, the environments, the soundtrack all felt very Half Life without compromise. I didn’t like that it was a VR title but I understood why they went that route. In 2D, it would probably lack in depth (in more ways than one).
I borrowed a VR set from a friend to play it and bought the game at 60% off, which it frequently drops to. I’d urge anyone who has a VR capable PC to try and play it some way but VR is always going to restrict access to this. I’ll probably play through it in 2d Mode (via mod) some day in the future to try and relive it. And if non-VR is the only way you get to experience it, at minimum, use headphones… and dont go online saying it sucks after because, remember, it was made for VR.
I would lo to be able to justify buying a 1500€ vr set. But using it for one or two games does not make the threshold for me.
I hope they make more really good games so it become justifiable.
I use the 300 dollar quest 2 and stream it?
Here’s a list of VR games I’d 1000% recommend:
- Half Life: Alyx
- I Expect you to Die (James Bond themed virtual escape rooms - 3 games in the series so far, all of them are good)
- Super Hot (slo-motion first person combat puzzle game)
- Beat Saber (a unique rhythm game)
- Pavlov (CS:GO but in VR with extensive modding support)
There are other good ones out there but that’s the list that justifies the headset to me.
Also there are some good VR ports of non-VR games out there such as Myst and The Talos Principle. Also there are some good Minecraft mods that add VR support (Java edition of course). Stay away from the Skyrim port though.
- the walking dead games
- Walkabout VR (putt-putt game)
- Dungeons of Eternity (quest exclusive)
- Any flight/racing sim (this is actually the biggest selling point I can make. Seriously if you like flight/racing sims, please get one. It’ll change your life)
- No Man’s Sky (one of my demo games)
The Skyrim port is amazing! …with 100 mods.
Vertigo 2
you can get a used rift cv1 or a vive for around 200 USD
What? Quest 2 is like $250 and it connects to your PC and works just fine for Alyx.
Get a Quest 3 for like $400 CAD, incredible for its price.
I should probably go finish it.
Somewhat hot take… I’d argue Boneworks (not Bonelab) was “better”, at least if you’re used to VR and if you judge by freedom and replay value. Don’t get me wrong, playing through Half Life Alyx was fun and engaging, but to me it had little to no replay value, since for all it did great in visuals, audio, accessibility, and especially story, it failed dramatically in physics. Since I played Alyx right after Boneworks, I kept trying to pick stuff up which I ended up not being able to for larger objects, and the first time I tried to knock a Combine over the head with a pipe I was so sorely disappointed. Alyx has absolutely everything Boneworks is missing, yet that physics core is what kept me coming back to the latter. It really clicked for me when I noticed how many things in Boneworks one can solve in alternate ways by “abusing” physics. Climbing is a learned skill and combat can be as much shooting as it can be using knives, fists, shoving someone off a ledge, or grabbing an enemy and throwing it at others. It’s what truly made me realize how much potential VR had, being able to interact with a full physics simulation, where even your own body is a physics object, with your physical hands is amazing.
I played it last year. It was certainly interesting, though it showed me the challenges of VR games. Before, I always hated the idea of using the teleport feature because it seems cheesy. However, after several tries without it, I can say it’s necessary. You end up feeling very nauseous otherwise. But, as a player you’re just way less capable than non-VR games. You can’t move around as easily and so you can’t take on as many enemies or maneuver as easily around the map. In most encounters with enemies, you can only fight a max of maybe 3, before you start to feel overwhelmed. Even 1 is usually enough to feel stressed and when those saw drones fly at you, you’ll panic and possibly yank a cable or get disoriented and bump into something in the real world. Crouching behind cover and shooting is pretty cool though — possibly the most immersive part.
I had the opposite problem where teleporting makes me dizzy. I only used it as a last resort and can’t survive games that don’t give you the option to not use it.
You’re able to tolerate moving around without teleport? I have a pretty strong stomach and never get sick on boats or planes, but that just completely fucks me up. I can tolerate it for about 20 minutes, but after that I’m ready to hurl. With teleport I could play for an hour or more.
I’m not the person who originally replied but locomotion is significantly more comfortable than teleports. The teleporting makes me dizzy and messes with my sense of balance and orientation.
I also don’t get motion sick in any non-vr setting either.
The trick is to stop as soon as you start to feel nausea. If you keep doing that your body starts to adapt to VR and eventually you won’t get nausea except in really extreme experiences.
I think I’m just use to the movement style and teleporting is a bit jarring and makes me stumble. It takes a good dozen hours to stop getting motion sick in general. Now I can do it drunk.
It took me a long time to get used to VR locomotion.
I still really can’t handle smooth turning at all, but using VRChat a lot (where the teleport movement is terrible) made me get used to the left stick movement at least which is really all you need.
Still haven’t played it, haven’t bought a VR gimmick headset yet. Is there a 2D mode? I’ll play it tomorrow if so.
But what if you bought a real VR headset instead of a gimmick one?
I tried with that cardboard one but I’m waiting until more controllers become available
IIRC no cardboard ‘headset’ ever had 6dof tracking. It’s about as far as you can get from an immersive VR experience. I say this as someone who bought one before learning about VR and getting a real vr headset.
It’s like VR with all of the downsides, even less apps, and the only advantage over a flatscreen being (limited) depth perception.
What if I were to get the game to play on my 3D TV?
IMO even a normal flatscreen is more immersive on average than a google cardboard, although that’s partially because a flatscreen hides the flaws in the graphics a lot better.
HLA tho needs 6dof controllers for the intended experience. That mod tries to get around it, but that obviously involves some sacrifices.
What is 6dof? 6 dads on fire? I only have Alexis on fire, I’m afraid. Will that be fine?
Degrees of freedom
3dof things usually just track rotation, because that’s easier. But for a full VR experience, better depth perception, and more normal interactions, 6dof devices are used which track position as well.
Thanks essay!
I think there’s a mod for that iirc
The fit site release has a mod included for flat screen mode.
There is, yes, but it’s pointless. I think some people are missing the point of Alyx being a VR game, the game would suck pretty bad in pancake mode. It’s the intricate interactions with the world you simply can’t get with a mouse and keyboard that make it special compared to other Half Life games. They didn’t just make a regular Half Life game and said “well we’re just gonna force this to be in VR now”, they made a VR game and set it in the Half Life universe.
If you actually want a viable discussion on this game, you’re better off posting this into a virtual reality community as the comments there won’t devolve into salty sour grapes that they couldn’t / wouldn’t play it since “vR iS uh GImAuCk”
Yeah, that would be wise, but by the same token since Lemmy is a bit smaller the amount of people with things to say in those communities would be smaller overall too.
Hands down the best game I ever played. The immersion is unreal and the ending left me with goosebumps and a dropped jaw.
Well, I got it with my Valve Index but have not played it yet. I feel bad. Just flying around in MSFS 2020 lol
While I really enjoyed Alyx, it’s very much a game built around it’s own limitations. It’s more of a survival horror game in a way, because of the limits on ammo and deliberately mechanical reloading. There’s no melee at all, so once you’re out of bullets you’re done for.
For all the roughness of Half Life 2 VR Mod, I find myself enjoying it more because it has fewer limitations imposed by the move to VR. It doesn’t always work (and the vehicle sections in particular really push it), but as a mod of a 20 year old game, it’s really good.
