Alyx is as impressive a VR game as has ever been produced, but it's a step into the past as much as the future, since playing a quality Valve game again feels like being reunited with an old friend.

Mr. Threee-mannn...

Valve, where have you been? I haven't been watching the driveway through the window like a loyal dog with a lost cause, but it turns out it was much worse. Out of the shadows you come and it's revealed that the hole in my life was simply buried deep enough that I wasn't even aware it existed. For me, Alyx is as much a step into the past as the future. Putting on the headset transports me to 2007 where the VR feels almost immaterial. It's like being reunited with an old friend. I'm finally playing a Valve game again and only now do I realise I've been living a half-life.

(All screenshots are my own shot at medium quality)

The government says the pandemic situation is well under control.

Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades's dev, Anton Hand, has said that indie VR devs compared to Valve 'are doing the equivalent of sending rockets to the moon with toothpicks,' and I'm inclined to agree. Yes, a well-optimised, high fidelity, high-polish product is important for VR's standing, but outside a few novel design choices, that's probably where its influence ends. It's also where its appeal largely begins. This is as vivid a world as we've ever seen drawn in VR. A world made all the more eerie by our current pandemic. By leveraging baked-in lighting and a distinct dearth of VFX and throwing their efforts into everything else that counted, we get a game that looks astonishing with reasonable performance. The modern lighting, the fine-comb detail paid to the environments, the tip-top animation, the in-person character rendering, characters of whom feel leaps ahead of episode two in presence, and the obsessive audio detail, - this is all money and people (and talent, of course) thrown at a problem until a fine polish perforce emerges. It's A way, not THE way. Do I dig the fruit of such work? You bet. But if the technical equivalent of a magic trick performed here remains the preserve of this series, engine or even this game, that's more than okay with me.

Some are going to great lengths to self-isolate.

Before release I was very worried Alyx had been eclipsed by a true VR Half Life game in the form of Boneworks. With its physics puzzle preoccupation and augmented as it was with tireless simulation, it verily felt like the logical next step from Half Life 2. By comparison, from preview gameplay alone, I wasn't even convinced Alyx would have smooth locomotion options. I'm glad to have been proven wrong. Alyx is as confident a VR game as has ever been produced, it just didn't need to plumb the depths of simulation to prove its stripes. Like Boneworks, it excels, but as a very different beast - one more concerned with generating a more prescriptive rollercoaster ride of exciting, varied sequences in a world packed with absurd detail and sense of place. That's just as much true to Half Life's legacy as balancing a see saw with a crate. I was just blind to it.

Supporting one of my local healthcare workers.

So yes, you can't melee, improvise a weapon or make physical contact with an enemy, and you can't run or jump (and falling triggers some overly friendly, floaty weirdness), so some teleportation will be unavoidable. Let me tell you, being demanding as I am, it really doesn't matter here. Alyx's combat is built around its ammo economy, true enough to Half Life. Its environments don't lend themselves to complex platforming, but exploring - and efficiently transitioning you to that meat. Rather than abjectly limiting, Alyx's gameplay loop fits as naturally as a Russell glove. Those gloves too should feel like an explicit mechanical VR concession to fly things to your hands, but instead they feel integrated both in the world and with interesting gameplay consequences. There's definitely a case that can still be made about Alyx's locomotion running counter to the immersion it otherwise conjours, but in the moment Valve gets away with everything because they're design perfectionists.

It's alright, I took all the personal protective equipment from that hospital.

Another flex of its budget is its writing and voice acting. Valve continues its comedian casting trend with the ace Rhys Darby cast as Russell, who dominates the script with great lines throughout. Eli and Alyx are both quite conspicuously recast (for very different reasons), but do a great job. My only issue with Alyx is that her unerring confidence and positivity stretches believability at some points. She seems to have two settings - distraught and chipper as can be. It's a first for Valve to have a voiced protagonist, however, so divorcing monologues is definite new and welcome ground. I'm also personally a big fan of where the story goes, but I can see where others might not be. The former games and Valve scripts in general have never seemed particularly fertile ground for much character development or ambitious tales to be spun, focusing instead on entertaining dialogue and injections of character and humour in-between the primary conflict. Apart from where it lands its story, that's very much the case here. The only, perhaps disappointing, loss in Valve's usual playbook is much environmental storytelling. Why such a Valve staple would go missing when the player is paying more attention to the minutiae of their surroundings than ever, is slightly baffling. For clarity of navigating puzzles and items in VR, etc? Who knows?

A locality can't be officially recognised as dystopic until there's a headless statue.

What I love about Valve game design is that no mechanic is used simply as a novelty before being cast aside. Little subversions and evolutions percolate throughout. For instance, try to fling a high value item to your person and watch it unexpectedly get ensnared by a barnacle tongue before being consumed. Watch explosive barrels get generously positioned for your combat advantage until the tables are turned and you enter a room rigged to blow with enemies primed to inadvertently set it all off. Watch yourself playfully chase an enemy round a laundry room before the true threat is made clear. Watch a multitool wire reconfiguration puzzle you've encountered a dozen times before sabotage you in the worst way. Even the mechanic with the biggest semblance of novelty - your ability to physically cover your mouth to avoid inhaling spores - finds new meaning (careful to not infect yourself in real life with COVID-19 with this one!). If horror is the 'removal of a mask,' then Alyx is most definitely a horror game. Although, you probably only need be pounced on by a headcrab to come to that conclusion.

You never wake up thinking this will happen to you, but there it is.

As ambitious as Alyx is as a technical feat and as mainline an entry as it feels, you only need to look at its weapon list to see that this is a slimmed down and focused reinterpretation/reboot of Half Life. All in the interest of making VR work. And yet, three weapons is all Alyx needs to engineer infinitely more engaging and thrilling combat encounters than ever before. You quickly find yourself in a natural, completely untutorialised rhythm of breaking through glass with your gun to get a clear shot, taking cover, flanking, holding mobile cover, and blind firing among many other action movie-esque, ad hoc strategies. The AI too, delivers a remarkably convincing illusion of a group tactical effort in taking you down, adopting as they do a F.E.A.R. approach of vocal enemies barking their intent like they've just discovered their vocal chords. Other enemy encounters exchange your being shot for perhaps even more effective sequences, including wholly surprising and incredibly well executed VR-focused alternative designs to series familiars. Why oh why Half Life has adopted the 'minigun heavy' into its enemy roster, however, is beyond me. That, and why the pistol's shooting (as pointed out by Anton Hand) for the reflex sight and laser reticle are thrown off by its nonsensical animation. Hopefully, the latter can be addressed!

A slight infestation in the hotel, so I'll probably do the British thing and not leave a review.

Alyx is as impressive a VR game as has ever been produced, certainly standing tall with Lone Echo and Boneworks. Look very closely, of course, and you'll see some baffling perforations in an otherwise perfect image. The real question is, has Valve taken a break from doing the bare minimum with its storefront and brought its A-game? It certainly gave us A GAME. And you know what? It's a Valve game in both design and presentation and ace for it. For once in my life, 'Valve time,' rather than the ongoing industry joke, can mean now. It's finally Valve time once again.

It simultaneously feels like there’s too much to say about Half-Life: Alyx and almost nothing to say. It’s good in every way that a video game should be good, and also in every way that a VR game should be good. It is, legitimately, a masterpiece. There you go, review done. That’s the nothing to say version. For the too much to say version continue reading, but be warned it gets rambly.

Its brilliance comes not from the fact that it does anything entirely new, necessarily. Judged as a traditional, non-VR video game it has incredible pacing, good voice acting, charming writing, and some of the best level design I’ve seen in years.

Even within the nascent space of VR games every trick up Alyx’s sleeves seems like a variation or logical extension of something you’ve already seen somewhere else. What it does do is present a finely honed damascus steel blade to a population that have been waving around hand lapped stone knives. Half-Life: Alyx is to all other VR games what modern turbo jets are to the wright brothers first working prototype. The graphical fidelity and level of immersion on offer here is literally unbelievable. How much of this is the valve magic and how much is simply that not a whole lot of other big developers have thrown big boi money at VR yet remains to be seen but I think Valve’s art direction is to be celebrated regardless. Every scene is gorgeously presented and framed, even in moments of grotesquerie.

Every single interaction is satisfying, lovingly animated, and carefully considered. Your most basic interaction in almost any VR game, picking something up, is simultaneously made more convenient and more awesome with the gravity gloves. As much fun as it can be to duck and crawl around to pick stuff up in Superhot VR, it gets old after half an hour, much less ten hours. Flinging stuff towards you and catching it out of the air never once got old in this game. It’s so, so fun. Supply boxes are smashed open on the ground like a child’s piggy bank, except instead of pennies it’s ammo and needles. Every gun has a different reload procedure and they’re all super satisfying, and it even changes a little with certain upgrades. Every button is physically poked with an extended digit. The hacking minigames are physical and visually appealing affairs. You will lift garage doors, rotate cranks, pull levers, move boxes, pull planks off doorways, throw grenades and propane cannisters and bottles to distract monsters named Jeff, catch headcrabs mid-air, and just generally put your grubby little mitts on every single piece of this game world. Even the process of upgrading your weapon has you slamming down hockey puck shaped upgrade components one stack of five at a time like oversized chips at a giant's poker game.

And man, that ending sequence is uhhh...incredible. I won’t spoil it but it had me screaming from hype so loud that my girlfriend’s friend on discord heard me from another room and asked what was going on.

The Half-Life series (and often, developer Valve as a whole) has always been defined by innovation. The first Half-Life (while not necessarily holding up amazingly today) is a masterclass in player-centric storytelling and world-building, especially for its time. Half-Life 2 (and its two episodes) expand on this legacy, creating a landmark experience full of ingenious mechanics, excellent physics-based gameplay and incredible set pieces (remember, we don't go to Ravenholm). So when a new Half-Life was announced, it was immediately apparent that Valve was ready to rock the industry after a long absence from the limelight. And oh my goodness, did they.

Gameplay

With the possible exception of Stress Level Zero's Boneworks, Half-Life: Alyx absolutely dominates the competition in terms of VR interaction at the time of writing. Nearly everything in the game is a physics object that can be moved, thrown, or blown up. For a Half-Life game, you only have a very limited set of tools to work with - 3 guns and a "hacking" tool - but that's all this game needed. Valve made the smart decision to make all guns one-handed, making combat straightforward and alleviating the two-handed tracking issues often found in other VR shooters. A simple upgrade system for each gun makes exploration rewarding and replaces the need for more weapons. Alyx makes impeccable use of the affordances of VR. You will search through drawers for ammo in the middle of a firefight, line up lazers to hack through doors, and hide around corners to avoid pursuing hostiles. A standout mission involving a blind adversary (aka the scariest thing you might ever experience in a video game, no joke) singlehandedly proves just how effective a screen strapped to your face can be in producing true emotion. The headcrabs of the prior Half-Life games, once "filler" enemies that were easy to mow down, become utterly terrifying in Alyx. They will leap at your face and pop up around corners as you scavenge for enough ammo to take them down. This game is not for the faint of heart, but it is all worth it in the end. There's always the joke of how certain games make you "feel" like the protagonist: Alyx might be the foremost example in all of gaming.

Storytelling

Valve would not make a Half-Life game without an impressive story. Alyx takes the titular character on a journey to save her father from the clutches of an evil alien regime known as the Combine. But what starts as a simple rescue mission escalates into a much bigger battle with unforseen consequences. The ending to Alyx, while slightly vague and open to interpretation, is astounding and nearly perfect. Jay Pinkerton and Eric Wolpaw (the writers of Portal 2), joined by Sean Vanaman of Firewatch fame, have created a twisting and turning narrative that will knock your socks off. Trust me: Play Half-Life 2 before experiencing Alyx, even if it is a prequel.

Aesthetics

Half-Life Alyx is nothing short of beautiful. I played on a mid-range graphics card, and even I was blown away by how detailed and haunting the world of City 17 was. Every enemy is terrifying, every item you find has a story behind it ingrained on its texture, and every environment you visit is plagued by hardship and danger. No game immerses you in a world quite like Alyx: a world full of oppression, peril and - ever so softly - hope.

Conclusion

Half-Life Alyx isn't just the definitive VR game of its time - it is a resounding achievement in world-building, atmosphere and technical prowess. This game single-handedly proves that VR is not a passing fad, but rather the start to a bright new era of storytelling and interactive media. As more and more players start to buy into VR, this game will continue to grow in popularity as the sole "must-play" VR title. Let's hope the industry has taken note of this game and the contributions to VR as a whole.

Just like with Portal 2, Geoff Keighley (the host of the annual Game Awards and accomplished games journalist) penned a companion novel titled The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx. For those who are interested in taking a deep dive into this game's development, or who would like a fascinating account of Valve's tumultuous last 10 years, I highly recommend the read!

A+ : Masterpiece

(This game was experienced on an HP Reverb G2 headset.)

At my cousin's insistence, I played this game. He lent me the gear and even his PC because mine couldn't handle it

What a wonderful experience. I admittedly haven't played much VR, but HL: Alyx just knocks it out of the ballpark. Valve may not produce games at a rapid pace, but who cares when what they do come up with is so good. They are still innovators

Whether VR will ever take off with the public is a question I'm really not interested in. I just know a great game when I play it. It's totally immersive, graphically fantastic, has terrific voice acting and the atmosphere is just fantastic

The first time a head crab leaps at you, or you come across a Strider, you just might piss yourself

The only negatives is that "existing" in a computer game takes a while to get used to. I got nauseous a few times early on. Also, the gear gets hot. You'll find yourself sweating after a good hour. You also need at least a decent amount of space to move around in. I was lucky enough to have the gear lent to me. If you know anyone who has VR gear I highly recommend that you beg, borrow, but not steal, for the opportunity to play this game

All small prices to pay for the joy to experience this

Only VALVE would have the balls to leave fans of the series with a cliffhanger for 13 years, only to have this game leave people with an even bigger cliffhanger

The game lives to the hype. Hyper polished in basically every area, it shows that Valve CNA still be at the forefront of innovation in game design. The gravity gloves are the perfect what of interacting in VR and should probably become the standard. It solves the issue of interacting with far away items without a large space to move and it's fun as hell.

Now, at some moments I would catch myself thinking, "would this game be good without VR?" In terms of story, gameplay, level design. And I'm having trouble answering that. On the surface it's a very linear and stripped-down shooter. The story is also pretty thin and one note. A lot of the charm comes from a lot of VR gimmicks such as every action being unabstracted. Reloading, throwing grenades, opening drawers (this is almost a opening-drawer simulator) all require movements instead of button presses. So I'm inclined to think that it wouldn't. But then there are some very cool levels and set pieces that would've work in flat gaming.

I guess that in the end is not even a good question. Asking I a VR game would work without VR is like asking if a videogame would work as a pinball machine.

Well, it's as good as they say. An amazing mix of adventure, puzzle solving and FPS action, perfectly built around VR in terms of controls and interaction, incredibly varied in what you end up doing. Narration is fun, the mood is amazing, you really "feel" like you're living in this sci-fi, depressing, dangerous world. The level of interaction is out of this world, you can touch and use so many things in so many different ways. I mean, being as obsessive with inventory management as I am, I spent my time carrying around boxes and/or buckets filled with everything I didn't want to leave behind. The sense of place is incredible and playing with Oculus Quest 2 (in my garden, when it wasn't raining :D ) I had so much fun walking around, dodging stuff, crawling inside holes and literally walking slowly, trying not to make any noise with my feet, in that Jeff sequence. Every chapter is almost a new game, it's got that sense of ongoing discovery, and every chapter has the right length, so that the game shakes everything up when things are getting stale. Which is something I always thought Half-Life 2 wasn't very good at.

An amazing experience and my 2020 Game of the Year.

Just completed my second play through and I think I enjoyed it even more. There's a lot to love here, first of all, we have a new Half-Life game! Almost 13 years later we finally have another addition to the series. Make no mistake, this absolutely isn't Half-Life 3, but it's nice to have something to chew on in the meantime.

I was mostly excited for the story here, considering it's been over a decade since THAT ending. Even if the story isn't a continuation of Half Life 2, it's still nice to get some more time with the characters and friends that I haven't seen in a while. Alyx and Eli are still fantastic at leading the story, and Russel is a welcome addition to the cast. The first 2-3 hours are pretty straightforward in terms of structure, but there is a turning point at chapter 4 where the story becomes much more involving and large scale. It's impossible to say more without spoiling it but I'll at least say that it's extremely well written and I was always excited to hear Russel come on over the coms to give us some more context.

But how about the gameplay? I've spent quite a large amount of time in VR at this point, playing everything from Pavlov to Beat Saber to VR Chat. Some are better than others in terms of playability and ease of access, but my personal favorite is probably H3VR due to its wealth of options. In terms of "fun to play VR games", Alyx lands somewhere in the middle.

Gun handling is smooth and feels satisfying, and we actually have a dedicated "mag drop" button which is super nice. The weapon menu is also a neat idea, although the lack of ability to drop my weapon on a whim was disappointing. We also get the gravity gloves! Which is by far the best addition to VR gaming that Alyx has given us. It's no gravity gun, but the ability to just flick my wrist at a prop and have it come flying towards me is super satisfying and NEVER gets old. You can spend 10 minutes in a room just playing with the physics props because of how much fun these gloves are. It feels awkward for your first 2 minutes or so with them, but you can pick it up almost instantly and it is a super reliable tool, even in combat. Tossing gas cans, catching enemy grenades, and stealing magazines off of Combine soldiers all feels great, and adds an entirely new dimension to the combat.

But, there are quite a few problems here as well. Valve time hurts this game more than most other Valve releases because there's quite a few gameplay elements that feel distinctly "2016 VR" if that makes any sense. I use smooth locomotion in any VR game that offers it, and the smooth locomotion here is embarrassing. It feels very rushed and was pretty much confirmed to be an after-thought when Valve decided not to show any gameplay at the VGAs. You can only move at a slow walking speed, and your "jump" is just a teleport. It's completely nonviable for combat and the slow move speed has gotten me killed many times, especially on Hard. It also has this weird motion smoothing that ended giving me motion sickness, which is bizarre since no other VR game does that to me. I would've been ok with a delay for the game to give it a proper smooth locomotion mode, because this just feels behind the curve. Especially since I played this immediately after Boneworks, which handles locomotion in a much better way.

Besides my gripes with the locomotion and east-of-access (Why is there no option to see your entire body? Especially since you inject medicine into your invisible arms?), Half Life: Alyx is a pretty incredible game and an impressive step forward for VR games. I wouldn't say you need to drop $1000 to get an Index just yet, but it is the best story-driven VR game out right now, and it is a damn impressive one.