Half Life: Alyx is Five Years Old Today
-
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.
"But... the future refused to change" -- game over screen, Chrono Trigger
-
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.
-
I think there's a mod for that iirc
The fit site release has a mod included for flat screen mode.
-
Thanks essay!
-
I thought you still needed to plug the VR headset into a computer ? is the computer built into the headset ?
Most of the common ones now do wireless streaming from the PC for PCVR. But yes, for PCVR games you will still need a PC to run it. There are some VR headsets that are capable of running some games on it without a connected PC, like my Quest 2 can run Superhot or BeatSaber etc.
-
I thought you still needed to plug the VR headset into a computer ? is the computer built into the headset ?
Yes for the standalone devices, but you can connect them via cable or wirelessly to a pc too
-
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.
-
The "other reasons" people aren't buying affordable VR setups is because they don't trust Meta or their privacy policies. If the new Valve headset was $300-500 it would go a long way. But $1200 isn't it.
That is why those other VR sets are so cheap.
With valve, you're paying for the hardware. With Meta, you're the product
-
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.
-
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?
-
It's also way different from the goal of HL2. Downloading a launcher called Steam for free is not the same thing as buying specific hardware to play one game.
-
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
-
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
-
The "other reasons" people aren't buying affordable VR setups is because they don't trust Meta or their privacy policies. If the new Valve headset was $300-500 it would go a long way. But $1200 isn't it.
-
The reason it's forgotten because most people aren't able to play it. If valve really did put important story in a game that they knew most gamers would never be able to play that's kind of shitty
Kingdom Hearts would like a word.
-
Psvr2, plus the pc adapter, i got both for a total of like $400 a few months ago, and got hl alyx on sale.
Have you used any other VR headset? I ask just cuz I wanna know how the PSVR2 compares to other headsets.
-
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.
-
The reason it's forgotten because most people aren't able to play it. If valve really did put important story in a game that they knew most gamers would never be able to play that's kind of shitty
It's the only good way to do VR. Otherwise it's just a gimmick.
-
Most of the common ones now do wireless streaming from the PC for PCVR. But yes, for PCVR games you will still need a PC to run it. There are some VR headsets that are capable of running some games on it without a connected PC, like my Quest 2 can run Superhot or BeatSaber etc.
Pretty cool I didn't know that at all
-
It's free if you buy an Index
