Half-Life: Alyx - Valve's full-length flagship VR game set between HL1 and HL2

[Terenty]

Half life 2 was a physics engine demo with garbage level design, brain dead AI and shitty shooting and this will be the same apparently

 

[Lyric Suite]

the point is to sell off their stock of headsets

Right, and they are taking advantage of their fandom to do it, making something Half-Life after years of refusing to even complete the story of Half Life 2.

 

[Dexter]

This looks so mediocre and unoriginal, Dexter on suicide watch.

3 weeks, bitch.


Regarding the Gameplay videos:
- Valve is really fucking stupid to Demo this using the teleport shit which everyone with a bit of sense disables in every game 5 seconds after booting it up.
- There's too much monologue and dialogue and some of it seems a bit cringy, Gordon isn't exactly known as a talker.

I'm not going to judge the game by some guy playing 5 minutes of the Tutorial level, even though the choice of material to show it off seems extremely questionable.

 

[ADL]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of demoing the game with all the movement options. This is meant to be the most comfortable VR game ever made because some people don't have roomscale and some people get serious VR sickness with smooth locomotion. These options didn't limit the game's design. It still plays the same.

Thank god they're prioritizing accessibility options because the game is 15+ hours long and if you can handle more than shift, go smooth and have a blast, personally I'll switch between all three.

 

[Jenkem]

flatlets seething

 

[Dexter]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of demoing the game with all the movement options.

It looks like shit, I'd be embarrassed to Demo my game using that, I hated that shit back in 2016 and before and it absolutely also has an impact on Gameplay if designed around it:

The few games that are trying to do larger worlds to explore in look intentionally crippled by having to teleport all over the place:

Like fine, have the option for people that are biologically impaired and can't handle Virtual movement without getting dizzy, but ffs don't force it on anyone and don't show your game off using that shit, it's a crutch for what it wants to achieve and looks exactly like that.

Thank god they're prioritizing accessibility options

Yeah, nah.

 

[J1M]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of demoing the game with all the movement options. This is meant to be the most comfortable VR game ever made because some people don't have roomscale and some people get serious VR sickness with smooth locomotion. These options didn't limit the game's design. It still plays the same.

Thank god they're prioritizing accessibility options because the game is 15+ hours long and if you can handle more than shift, go smooth and have a blast, personally I'll switch between all three.

Requiring a VR headset isn't very accessible, is it?

 

[ADL]

Requiring a VR headset isn't very accessible, is it?

It's a technically innovative series being technically innovative. What's the problem? Virtual Reality is a logical next step for the series.
Also you can get a VR headset+controller+embedded tracking hardware suite for like a hundred bucks. You can get 1440p per eye HMDs for $229 on sale. Also people had like five years of warning knowing Valve was investing heavily into VR R&D.

 

[OctavianRomulus]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of demoing the game with all the movement options. This is meant to be the most comfortable VR game ever made because some people don't have roomscale and some people get serious VR sickness with smooth locomotion. These options didn't limit the game's design. It still plays the same.

Thank god they're prioritizing accessibility options because the game is 15+ hours long and if you can handle more than shift, go smooth and have a blast, personally I'll switch between all three.

Requiring a VR headset isn't very accessible, is it?

It was the same with 3D accelerators in the 90s.

 

[catfood]

We went from lightning fast movement in 90s FPS, to moderate movement in narrative-driven FPS, to slow-as-fuck movement in console FPS, to no movement at all.

 

[FeelTheRads]

This looks so mediocre and unoriginal, Dexter on suicide watch.

3 weeks, bitch.

3 weeks bitch! Finally gonna be able to use my $1000 purchase for something that's not straight out shovelware!!!!! Totally worth it!!!!!!! IMMA BUY THE NEXT 10 HEADSETS FOR SURE NOW!!!!

 

[Daedalos]

Any chance we get this just as a pc game without the VR shit.

 

[LESS T_T]

Wonder if there will be more than one manhack at the same time.

 

[Tacgnol]

Any chance we get this just as a pc game without the VR shit.

Someone might take pity and re-create it as a mod. I suspect that it'll be pretty mediocre as a non-VR title without changes considering the slow looking pace of those gameplay videos.

 

[AdamReith]

Wow, looks like nothing has any sense of weight and... yeah pretty much what I would have expected.

Now, what they should have done is an extended super gravity gun segment from the end of 2 where you take on an entire alien civilization by crushing them to death with their own starships.

 

[Morgoth]

Any chance we get this just as a pc game without the VR shit.

Even Modders would soon realize that a flatscreen version would ultimately suck so hard to completely give up on it.

 

[Lutte]

Any chance we get this just as a pc game without the VR shit.

You mean, remake the whole game? I don't mean the parts like gimmick in stupidly moving boxes around to find ammo. Game is designed to be fully playable by someone who prefers a teleport based control scheme. Playing the shooting parts on keyboard+mouse would be like having Tyson punch a cripple or playing any real PC fps on god mode. Pointless?

Games are designed around a control scheme. Just because this pos has smooth loco as an option doesn't mean it's not affected by teleport. It's like playing all those PC ports of modern covah shootah meant to be played on a gamepad but worse.

The lowest common denominator affects the level of challenge and pulse required from the player. If your game is accessible to cripples then the superior schemes makes it more braindead.

 

[J1M]

They will release an update next year that lets you play it with a keyboard and mouse.

 

[Dexter]

We talked about these in the VR thread: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/rift-vive-vr-general.109448/page-11#post-6431117

 

[ADL]

They will release an update next year that lets you play it with a keyboard and mouse.

It would play like shit since everything is made for hand tracking. Also I have my doubts whether this is going to be any good without the Knuckles controllers. With the knuckles controllers however... Good lord.

 

[Morgoth]

They will release an update next year that lets you play it with a keyboard and mouse.

They'd have to re-design entire level sections, rework the AI, replace every combat scene etc. to make it an approximately good game for flatties. Doubt very much Valve would undergo so much work.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gameinformer.com/interview/2020/03/03/valve-on-why-half-life-alyx-needed-to-be-in-vr

What would you like to say to fans who are hoping this means you’re still working on Half-Life 3?

Half-Life means a lot to us, and it's been incredibly rewarding to refamiliarize ourselves with its characters, setting, and mechanics. There are Half-Life: Alyx team members who have been at Valve since Half-Life 2, and quite a few who go back to the original Half-Life. There are also people on the team for whom Half-Life: Alyx is their first time working on this series at all – and many of them certainly hope it's not the last. We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it.

:fabulouslyoptimistic:

 

[Venser]

With developer commentary



9:34 cool scripted animation but how does this guy know you're there and go after you so fast while the others barely react and notice you? His motoric abilities seem better too. Consistency?
If you kill a zombie by shooting his body, shouldn't the headcrab be alive and go after you?

 

[The Decline]

Just watching that teleporting movement gave me a headache.

 

[Venser]

Same but thankfully you don't have to use it.