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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 only other one ove used is psvr1, and one of those smart phone ones, psvr2 is obvioisly miles ahead of bith, though i cant say how it compares to Index, or quest. Id imagine its probably near quest quality.
I’ve used pretty much all of the headsets on the market. I still haven’t tried a Big screen VR headset though :(
For popular headsets I’d rank them kinda like this
Valve Index - it’s just really old and really expensive now, don’t buy one unless you get a hell of a deal on it used
Quest 2 - Still very very good, screens are getting a little dated now
PSVR2 - its a little janky on PC but it works fine and the OLEDs are sublime
Pixmax Crystal - Money not a problem this is the best headset I’ve tried. The FOV is crazy, displays are beautiful, and tracking is damn near perfect. Its just like $2300 for the whole lot
Quest 3 - Overall the best headset on the market. Its $570 (just get the pro strap, trust me) and gets you so close to the big boys in screen quality, plus it’s wireless, plus it has crazy good passthrough (I use it a lot, most people don’t), and streams PC games perfectly.
PSVR2 has really really really good looking displays, but it has some other downsides which really bring it down in the rankings. I’d stay away from it unless you get a deal on a used one, then it would absolutely be worth it.
The idea of sinking $500 into a headset and then another $80 for one game is pretty crazy. Not like Valve doesn’t have the ownership numbers from the hardware survey. It was never going to sell like HL2.
Given how different it is to other, normal 3d games, I don’t think the comparison is fair. Additionally there are a lot of other, really great games in VR too.
Regardless, I don’t think the problem is financial anymore. Rather that VR requires a sort of “commitment to inconvenience” where you feel cut off from the outside world (among other things) that I don’t think a lot of people are comfortable with.
Are “plenty of people” enough to make a game commercially viable? And not in an indie way.
I zone out, completely cut off from others, while playing games all the time. What I don’t want to do is fork over more cash for things that will collect dust (like a headset for a single game).
Given how different it is to other, normal 3D games, I think it’s a bit much to stake your franchise on something most people will never have. It’s obvious Valve knew that, they’re not idiots and have put out good hardware that didn’t see mass adoption in the past (Steam Controller, Steam Link, etc.); it’s clear they wanted to try out something new even if it wasn’t a huge blockbuster. They have lots of revenue from other sources to fall back on.
They probably hoped that some people would take a chance and get the hardware to play the game, and some people did. But to expect that most would do that? Lol. They’re not that dumb.
“The idea” was to do something no one had done before with a beloved franchise. Not to sell headsets.
I don’t think they particularly cared if you bought their headset, but they had the premium offering if you were interested. I think they wanted Alyx to be the Mario 64 of VR.
It’s both financial (huge investment for a single game) and not. Playing with a thing strapped to your face does not sound fun. Especially with glasses. Or in the summertime. Plus I’m a Linux gamer, so I’d probably run into a lot of issues before I could run it.
I also run on Linux exclusively and I could play Half-Life Alex almost flawlessy on the Steam Index. And other VR games as well, including Beatsaber, Gorn, Walkabout Golf and many others. I’m really grateful to Valve and their Proton.
I mean it‘s 5 years old now and what has Valve released for VR since? A single game isn‘t gonna make a hardware and they know that. It was a failure in the end of the day.
5 years old now and what has Valve released for VR since?
You know Valve has released a whopping 3 things total in that timespan (didn’t include deadlock cuz I’m not sure that’s officially released yet), right? A free steam deck teaser, the card game they’ve been working on for a while, and the CSGO 2 update
Valve works slow, my guy
A single game isn‘t gonna make a hardware
Good thing there are a shit ton of other games, then
It was a failure in the end of the day
No it wasn’t, you high? They sold out of Indexes around the games launch. Would have sold more if not for COVID, too
Hold on. Why are you replying with unrelated things that Valve did instead of focusing on VR to get people onto that platform? Kind of proves my point, doesn‘t it? Also Covid? Seriously? If anything Covid should‘ve accelerated development on VR games.
Also Covid? Seriously? If anything Covid should‘ve accelerated development on VR games
Your claim was that the game was a failure, my point with COVID was that you would have been extra wrong about that had there not been a pandemic limiting how many headsets they could actually sell, which was the point of the game. In the world that we got they sold out and had Back-orders for a year, had there not been a global pandemic those Back-orders would have been sales, and likely many who couldn’t buy one would have been able to as well
The rest of your comment shows you have 0 idea how Valve works internally. The whole studio doesn’t just work on one project, there are smaller teams that pick and choose what they do. This is why Valve tends to release shit a couple years apart that are wildly different (Alyx and Artefact), but 5-8 years between similar products (Portal 2 and Alyx). It being 5 years or more since their last major VR release is to be expected from them, not a sign of failing at anything
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.
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.
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.
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 :(
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 feel like most people who sing praises for Alyx only do so because it was their first VR game. (a lot of people bought a headset just for it.) It’s decent game, but without VR it’s nothing special.
Sucks that VR is still a niche product, despite it being an obtainable consumer product for almost a decade now (edit: and affordable for over half a decade now). When the OG Rift and Vive first dropped, I imagined it being as popular as traditional gaming within 5 years. Yet here we are 9 years later and we still don’t have epic, 50+ hour AAA experiences in VR because hardly anyone owns a headset. Every VR game feels like an indie title.
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.
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 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.
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)
The headsets have (if you can stomach Meta). Thanks to the combines efforts of Nvidia, scalpers, crypto-bros and AI-nerds, the hardware cost has been sailing into the distance and shows no sign of stopping.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s the only good way to do VR. Otherwise it’s just a gimmick.
Fair but why not include a traditional mode so everyone can experience it. Otherwise it’s still just a gimmick to sell hardware
For the same reason N64 games couldn’t run on the SNES
Oh I didn’t realize connecting a VR headset to my computer made it not a computer anymore
The idea was people would buy the game and play it.
Valve’s ‘official’ VR hardware costs ~$1500. Ain’t no way 😆
Huh? It’s $1K, not $1.5K. still expensive though for outdated as shit hardware.
With the little box doohickeys it’s currently $1300 CAD. Add on tax and shipping. I believe it used to be more.
What boxes? The 1k pack comes with two base stations. You mean if you want to add 2 more? Then yea, fair.
The whole kit is $1300 before tax
Your looking at it in Canadian. I’m looking at usd. So we’re saying the same thing, just different currencies lol. Woops.
But it’s not required, there are much cheaper options, especially today with used quest 2 devices.
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
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.
The only other one ove used is psvr1, and one of those smart phone ones, psvr2 is obvioisly miles ahead of bith, though i cant say how it compares to Index, or quest. Id imagine its probably near quest quality.
I’ve used pretty much all of the headsets on the market. I still haven’t tried a Big screen VR headset though :(
For popular headsets I’d rank them kinda like this
PSVR2 has really really really good looking displays, but it has some other downsides which really bring it down in the rankings. I’d stay away from it unless you get a deal on a used one, then it would absolutely be worth it.
The idea of sinking $500 into a headset and then another $80 for one game is pretty crazy. Not like Valve doesn’t have the ownership numbers from the hardware survey. It was never going to sell like HL2.
You could buy a quest 2, connect it to your 5 year old PC and play it just fine. I ran it off a gtx 1070ti with that headset just fine.
It’s free if you buy an Index
not any more.
Maybe not in your country. I literally just checked on the American store and it’s still included with the Valve Index.
They even give you a free copy of Half-Life Alyx if you buy a pair of knuckles controllers for $279.
that’s annoying, i certainly didn’t get a copy.
Plenty of people do that to play a single game.
Given how different it is to other, normal 3d games, I don’t think the comparison is fair. Additionally there are a lot of other, really great games in VR too.
Regardless, I don’t think the problem is financial anymore. Rather that VR requires a sort of “commitment to inconvenience” where you feel cut off from the outside world (among other things) that I don’t think a lot of people are comfortable with.
Its $500 today but at the time it was $1500 and required cable and beacons.
True in regards to the index kit but WMR has been around for a long time as well and that was a fraction of the price without base stations.
Also nobody has missed out on playing it yet! There’s still time before half life 3! 😅
True
it’s doomed now, but I love my Reverb G2, I got it for the same price as a Quest 2 (before the q3 released) and, having used both, its a lot better.
Are “plenty of people” enough to make a game commercially viable? And not in an indie way.
I zone out, completely cut off from others, while playing games all the time. What I don’t want to do is fork over more cash for things that will collect dust (like a headset for a single game).
Given how different it is to other, normal 3D games, I think it’s a bit much to stake your franchise on something most people will never have. It’s obvious Valve knew that, they’re not idiots and have put out good hardware that didn’t see mass adoption in the past (Steam Controller, Steam Link, etc.); it’s clear they wanted to try out something new even if it wasn’t a huge blockbuster. They have lots of revenue from other sources to fall back on.
They probably hoped that some people would take a chance and get the hardware to play the game, and some people did. But to expect that most would do that? Lol. They’re not that dumb.
“The idea” was to do something no one had done before with a beloved franchise. Not to sell headsets.
I don’t think they particularly cared if you bought their headset, but they had the premium offering if you were interested. I think they wanted Alyx to be the Mario 64 of VR.
It’s both financial (huge investment for a single game) and not. Playing with a thing strapped to your face does not sound fun. Especially with glasses. Or in the summertime. Plus I’m a Linux gamer, so I’d probably run into a lot of issues before I could run it.
I also run on Linux exclusively and I could play Half-Life Alex almost flawlessy on the Steam Index. And other VR games as well, including Beatsaber, Gorn, Walkabout Golf and many others. I’m really grateful to Valve and their Proton.
Thanks, that’s nice to know in case I decide to get a VR headset in the future.
I mean it‘s 5 years old now and what has Valve released for VR since? A single game isn‘t gonna make a hardware and they know that. It was a failure in the end of the day.
You know Valve has released a whopping 3 things total in that timespan (didn’t include deadlock cuz I’m not sure that’s officially released yet), right? A free steam deck teaser, the card game they’ve been working on for a while, and the CSGO 2 update
Valve works slow, my guy
Good thing there are a shit ton of other games, then
No it wasn’t, you high? They sold out of Indexes around the games launch. Would have sold more if not for COVID, too
Hold on. Why are you replying with unrelated things that Valve did instead of focusing on VR to get people onto that platform? Kind of proves my point, doesn‘t it? Also Covid? Seriously? If anything Covid should‘ve accelerated development on VR games.
Your claim was that the game was a failure, my point with COVID was that you would have been extra wrong about that had there not been a pandemic limiting how many headsets they could actually sell, which was the point of the game. In the world that we got they sold out and had Back-orders for a year, had there not been a global pandemic those Back-orders would have been sales, and likely many who couldn’t buy one would have been able to as well
The rest of your comment shows you have 0 idea how Valve works internally. The whole studio doesn’t just work on one project, there are smaller teams that pick and choose what they do. This is why Valve tends to release shit a couple years apart that are wildly different (Alyx and Artefact), but 5-8 years between similar products (Portal 2 and Alyx). It being 5 years or more since their last major VR release is to be expected from them, not a sign of failing at anything
The game starts at 60 USD and goes down to 30 pretty often. If you have VR already, it’s not very expensive.
I’m showing it as $18 right now.
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.
Plenty of people aren’t interested in vr for different reasons.
Don’t tell me that. Tell Valve.
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.
I should probably go finish it.
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 managed to scoop one up for $100.
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.
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.
Well, I got it with my Valve Index but have not played it yet. I feel bad. Just flying around in MSFS 2020 lol
Incredible game. If you ever get the chance I 10000% recommend playing it.
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 :)
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.
Do I have a video for you
Thanks essay!
I think there’s a mod for that iirc
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.
The fit site release has a mod included for flat screen mode.
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.
Nope. VR exclusive.
“But… the future refused to change” – game over screen, Chrono Trigger
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 feel like most people who sing praises for Alyx only do so because it was their first VR game. (a lot of people bought a headset just for it.) It’s decent game, but without VR it’s nothing special.
Sucks that VR is still a niche product, despite it being an obtainable consumer product for almost a decade now (edit: and affordable for over half a decade now). When the OG Rift and Vive first dropped, I imagined it being as popular as traditional gaming within 5 years. Yet here we are 9 years later and we still don’t have epic, 50+ hour AAA experiences in VR because hardly anyone owns a headset. Every VR game feels like an indie title.
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.
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.
Here’s a list of VR games I’d 1000% recommend:
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.
Vertigo 2
The Skyrim port is amazing! …with 100 mods.
you can get a used rift cv1 or a vive for around 200 USD
Get a Quest 3 for like $400 CAD, incredible for its price.
What? Quest 2 is like $250 and it connects to your PC and works just fine for Alyx.
I use the 300 dollar quest 2 and stream it?
Dude, VR has been affordable for over half a decade now. Get with the times.
The headsets have (if you can stomach Meta). Thanks to the combines efforts of Nvidia, scalpers, crypto-bros and AI-nerds, the hardware cost has been sailing into the distance and shows no sign of stopping.