So did Half Life: Alyx change anything?

[Michael Jackson]

Everyone's been waiting for the next HL game since forever, and now that there's a new one and on VR to top it all....did the game leave any impact on the gaming scene? Did it live up to the hype? Will it be remembered as fondly as HL2?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Will it be remembered as fondly as HL2?

You're five years too early.

HL became a landmark title in retrospect because of how the entire FPS genre pivoted around it after its release.

Alyx has been out for barely a few weeks, not nearly enough time for developers to iterate on its ideas and to release their own takes. Besides, you're not going to see anywhere near as much buzz around Alyx, as the people who can afford to play VR games (expensive GPU hardware and expensive headsets) are a relatively marginal group.

[Belloc]

That ending will sure be remembered among Half-Life fans.

[Santti]

What I took from HL:Alyx is that there is, once again, a will to make Half-Life games in Valve.

They struggled to make more after Episode 2. They had started many a half-life project after, but they always came crashing down, and after every crash, it was harder and harder to start a new one. There was a video titled "Rise and Fall of Half-Life" by GVMERS which talked about this and much more, but it appears they have taken down that video.

Alyx will not live up to the reputation of HL or HL2, but I see Alyx being a springboard to a HL3 (or episode 3, but probably too late for episodes at this point).

This GVMERS video still exists, and talks about the lost episodes, and how the momentum was lost after every failed project.

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That ending will sure be remembered among Half-Life fans.

I hated it.

[Schattenlied]

(expensive GPU hardware and expensive headsets)

I agree on the headset bit but the kind of GPU required to do VR is not "expensive" at this point, not like it was when VR first started to take off and you needed a top end card like a 980 to have smooth gameplay... Nowadays even a 1060 is adequate for VR, and a basic (non "super" or ti) 1660, the current generation replacement for the 1060, is not expensive as far as video cards go at ~$225, and it's better than the aforementioned 1060.

It seems like far too many people think you need a 1080/2080 to do VR and that's just not true... The most commonly purchased videocards, the standard midrange ones, (which is what the 1660 is) are perfectly adequate for it... My 1060 that I bought in 2016 is still maintaining 90FPS in VR with a +25% supersample, and the Rift S (the current "budget" PC headset*) only runs at 80hz.


*RIP $200-220 entrylevel WMR offerings, they seem to have been discontinued, for the sake of VR becoming more mainstream I can only hope it's because they are working on new models

[Tech614]

for the sake of VR becoming more mainstream

Boy ain't that an unintentional oxymoron. VR will never be main stream, if RE, Doom and the likes couldn't make it main stream then Half Life sure as hell isn't either.

Anyways you hear buzz for about a week or so when a competent VR game releases, happened with RE7, happened with Astro Bot, happened with Asgard's Wrath and again with Alyx. It disappears right away because the people talking about and interested in VR are a super niche group. This won't change.

[Hinastorm]

Boy ain't that an unintentional oxymoron. VR will never be main stream, if RE, Doom and the likes couldn't make it main stream then Half Life sure as hell isn't either.

Anyways you hear buzz for about a week or so when a competent VR game releases, happened with RE7, happened with Astro Bot, happened with Asgard's Wrath and again with Alyx. It disappears right away because the people talking about and interested in VR are a super niche group. This won't change.

RE and Doom were not "VR games though, just games with a VR mode, right?

The fact is, as long as it requires a highend PC and a $400+ VR headset, it won't be mainstream. It won't matter what releases on it. Well, it almost won't matter. If something like Fortnite 2 would be a VR only game, then maybe, lol.

[Tech614]

RE and Doom were not "VR games though, just games with a VR mode, right?

The fact is, as long as it requires a highend PC and a $400+ VR headset, it won't be mainstream. It won't matter what releases on it. Well, it almost won't matter. If something like Fortnite 2 would be a VR only game, then maybe, lol.

Hard to call it just a "VR Mode" when they re-worked the entire games to be playable in VR from start to finish. Also it could run on a potato and a $200 headset and it still won't be main stream. PSVR says hi.

The masses do not want to play games with an obnoxious headset on their face, they want to relax on their couch or in their chair and chill not have to worry about moving their body constantly to progress the game. Most people game after coming home from work or physical activities they don't want to put in more work which VR is.

Price is not a factor, anything can be main stream even if expensive and we have already seen a cheaper VR solution in PSVR still be niche and not catch on like that. It's niche, and it will always be no matter how cheap it gets.

[Acelius]

My only gripe with HL: Alyx was that the scope was too small. Enemies were few in variety, simplistic and stupid, a tiny arsenal of weapons where only the shotgun felt like it had a punch behind it and I'm actually not too fond of the ending either.

[SethRoguen]

It retconned the ending of Episode 2

[Mendzia]

It looks like a game for me that is worth paying 2-3k euro for new PC and good VR system.
The problem is it is still the only VERY interesting game... so i will not pay that much. At least for now.

[Dundebuns]

My question is; after the rush for VR has died down, will they make a non VR version?

[Akka]

Will it be remembered as fondly as HL2?

I honestly never understood the success of HL2. HL was a gamechanger and redefined the entire FPS genre. But HL2 ? It was just one dime a dozen mindless corridor with predictable mob pop and a confusing unfinished story.

*confused*

[Zeta333]

Everyone's been waiting for the next HL game since forever, and now that there's a new one and on VR to top it all....did the game leave any impact on the gaming scene? Did it live up to the hype? Will it be remembered as fondly as HL2?

Its not the next half life game, its a marketing ploy to sell index, we all and they all know damn fucking well everyone wants half life 3. This is thier way of laughing in the face of everyone thats been asking for the continuation to a fantastic franchise that literally built thier fucking company. It was made as a fast attempt to sell the index.

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I honestly never understood the success of HL2. HL was a gamechanger and redefined the entire FPS genre. But HL2 ? It was just one dime a dozen mindless corridor with predictable mob pop and a confusing unfinished story.

*confused*

The engine was what changed alot. The source engine, the openess of allowing mods and how it was done with ease and supported by valve. Which is ironic considering they took part of that scene, dumped the rest and monitized the small part they took that ironically rose up because they had piss poor default skins.

[Vilendor]

Boy ain't that an unintentional oxymoron. VR will never be main stream, if RE, Doom and the likes couldn't make it main stream then Half Life sure as hell isn't either.

Anyways you hear buzz for about a week or so when a competent VR game releases, happened with RE7, happened with Astro Bot, happened with Asgard's Wrath and again with Alyx. It disappears right away because the people talking about and interested in VR are a super niche group. This won't change.

You sound like my grandpa when he said the CRT monitors with colours are the top of the PC evolution and who needs anything better. The technology is not there yet, but obviously VR or augmented reality is the future of gaming. When pressing a button turns your room into a Star Trek style "holo deck" you know it will be mainstream.

[Tech614]

When pressing a button turns your room into a Star Trek style "holo deck" you know it will be mainstream.

I won't live to see the year 2077, sorry zoomer.

It will be main stream in decades! You'll see!

[XDurionX]

This is highly subjective, but boy did the hype die fast. The community has been waiting for a new half life game for forever, and this is it? We knew VR is a VERY small niche, but nobody is talking about it anymore, at least in my filter bubble.

[Rucati]

I mean it has absurdly good reviews everywhere and everyone I know that played it really enjoyed it. Most people are saying it's the first "real" VR game, in that while others like Beat Saber or Superhot are good and fun, they aren't really fully realized games the way the new Half Life is.

That being said, it's still VR. VR is expensive ($1000 for an Index + probably $1000 for a PC that can run it) and also requires space. There are a lot of people (myself included) that don't have space to move around in VR, I'd have to move my couch every single time I want to play and then put it back afterward and I'm simply far too lazy to do that.

I think in 5-10 years if VR becomes more popular and prices go down so it's more accessible people will likely look back on Alyx and say it had a huge influence in the VR space the same way that the older Half Life games revolutionized FPS games. Alternatively, in 5-10 years VR will be dead because prices don't come down and everyone loses interest, in which case Half Life Alyx will likely be forgotten.

[Vilendor]

That being said, it's still VR. VR is expensive ($1000 for an Index + probably $1000 for a PC that can run it) and also requires space. There are a lot of people (myself included) that don't have space to move around in VR, I'd have to move my couch every single time I want to play and then put it back afterward and I'm simply far too lazy to do that.

You can play (almost) every single VR game sitting in a chair, including Alyx or Beat Saber. You can "walk" around in the games by the controllers, not literally walking around.

[Rucati]

You can play (almost) every single VR game sitting in a chair, including Alyx or Beat Saber. You can "walk" around in the games by the controllers, not literally walking around.

Yeah and that also basically defeats the entire purpose. If I wanted to sit in a chair and play games I could do that without spending $1000 on a VR headset lol