Half-Life: Alyx

Introduction

Half-Life: Alyx (HLA) is my first and, probably for a long while, my last VR game. That's both a credit to HLA and an admission that VR is not for me. I say this because the quality of HLA is out of this world and my interest level in playing a major title in one of my favorite video game series is so incredibly high. I can't think of many other series/developers that could convince me to buy a dedicated piece of hardware for a single game, but Half-Life and Valve certainly do it for me.

On the surface, I really like the concept of VR, especially the idea of sitting less and moving a little bit more while still experiencing my favorite form of media. The problem is that VR for me is exhausting in a different kind of way. In VR there's a movement mode called "smooth locomotion". This is where the left joystick acts like it would in most games, continuously moving the player in the direction it's pointed. This movement mode threw my head and definitely my stomach into absolute fits. I think only 30ish seconds of moving around messed up my stomach for a whole day. It sucked. I then switched to the "teleport" movement mode where the left joystick is used to point to where you will be moved and then upon release you'll be snapped to that position. This worked much better up to a point. What I've found is that 30 to 45 minutes is about as much as my head and eyes can handle with VR. After that, a headache and/or stomachache is eminent. I came to the conclusion that I like my "active" activities to be outside and/or strenuous and my leisure activities to be more chill and particularly not headache-inducing.

The physical exhaustion that accompanies playing a VR game leads to an interesting perception of your sense of progression and the game's length. At the time of playing HLA, I was also starting to play Stalker 2 and remember looking at my play times with shock. I had seven hours in Stalker and had only been messing around in the starting settlement for a bit, and in my mind, I hadn't really even started the full-fledged game yet. On the other hand, in HLA, I had spent five and a half hours and had the feeling that the game should be almost over despite the game still being in ramp-up mode in terms of story and mechanics. The game hadn't even introduced Combine as enemies yet, but those five and a half hours felt grueling. I guess that's what happens when five and a half hours of gameplay is separated into ten gameplay sessions each ending with tinge of a headache...

Scale

So, did I like anything about VR? Well yes, absolutely. Those first 30ish minutes of a game session are really great. The first positive attribute that stood out for me with VR gameplay was the realistic scale of everything in the game world relative to your sense of your own physical presence. City 17 feels so different from the VR perspective. When you have to physically look up at the surrounding apartments it puts your own size in perspective so much better than swiveling your mouse around. The next realization for me was that other humanoids look huge in VR. They aren't actually, it's just my brain being used to seeing small, finger-sized Combine soldiers on a screen, not one standing on the same floor as you and looking you in the eyes. Needless to say, but screenshots literally can't do this justice... I still include one though.

In the opening level, as you're wandering through City 17, a woman runs up to a fence separating the two of you and urgently beckons you to come over. I was blown away by this. The novelty of it all was still running strong obviously, but I couldn't help but be impressed by this relatively trivial encounter. The simulation of this woman was so damn compelling thanks in most part thanks to the VR perspective. Typically, video games convey a character's humanity via the writing, voice acting, and facial animations and I think that all still applies here. It's just that VR has an inherent leg-up when it comes to translating the digital to something that has a physical and tactile nature to the player. I say all this, but at the end of the day HLA isn't really a character-driven game, it's more gameplay focused. Now I'm realizing that my first review of a VR game is going to come off more as a review of the VR medium in some parts.

I Get Why Valve Made a VR Game

As a long time Half-Life fan, the announcement of HLA as a VR title back in 2020 was bittersweet. After years of wanting another Half-Life game, Valve released one but myself along with many others were not able to play it. At the time that didn't feel great but since then VR equipment has gotten cheaper and now that I have the opportunity to play HLA, I get it. I get why Valve chose to make a VR Half-Life game. Last year I dabbled with playing a few Half-Life 2 levels after the 20th anniversary update and even after all these years the game still blows me away with its fluidity. Everything the player needs to know is taught to them in these seamless in-world tutorials. You wouldn't expect to pick up these smart developer choices the first time around, but with the commentary I learned so much about guiding the player without handholding. HLA continues in this tradition to great effect. Even just the first scene that you spawn into has a smorgasbord of hidden tutorials that guide the player.

Here's all the questions the automatically pop into your head in this first balcony area:

• Can I throw this chair over the railing down onto the street?
• Can I tune this radio that sounds fuzzy?
• Can I break this glass bottle if I drop it?
• Can I draw on the window with these markers?
• If I rub my hand on what I drew, does it smudge?
• Will the pigeon on the railing fly away if I toss a can at it?
• Can I pick up and read the fine print on this food packaging?
• Can I answer a phone call by pressing the blinking button?
• Can I turn off the call's video feed by pressing the monitor's power button?

So, to answer all those questions if you don't want to figure it out yourself, yes. Yes, you can do all those things. Now some of them might sound very trivial and they are but remember the goal is to tutorial-ize without the player realizing it too much. This first level teaches you that most objects laying around can be interacted with. You can inspect them, break them, and throw them to disrupt other objects or beings. More technologically advanced objects might have buttons, levers, handles, or antennae that can be manipulated to produce an outcome. Simple lessons conveyed in a simple and immersive way.

The Half-Life - VR marriage literally fits like a glove, especially when you receive the gravity gun inspired gravity gloves early on in the game. These gloves behave similarly to the gun of HL2 but with a VR twist. You actually have to use hand motions to pull items and then use your hands to grab the flying objects. This is more interactive, feels super badass, and is quintessentially Half-Life. One time, I was low on handgun bullets only to spot an unaware Combine soldier with a magazine slotted in their chest pocket. So, what did I do? Yoink the clip with my left-hand gravity glove, take the last two shots with the handgun in my right hand, eject the mag and slam the freshly yoinked one into the gun, then rack the slide and finish the Combine off. That one felt really cool to pull off.

Another VR-centric highlight for me was the stealth-horror segment named after the antagonist of the level, Jeff. Jeff is a blind, indestructible, zombie-like enemy who reacts quite violently to any sound. So now the goal of the player's is to navigate a vodka distillery while solving puzzles and avoiding Jeff. What a fantastic gameplay twist that is perfectly suited for VR. Now instead of carelessly grabbing loot off shelves you have to be extremely cautious as you grab some shotgun shells as to not bump the three bottles of vodka precariously perched high above the tile floor. There's a lot of neat gameplay twists like that in this level. Like how the poisonous vapors emanating from Jeff will cause you to cough unless you physically cover your mouth. So now one of your hands is tied up with covering your mouth, leaving you with just one usable hand for all intents and purposes. All in all, I thought it was cool how the novelty of a VR environment with a lot of physics-based objects was flipped on its head, what was once fun is now tense and horrifying.

Shooting Things

So, I did complain quite a bit about movement in VR and how it just feels unnatural and clunky. But on the other hand, there's the FPS part of the game, and it's just fantastic. VR is so well suited for immersive first-person gunfights. Having every step of using a gun being a physical action and not just a button press is a delight. Reloading is ejecting the mag, grabbing another one from your bag, sliding it into the gun, and then racking the slide. Reloading is no longer an idle button press that simply starts an animation that delays your next shot, it's a skill. Aiming is not just holding the right mouse button anymore and you don't automatically get a super clean sight picture. Without the physical weight of the gun in your hand, I found it a little tougher to align the front and rear sights of the pistol for instance. But with some practice you start to realize that you can't just throw your limp wrist up at eye level and expect to get a clean sight picture. The whole process is a nice switch up from what's typical for FPS gaming, it's slower and more engaging.

Everything I said about the more tactile, human-like scale of VR also translates some positive attributes to the gunfights. Shootouts with the Combine feel more visceral and intimidating. Larger, bulkier enemies have a presence on screen that communicates their increased threat level. Smaller, quicker enemies keep you on your toes when trying to line up a shot. Taking cover and shooting around cover has a great feel too. Having to physically kneel down and peek around corners is super immersive and fun. Things can get a little confusing if, in the heat of the moment, you run up against the boundary of your play-area. I had a few very clumsy encounters where I was "stuck" between the play-area boundary and an in-game object like a wall for instance. In these cases, you want to re-center yourself in the play-area but can't because of the in-game wall. This means you have to teleport away and then reposition to cover. It's fine most of the time, just extra awkward when enemies are bearing down on you. I found myself frequently checking my boundaries and re-centering myself in down times between the action to alleviate this somewhat.

Verdict

★★★1/2

On one hand Half-Life: Alyx is a really fun Half-Life game and on the other it's a VR game. So, while I'm docking it points because I didn't fully enjoy the VR experience, Half-Life: Alyx probably doesn't get made if not for VR. It's a bit of a catch 22 and thus I'm a bit conflicted with how I feel about it. I guess I'm glad I waited five years, bought the game on sale, and played it using a used Quest 2 that I'm going to be selling here shortly.