Half-Life Alyx launched to effectively universal acclaim in 2020. Its only arguable fault being that it was locked behind the substantial asking price of? owning a VR headset. Modders have alleviated this problem since, and NoVR mod, in particular, stands out as a highlight with its Summer update.

Now, in 2024, VR headsets are cheaper and more capable than ever before, but the value of the Half-Life Alyx NoVR mod is still unquestionable. Certainly, Alyx is best played with a VR headset, and translating the experience to a "flat" gameplay mod means undercutting the experience it was developed as. But for those unconvinced, the new Summer 2024 update of Alyx NoVR is absolutely loaded with features, such as the improved support for Valve's own Steam Deck handheld. That's right: you can now play Half-Life Alyx perfectly well on the Steam Deck. How's that for impressive?

It is now easier to play Half-Life Alyx on the Steam Deck than ever before

All cheekiness aside, the NoVR mod is the best way to experience Half-Life Alyx if you cannot afford or, heck, categorically refuse to purchase a VR headset. Its latest update deliver?s? a whole smorgasbord of major upgrades, including:

• Locked 60 FPS on the Steam Deck, with gyro aiming enabled to "give the game that VR feel" in combat
• All Toner Puzzles are now playable and solvable
• All Steam Achievements are now obtainable through regular "flat" gameplay
• Improve locomotion thanks to map edits, viewmodel changes, and a few crucial boundary edits
• The new (classic Half-Life style) low-accuracy crosshair
• Improved third-party mod support

The team behind NoVR has also confirmed that there's a ?bevy of further updates coming to the mod in 2024:

• A comprehensive animation overhaul (ranging from health syringe use to hat and mask animations)
• Orb Puzzle implementation
• Further locomotion refinements

And lots more. Now, to be fair, playing Half-Life Alyx in its NoVR iteration is only broadly equivalent to the experience of playing it in true VR. You are losing out on the nuances of its gameplay in doing so. Yet, if it's the only way for you to play the game, it's hard to argue against it. Either way, the Alyx NoVR tea??m has done tremendous work here, and I'm very?? much looking forward to seeing what else comes of the project.

In other related news, there's recently been a resurgence of rumors about - believe it or not - Half-Life 3 of all things. The mysterious Project White Sands is the current murmur of the town and while we've got precious little to go on at this time, everything points to it being something of interest to fans of Valve's school of game design. We'll see what comes of it in the end, but in the interim, at least we now know everyone can enjoy Half-Life Alyx, even if it might not be the ?way Valve envisioned it.

The post Half-Life Alyx NoVR m?od gets huge new update, including (Imp??roved) Steam Deck support appeared first on Destructoid.

Condense it back down to your monitors

Half-Life: Alys is, by many accounts, a fantastic experience for virtual reality headset owners. But for those who haven't had the chance yet or don't have the means, there is also a mod that has now made Half-Life: Alyx playable from start to end, without VR.

The GB_2 Development Team has been steadily working on Half-Life: Alyx NoVR, a project with a simple goal: make Alyx playable without virtual reality?. No need to install? new drivers or anything like that; just drag, drop, and hit Play.

In an update published on April 9, the NoVR mod team confirms Half-Life: Alyx is now playable from start to finish, without a headset. Additionally, the Gravity Gloves and Combine fabricators are operational. The team also has an FAQ set up, with any ?ad??ditional info or details you could want.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTLotwKpLgk

Currently 33 of the 42 achievements on Steam are also earnable using NoVR. The other nine can't be earned at the moment due to workarounds and issues with triggers, thoug?h the crew is working to get these running in the future.

More updates are on the way, and other Half-Life: Alyx mods are even somewhat compatible with NoVR. It's pretty impressive.

Seeing the world a different way

You might wonder why, with Half-Life: Alyx standing as one of the titans of virtual reality, you'd want to play it without the tech it's emphasizing. Well, as the GB_2 team points out, there's a multitude of reasons. Maybe you have health concerns, like easily getting motion sick. Or maybe it's an accessibiliy issue. Heck, maybe you just don't want to play it in VR, or want to experience it outside of VR after having done so in VR.

It's your choice, and though I think I'll want my own Alyx playthrough to be in VR when it comes up on the backlog docket, I appreciate how much work has been put into this alternative option. You can find the mod and keep up with its updates here.

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A new adventure from some of the community's best modders

Valve's catalog has been modded again and again, and has even given birth to iconic titles like Garry's Mod and The Stanley Parable. Now the modding community is taking on the studio's most recent release, Half-Life: Alyx, to build on the game's world and characters and deliver a whole new narrative adventure. It's called Half-Life Alyx: Leviathan, and we got a full eight-minute gameplay d??emo during today's PC Gaming ??Show.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WE1qf3Z_-s

We got a look at some close encounters, tense shootouts, and even a brief cameo by the ever-iconic Gordon Freeman. Leviathan looks indistinguishable from the real Half-Life: Alyx experience, and it looks like it's shaping up to be a must-play for anyone with a V??R headset.

The project was created by modders FMPONE and Corey Laddo, and is set to release ??sometime in 2022 ?on Steam.

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I just know GLaDOS would have something funny to say about this

When it comes to gaming these days, I feel like I've kind of seen it all. Any kind of crazy trick shot you can think of? Check the Call of Duty: Warzone compilations. Someone hacking into a meeting of the Italian senate and playing Final Fantasy porn? That's just the normal news cycle. Bugs that turn characters into spaghetti monsters in the middle of a dramatic cutscene? That was my day job. At this point, it doesn't feel like anything can surprise me anymore �which is why it's nice to get a reminder of how far the industry has come every once in a while. That's exactly what happened when I logged onto Reddit today and saw a post of a guy juggling through portals (a la Portal) in VR.

It's not something I've come across before, but it certainly didn't surprise me to see. The title of the post, as well as the comments, point out just how impressive this video is, and reading through them made me take pause and think a little bit more about how much gaming technology has advanced, even in the past few years. Juggling is hard enough as is, but doing it in virtual reality through a set of portals �well I imagine that took a ton of practice.

//www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/smskrn/this_guy_being_able_t??o_juggling_through_portals/

Apparently this is actually a Portal mod of Half-Life: Alyx, which also isn't surprisin?g considering how well received that game was, especially ?for its physics simulation.

Once you get past the awe of this guy being able to do this without hitting his controllers together, you get to thinking about how complicated the whole thing is �the simulated physi??cs of the balls that he's able to juggle in real time, the added complexity of the portals, the fact that he's able to do this all in real time with his actual hands because of the VR of it. It's a bunch of small things, but they add up into something that the earliest game developers couldn't have eve?n dreamed of.

As tired as ??I am of seeing asinine content on the internet, sometimes it just takes something simple, like a guy juggling through portals in VR, to remind us that we have it pretty good, as far as video games are concerned.

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Half-Life: Alyx

This year was mostly bad for everyone -- and that's a thing that's usually said very hyperbolically because a couple celebrities died or whatever, but in 2020 it feels appropriate for once -- but it wasn't without its silver linings. We got a new Half-Life game! If you're not fortunate enough to have a relat??ively ??high-end PC and a virtual reality setup, this silver lining does not apply to you. What a brutal year.

For those lucky few though, Half-Life: Alyx was worth the wait. (And that itself might be hyperbolic because 13 years is a very long time to wait for a video game.) It's a high-profile showcase of the best VR has to offer. It's also a stunningly good Half-Life game. Swapping protagonists and strapping?? on a headse??t didn't force Valve to make any concessions with regard to quality. It only amplified things.

Yes, Alyx gives us a continuation of that sweet sweet Half-Life lore, but its lega?cy is in how effective??ly it transports players into City 17. The uneasy trepidation of meeting a Vortigaunt for the first time. The tense and tactile way that you reload Alyx's humble arsenal of guns. Squishing an Antlion Grub canister in a health station and then watching as the pins prick your hands to instantly nurse you back from the brink of death. 

You feel as though you're in Alyx's shoes, and that's exactly what Valve set out to accomplish. Half-Life's world is more magical the more immersed you are. VR makes it all possible by really making you feel the whole game. It also helps that Half-Life: Alyx basically came with assurances that we're getting a Half-Life 3 at some point... if you trust that Valve wouldn't leave us dangling from an unbearable cliffhanger again.

If you know, you know. If you don't, I'm so sorry. That's the gift and the curse of VR. You need to see it to believe it. But if you know, then you understand why Half-Life: Alyx is our 2020 PC Game of the Year.

The post Destructoid’s award for Best PC Game of 2020 goes to… appeared first on Destructoid.

Flip on the ol' Developer Commentary

In-game commentaries are synonymous with Valve, but due to the rough year we've all been through, Half-Life: Alyx wasn't able to launch with the D?eveloper Commentary fans have come to expect.

Almost eight months later – and just in time for game-of-the-year discussions to begin in earnest – Valve has added the commentary feature to Alyx with a free update released today on Steam.

There are caveats – as Valve admits, the team had to use "closets and blanket forts" instead of its "comfortable high-quality recording studio" due to COVID – but there are over three hours of behi?nd-the-scenes tidbits. The commentary touches on "art, animation, rendering, sound, and more."

Basically, it's perfect for your inevitable next replay – just start a new save with Developer Commentary toggled on. According to Valve, there are subtitles for English, French, G?erman, Japanese, Korean, Castilian Spanish, Latin American S?panish, Russian, Polish, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

I always appreciate sincere, me?aningful commentary tracks, but there's something extra special about the hands-on nature of Valve's narrations. In this case, there are 147 "points of interest" to find.

Commentary Update [Steam]

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Now your VR headset is beer goggles

Half-Life: Alyx is full of a million tiny little touches that make it a splendidly neat VR game. You can wear a bucket on your head and it protects you from Barnacles. There's a fully-functioning piano in a ??hotel lobby. It's all a bunch of stuff that's easy to mi?ss but makes this world feel authentic.

Valve just released a new Half-Life: Alyx&nbs??p;update that comes with an especially important innovation: Booze convincingly sloshes around inside bottles. Visual effects developer Matthew Wilde took to Twitter to show off his pet project, saying that he spent a lot of the past two months at home working on "boozy liquid shader." Here it is in action:

Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg

— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020

Necessary? Nope. Extremely cool? Yep, definitely.

Considering that Half-Life: Alyx has a whole chapter that takes place in a vodka distillery, this new shader should be noticed by most everyone who returns to City 17. Previously, bottles just ha?d a cloudy look to them, like you could tell they were full but without ever actually seeing the liquid. Don't get too distracted by this new alcoholic aesthetic; that asshole Jeff will find you if you're not willing to break a few bottles.

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Can you Handel it?

The internet is incredible but oftentimes predictable. For instance, as soon as I saw a hotel lobby piano in Half-Life: Alyx, I thought "Oh shit, people are gonna play real music on that." And they have. But just because it's predictable doesn't mean that watching th??em plunk away at vir?tual ebonies and ivories is any less fascinating.

Not all Alyx players will find themselves capable of playing the Northern Star's piano, ?and it has nothing to do with musical aptitude. It's really only possible on the Valve Index's controls because they individual finger tracking. Anyone on Oculus Touch or any of the other VR controllers will only be able to mash their fists against the keys. It doesn't sound great.

?However, those with Index controllers are able to perform a virtual concerto. Let's take a loo??k at some of the best. First, I would like to start with the maestro who took his time to perfect the beat:

Now, let's move into nu-metal. If you think rap to Linkin Park is whiplash, you obviously don't remember Collision Course. (I order??ed a frappuccino, where's my fucking frappuccino?) 

Too simple? Okay, here's a virtuoso who took Russ up on his joking request to play "Flight of the Bumblebee!" This operatic orchestral piece was written in 1900 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for The Tale of Tsar Saltan. It is, for lack of better descriptors, chaotic and fast as hell. It's basically a constant run of sixteenth notes up and down the chromatic scale. This is impressive dedication to the in?-game gag, even if it takes a six-video split-screen to make it happen.

From one classic masterpiece straight into another. All that glit?ters is gold: 

Let's cap it off with the song everyone knew would show up on this list. "Still Alive" once used to describe GLaDOS' never-dead state, now describes our chances for more Half-Life and Portal. Huge success.

The post My new lane is watching people play music on Half-Life: Alyx’s piano appeared first on Destructoid.

Valve is back

Every so often we tackle dual reviews, where two authors share their takes on a game and provide a single combined score. What better game to bring that concept back than Half-Life: Alyx, the first new Half-Life game in ages.

Gather around as Chris Carter shares his thoughts with the Valve Index version of the game, while Brett Make??donski plays it on the Oculus Rift.

Half-Life: Alyx (PC [reviewed with a Valve Index and an Oculus Rift])
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Release: March 23, 2020
MSRP: $59.99

Chris Carter (Valve Index):

I still can't believe I played a new Half-Life game. It took Valve long enough, but we're here. And yes, it does feel like a new Half-Life, thank you very much!

This is 2020: we're past the era where high-profile VR games are assumed tech demos, as some recent big names have shown us. Valve is equally up to the task with Alyx, and gives us one of the most technically impressive VR games to date, especially on a high-end rig. Even something as simple as looking up at the sky through glass in its opening moments will be enough to elicit a jaw-drop from veteran VR players, and of course, those who are coming into the hobby blind. Ha, through the looking glass! I'm going to be super vague here on story details as I'm sure a lot of you have been walking on eggshells around Alyx coverage.

Whether or not you're new to VR, Alyx is extremely accessibl?e with four difficulty settings and three movement options, all of which can be swapped at any time. Even if you go for full locomotion (read: FPS movement with the left analog stick), a clever use of a "jump" teleport mechanic allows you to easily re-orient your setup without having to back out into a main menu. Playing standing the entire time (I need to be able to instantly turn around!), it's one of the most comfortable VR experiences I've had the pleasure of being a part of.

You know what's uncomfortable (in a good way)? How creepy this game can be at times. You're not just fighting the Combine threat (which, to be frank, is a bit old at this point but they'll do), you're navigating droves of Xen creatures like Barnacles, Headcrabs and Zombies. Seeing all of these up-close, right in front of your face, is enough to scar some people for life, and frankly, reinvents them for a new era. I literally don't even look up when I get caught by a Barnacle, preferring to blind-fire my pistol at them: I hate them that much. Out of the 100+ VR games I've played in my lifetime, this is ?one of the most terrifying wo??rlds I've been a part of.

The story is a mix between things you've seen before and new developments. A [speaking] Alyx is the main star, which is possibly the most new thing on offer, but there's plenty of mostly tasteful fanservicey things sprinkled in. You have to give it to Valve though, it all feels authentic, even minute gameplay choices. Puzzles rule in Half-Life: Alyx, and I'm not even talking about the typical "hand crank" or "button pressin?g" literal puzzles.

You can grab a giant barrel with two hands and chuck it at something then run away. Or you can stack boxes like that one scene from Home Alone 2 ("solid as a rock!") to get somewhere. All of that, which requires no jostling and no UI, is accomplished by moving your?? hands around in the VR space, or by naturally grabbing and flicking items toward you with your Gravity Gloves.

So I'm coming at?? this from a different perspective on the technical side, which is partly why we have two reviews. I own every current major VR headset on the market, and have been playing VR games consistently since 2016. While Valve knocks it out of the park in the story department, they still have work ahead of them when it comes to VR controls. Again, Valve did a great job here, but I have a few hangups.

A lot of current VR designers are getting away from excessive menus, in an effort to keep inventory management more natural. So when you need a pistol, you grab it from your hip. If you need a shotgun, it's on your back, and an SMG is on your chest; that sort of thing. In Alyx, you need to navigate a small "+" shaped me??nu with a button press to swap between those three aforementioned weapons and your multi-tool (which plugs into stuff and solves puzzles). When you're walking around,?? it's an annoyance at worst. During the heat of a really intense firefight, it can be a problem and hamstrings fluid combat.

That said, the two-hand system is extremely versatile, and squeezing a grenade with the Index remotes or triggering individual finger movement is w?ild. T?here was one moment where I was sticking my hand into a med bay for healing, and using the other hand to grab items in that same room while looking around. That's not something you can typically do in a non-VR game, and Valve did right by the modern VR fantasy. It feels justified as something that needs to be VR. Just a word of warning: if you're using the Index, charge your controllers between sessions! This is a long game (my first run took me 10 and a half hours, with a near 100% completion rate) and those things can run out of juice after a long session.

My Half-Life: Alyx experience can best be described as "joy." Joy found in playing another Half-Life for the first time in...forever, and joy found in natural puzzle solving. This is legit, folks. A 10-12 hour Half-Life might finally be enough for you to sp??ring for a VR headset.

Brett Makedonski (Oculus Rift):

Half-Life: Alyx is a Half-Life game. That's a sentence I was terrified I wouldn't be able to write. I was worried --convinced nearly -- it'd be a glorified tech demo or an impostor wearing a Half-Life mask. As it turns out, a silent man wielding a crowbar is not necessarily criteria for a Half-Life game.

Sidekick extraordinaire Alyx Vance slides into the star role's spotlight like she had been the lead woman all along. Passed the torch (crowbar?) from Gordon Freeman, Alyx leaves her own mark on Half-Life, providing observational commentary and occasionally chatting away on a two-way radio. It's natural and fitting. Valve deserves credit for having the confidence to pull off a protagonist swap, especially considering how strongly and passionately people associate Half-Life with Freeman.

However, Valve's greatest accomplishment with Alyx is that it managed to craft a narrative that's essential to the Half-Life canon. This isn't an inconsequential side-story of different people in a different time. (Remember: It takes place prior to the events of Half-Life 2.) It cleverly interjects itself into existing storylines, filling in gaps and giving new perspectives. Starting with Alyx out to save her father (Eli Vance, the name probably rings a bell) after he's abducted by the Combine, it quickly unravels into a whole bigger thing. Alyx is such an indispensable Half-Life game that I legitimately feel bad for any fans who are without the means to? have a virtu??al reality setup.

It doesn't take long with a helmet strapped to your head to understand why Valve was so insistent that Alyx be a VR game. VR truly elevates Half-Life, bringing the world of City 17 alive in incredible ways. The opening minutes had me fascinated, watching Combine patrol units police the streets. That fascination never waned, whether it was carefully peeking around rafters to look straight up at a barnacle's horrific maw or knocking around the heads of now twice-dead zombies like the psychop??ath I am.

That immersion, VR's inherent ability to place you inside worlds, is what makes Half-Life: Alyx so special. In the 15 hours it took me to get through the campaign -- I evidently played much slower than Chris -- I never once felt at ease. I had plenty of flashbacks to Resident Evil 7, as I dreaded every upcoming encounter and scrounged for resources that always seemed in perfectly short supply. More appropriately, Alyx constantly conjured memories of Half-Life 2's Ravenholm. We don't go there for a reason. Alyx is a masterclass in unnerving env??ironment, and the whole thing is just so fuckin??g intense.

Virtual reality can be a double-edged sword, even if the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Valve implements an awkward weapon-wheel menu that can lead to unintended weapon swaps. It's frustrating to fail thanks to your own flailing during battle or when a particularly feisty headcrab sends you into a panic, and you switch to the wrong gun and it's out of ammo. Also, the limitations of VR are evident in the design as Half-Life: Alyx rarely sends you into large-scale battles. It'd be too calamito??us and disorienting to have bullets flying at you from all directions, so Valve usually conf?ines Combine fights to waves of three. It's still intimidating.

There are also obvious seams where Valve designed Alyx to cater to innovative interactions that VR affords. For instance, a new alien flora is introduced out of nowhere in service of framing a later chapter around using the tracking?? controls to ??avoid a hazard. It comes off as neat if not a little gimmicky. Don't worry: The rest of that chapter is superb in every way.

Although I didn't play on the Valve Index, which Alyx was specifically developed for, I didn't notice any real drawbacks to playing on the Oculus Touch controllers. It quickly becomes second nature to use the triggers for the Gravity Gloves to coolly fling things toward you, catch them, and then toss them. You'll do this many times, and you'll eventual?ly feel like a badass when it's effortless and smooth. Oculus Rift with Touch controllers is a perfectly suitable and valid way to play, and that's presumably the case ??for the other compatible VR headsets.

Half-Life: Alyx is an accomplishment no matter which way you spin it. It's a technical marvel as a generally excellent VR game. It's a narrative triumph in how it brilliantly navigates a new protagonist to add vital pieces of canon. And, it's an incredible adaption of a cherished series to a platform that does nothing but enhance what makes it special. As I took off my headset for the last time, I found myself thinking Valve can't keep us waiting another decade-plus between games. Half-Life: Alyx reinvigorated my love for Half-Life. We can only? hope it similarly reinvigorated Valve.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of ?the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Half-Life: Alyx appeared first on Destructoid.

We're gonna need a bigger crate

Gabe Newell: "You only have two inventory slots in Half-Life: Alyx. But you also have realistic physics."
Me: "Okay then."@valvesoftware @KaciAitchison #HalfLifeAlyx #HalfLife #Valve pic.twitter.com/bOpkv0fNrT

— Andreas Garbe (@Falafelkid) March 24, 2020

This 16-second video completely speaks for itself. This is the sort of innovative spirit and can-do attitude that'll get us through these lean times. This is literal inventory management in a medium that has tried to eliminate any actions that break outside of a physical space -- so we'll bring our compulsive resource-hogging into that physical space. I'm only upset that I didn't think of it first.

The post Half-Life: Alyx but for hoarders appeared first on Destructoid.

It's all about options

It's easy to think of an update that's turning-oriented as boring or insubstantial. But, in virtua?l reality, the locomotion of your character (and, hopefully, how it keeps you from feeling sick) is super important.

That's the main focus of Half-Life: Alyx's version 1.1 update. You'll be able to turn better and that should go quite a ways as a quality of life improvement. For people who play on ??the first-person shooter-style continuous motion setting (that is to say not teleporting around), there's a new option for fluid, continuous turns without a snap effect. Likewise, there are different speed settings for continuous turn.

This ?seemingly doubles as a bug fix of sorts because using continuous motion and disabling quick turn didn't actually work at launch. Now, peopl??e will have more options for whatever makes them most comfortable. Again, that's paramount with VR.

Here's the full patch notes from Half-Life: Alyx's version 1.1 update:

Changes:

• Improved turning options in Preferences:
  - Added "Continuous Turn," and associated turning speed options
  - Renamed "Quick turn" to "Snap Turn" to make its functionality clearer
  - Added option to disable controller turning
• Improved hand-over-mouth pose usability for Windows MR controllers
• Improved the resolution of impact decals on enemies
• Improved automatic detection of default quality settings for some machine configurations
• Fixed an issue where some sounds didn't play as intended
• Fixed an issue where the main menu could become less responsive if you had many save games
• Fixed several crashes

Half-Life: Alyx Update 1.1 released [Steam]

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One developer expects validation from it

Half-Life: Alyx has been available for approximately 27 hours, and Valve just knows someone's already hard at work modding virtual reality out of it. Valve doesn't explicitly know of any specific modders undertaking that project??, mind you. Valve isn't in denial that VR was a contentious choice, and the developer assumes getting rid of it was priority number one for someone out there.

Valve programmer Robin Walker tells Polygon "Personally, I'm not concerned about it at all." Walker is speaking to the confidence he has that VR is integral to the whole Alyx experience. "It will clearly demonstrate to pe?ople why we did this in VR. It will be a very crisp way of seeing all the stuff we got for the ??move into VR. If people play [a modded version that omits VR] and say this is just as good, that will teach me a lot."

There are two schools of thought here, and you can't really be faulted for whichever one you land in. On one hand, Half-Life: Alyx without VR will allow more people to see the story and experience another chapter in Half-Life. On the other, Alyx's pull is that you get to directly interact with the world of Half-Life. You get to eject empty clips from your pistol, reach into your backpack for a fresh one, and manually slide the new rounds in. You get to tangibly manipulate holograms. You get to frantically flail to knock a headcrab o??ff your face.

Now that I've played Half-Life: Alyx (and reviewed it!), I'm firmly in the latter camp. Frankly, Alyx wouldn't be a very good game without VR implementation. It'd be a slow-paced horror action game that's mostly just propped up by a few big story beats. But, Valve is resigned to the inevitable. "I don't want to say I encourage you to do it, but it's going to happen," Walker says before adding "I think people will then hopefully have an even greater understa?nding of why we decided to build the product in VR t?han they do now."

Valve be??lieves Half-Life: A?lyx will be modded to play without VR [Polygon]

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Spoilers ahead, you've been warned

Half-Life: Alyx has some very long chapters, especially in the early-going. Long, stressful segments in creepy environments where there's never enough downtime to feel a sense of relief. That's why I welcomed the chapter called "Jeff." I figured it'd be a breezy narrative-??based bit, probably meeting a new resistance fighter who'd help my cause, or something like that.

No one has ever been so wrong about something.

Here's the part where I tell you it's nothing but spoilers ahead, and ??throw down the obligatory buffer image so as to divert any wandering eyes. By the way, does this guy look familiar?

Chapter 7's Jeff is a total sonuvabitch, some kind of hideous monster created by the spore-spewing flora from Xen. He, uh, doesn't have what we'd conventionally call a head. He's like a walking venus fly tra?p with the temperament of a starved silverback gorilla.

Here's what we're dealing with:

The trick to Jeff (which you'll quickly learn or?? die figuring out) is that he only reacts to sound. So, you throw vodka bottles around to lure him in different directions, enabling you to flee the op??posite way. Anytime he's in your way, just chuck something across the room and he'll flock to it like a moth to light.

However, it's those spores that add a degree of complication. Breathing them in will cause Alyx to cough, which, in turn, causes her to get her head ripped off. That's why you need to hold one of your controllers up to your mouth, effectively preventing Alyx from breathing in? the spores. Here's what it looks like:

This can be a pain in the ass. You're left to manage enough actions that you have to mentally keep track of which hand to keep over your mouth. For instance, I'm left-handed so I prefer to throw bottles with my left hand. However, th??at means my movement is on my right hand, and I can't really get ?around when it's over my mouth. So I'd keep my left hand over my mouth, move about, and then switch when it's time to toss something to distract Jeff.

There's an easier way. The vodka distillery has half-mask respirators laying aro?und that will do this work for you. This is what they look like:

Pop one of these gas masks on your face and there's no more need to cover your mouth. It makes everything so much easier now that you can give your full attention to navigating around Jeff. You should be warned that they eventually wear off, although it takes a while. If that happens, just grab a new one off the carcass of som??e poor soul who doesn't need theirs anymore.

Jeff is definitely one of the most tense and memorable encounters in all of Half-Life: Alyx. Getting past him requires a lot of caution, precision, and fortitud?e. But, if you use the resources available ??????????????????????????in the environment, you can eliminate one surefire way that Jeff's likely to get you.

The post Half-??Life Alyx guide: One essential tip for dealing with Jeff appeared first on Destructoid.

Save up for the laser sights

In Half-Life: Alyx, Valve ??keeps the inventory management relatively simple.

For more info on how that all w??orks (which involves minor gameplay and non-story spoilers), read on!

Although some VR ??games do feature advancement inventory management, Half-Life: Alyx keeps things simple. You have three weapons total to choose from (pistol, shotgun, SMG), with one multi-tool sonic screwdriver-like thing that solves all of your problems by plugging? into obvious ele??ctronic ports.

Alyx also has two semi-hidden inventory slots in her wrists, which are best used to store syringes.

If you want more customization, you can upgrade those three weapons at workbenches scattered around the game. While there are a few upgrades that are unique to each weapon, the common thread you're going to want to unlock first for all of them is the laser sight over the reflex sight. This allows you to more readily ??aim at weakpoints in the h?eat of battle without having to fine-tune your aim.

Next up: ammo reservoirs, so you can keep laying fire down against some of the sturdier enemies in the game. The extra ammo for the pistol is a?? great, cheap first choice. Alternatively, you could go with ammo all the way as your first upgrade. It's totally your call and? dependent on your playstyle. Conserving ammo early is very important so extra reserves aren't as imperative, but late-game when you have a ton of ammo storage in your backback, those upgrades can really shine.

So how do you heal? Well you can reach down into your wrist pockets to grab syringes, press the A button (on an Index remote) to ready it, then stab yourself anywhere (your own wrists are the quickest). You can also heal another way so that you can keep those wrists fully stocked.

Occasionally you'll find medical stations during your travels. Many of them can be opened by pulling the red lever in the bottom left hand corner of the station. Just stick your hand on the panel and you'll be healed (up to three red cross symbols). Make sure you heal yourself to max every time you find one. In other words, remember where these stations are, and if you take a hit or two during a skirmish, you can return to them to top up.

Occasionally the station is inoperable. In that case you'll need to find the little test tube that attaches to it (pictured above). They're always in a nearby area fo??r convenience. Just grab it and re-attach it.

The post Half-Life Alyx guide: What upgrades to get first and how t??o heal appeared first on Destructoid.

Think like a Half-Life player

Half-Life: Alyx is a virtual reality game, sure, but it's also a Half-Life game.

While it's second nature to go in thinking that it'll be a base-level tech demo with a Half-Life story, it really does feel like past iterations in more ways than one. It took some getting used to, but one of the chief strategies that's helped me through a few of Alyx's tougher portions is a mantra that is as ?true as it always was in the lore of Valve: grab junk constan?tly.

In one of the earliest sections of the game, you're tasked with tip-toeing around a section of Barnacles: you know, those nasty tongue-hanging-from-the-ceiling things from old school Half-Life. As is customary, you can approach sections like these in myri?ad ways. The easiest solution is to just shoot them with 3-4 pistol bullets, but that would waste precious ammo.

Or you could walk around them, which is fairly risky but costs you nothing. Or, or you could toss junk at them and distract them, or even blow them up. Now that's the spirit! One of the best ways to deal with Barnacles directly is to chuck gas cans or oil barrels at their tongues. In classic Half-Life fashion t?hey?'ll slowly pull them up, and blam! You don't even need to fire your gun.

Barnacles aren't the only things you can best with junk. Sometimes an errant chair is the best way to distract a Headcrab so you can make your way into the next room without wasting ammo on it. You don't need to blow away everything in sight: save you??r ?ammo for more pointed, forced confrontations.

The Gravity Gloves are the key to success with manipulating objects. You'll need a free hand (it's useful to keep your dominant side as your pistol hand), and all you have to do is aim at something (it'll shine orange to show you can interact with it), then press the trigger and flick your wrist: it'll fling toward that flick motion. Naturally you can flick it toward you to grab it or fling it at something. Either way, you're good. Just know that heavier objects like barrels are better wielded with two hands.

Speaking of two hands, get used to gripping things with them. You can store two items in your wrists (I recommend two medical syringes at all times), but you can also hold onto two items like grenades until an enemy comes along: one in each hand. Just make s?ure to grip the trigger the whole time as you're walking around.

Oh, and one more thing: make sure you aim your Gravity Gloves at every corpse, looking for goodies. Enemies, downed or alive, might have errant ammo or gre??nades lying on their person.

The post Half-Life Alyx guide: How to beat Barnacles and trip up e??nemies appeared first on Destructoid.

One man's trash is another man's paranormal phenomenon

Honestly, I struggled with whether this puzzle even warranted a guide. I spent far too long trying to figure it out, and then felt ?dumb for not getting it sooner. But, Chris told me something along the lines of "If you had trouble, some other people will probably have trouble too." And he's right -- different things ??will trip up different people.

Anyway, I don't know that I'd classify anything ahead as a spoiler per se, especially as the story goes. It's more a cool environmental visual that you may want to experience first-hand. That being said, stop here if you don't want that ruined for you. Here's a random screensh??ot to act as a b??uffer before we get into it:

Those are Alyx's hands as if to say "Who??a, buddy! Hold up right there if you don't want to know what's up ?with this puzzle!"

Alright, the stragglers are gone. So, you eventually come to a weird scene in Chapter 2 where cardboard starts floating in a tunnel. At first you're unsure about proceeding, because maybe walking into it will hurt you. Nope, stroll right through that ??junk.

When you come out the other side, you're treated to an effervescent scene where the story of Half-Life th??us far is scrawled onto the walls in some sort of glowing paint. It looks so cool, and you'll probably spend a good chunk of time just looking at every mural. 

However, there's a gate blocking your exit and your objective isn't immediately clear. There's a cage you can open that releases some more floating cardboard, but that doesn't get the gate open. ??It's j??ust more trash ominously hovering in the air.

Retrace your steps. There's some sort of electrical panel where you first walked in, and it's extremely easy to overlook/miss because of the way your eyes are naturally drawn to a??ll the glowing stuff. Here's what that box of switches looks like:

Now, with that piece of the puzzle, the solution is probably pretty obvious. Go stand on the lone platform, look through the cardboard ring, and find the true solution among all the false ones. We want the third button in the first row, and the second button in the fourth row. Press those and the gate will open up.

Here's a bonus tip: If your VR playspace makes it tough to interact with low objects, step off the platform and onto the ground. It's much easier to hit that fourth row button.

Hopefully this guide helps someone and I'm not the only person who got temporarily tripped up here. If I am?? alone, well, then I'm no smarter than one of those zombies shuffling around with a headcrab nibbling on their brains.

The post Half-Life Alyx guide: How to solve Chapter 2’s floating cardboard puzzle appeared first on Destructoid.

Take it slow

So Half-Life: Alyx has puzzles in it. Who knew?!

The thing is, most of them are optional, granting access to item-filled lockers. Some aren't, as you're required to do them to progress?? on the critical path. It's very easy to skip them and get rusty, but here's how to best solve what is arguably the trickiest puzzle in the game.

The "orb laser puzzle," as I've dubbed it, is mostly confined to helpful item lockers. Your job is to get the blue lasers to touch without hitting the red lasers. Easy, right? Well, p??art of the way through the game the red lasers start moving rapi??dly, so it can get pretty tough.

The trick is to let go of the blue laser if red lasers are coming your way, and they won't trigger the alarm and force you to start the puzzle all ove?r again even if they hit that blue laser. It took me ?a few to figure that out, but there you have it. While you're moving the laser with your dominant hand, use your other hand to tilt the orb around like a globe and get a better perspective.

So that's one puzzle. Ha! I tricked you, there's another pu?zzle? that involves orbs!

These are specifically for the resin-using upgrade stations. Blue orbs w??????????????????????????ill appear, and you need to move them around to reflect light into smaller red orbs. It's another trick, as later in the game these will get significantly harder with more orbs to manage??. So how do you solve them when it gets crazier?

Calmly pick one orb at a time and look at how many reflective lasers it produces. 2? 3? Then try to line those up so that the maximum amount of red lasers are hitting those smaller red orbs. When they hit them just right (insert meme here), they'll turn swirling blue. Then move to the next orb and?? try to maximize those reflective lasers t?oo. Sooner or later you'll see the puzzle come together like the matrix, then make a small adjustment and nail your solve.

The post Half-??????????????????????????Life Alyx guide: How to easily solve the orb laser puzzles appeared first on Destructoid.

'Our return to this world, not the end'

When Half-Life: Alyx was revealed last November, the popular reaction wasn't a surprising one. It went something along the lines of "After all these years, Valve is finally making another Half-Life game." (Alternatively, the other popular reaction lamented virtual reality.) The people behind Alyx see it as a start rather than a fin?ale, however.

In an interview with Game Informer, Valve programmer Robin Walker says that the developers working on the game "absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it." Walker also commented: "Half-Life means a lot to us, and it's been incredibly rewarding to refamiliari??ze ourselves with its characters, setting, and mec??hanics."

Hardly a confirmation of more Half-Life in the pipeline at Valve, but it sounds as though Alyx has re-energized people who want to work on the series. That's encouraging news for anyone who has spent more than a decade looking to find some closure for the way Half-Life 2: Episode 2 wrapped up. You want more Half-Life and so do they. 

Valve on Why Half-Life: Alyx Needed to be in VR [Game Informer]

The post Valve developers don’t want Half-Life: Alyx to be the series’ swan song appeared first on Destructoid.

Catch these hands

It feels surreal to talk about a new Half-Life game as something that's definitely launching before the month is over. Half-Life: Alyx is nearly here, and Valve has three new gameplay videos to ?give us a sample platter of what we ?can expect.

These three extended clips each exist to show off a different typ??e of locomotion within VR. The first video (embedded above) has movement by teleportation -- the least realistic method of getting around, but also the one that's proven to be the easiest to stomach. This video channels its inner Ravenholm (we don't go there), as a dilapidated subway station has been overrun by zombies and headcrabs.&nb?sp;

It's here that we also get a glimpse at Half-Life: Alyx's upgrade system. Alyx uses a Combine fabricator to improve her pistol by using resin to craft a new sight. Afterward, she coolly snags a hardhat off a chair, flips it on her head, and nabs the ammo that was sitting under it. It seems as though there's a lot to be discovered in manipulating Alyx's environm??ent and finding resources that are cleverly hidden.

This second video will look less jarring to those who are familiar with Half-Life and unfamiliar with virtual reality. It uses the standard first-person method of walking around, which doesn't always go well in VR. We're also treated to a look at some of Alyx's puzzle design, as this clip focuses mo??stly on unlocking new paths through?? the level.

Lastly, there's a combat-focused video that feels sort of similar to Freeman's shootouts with the marines at Black Mesa. Alyx takes on swarms of aggressive Combine, as Valve shows off the shift locomotion -- a hybrid between teleportation and normal walking that ??sort of zooms from place to place. This video also puts Alyx's?? gravity gloves on full display, as she grabs enemy grenades and returns them to sender.

Half-Life: Alyx launches on March 23 on Steam for the major PC virtual reality headsets. These videos should give you a nice headstart on how you plan to move ?through the game.

The post Half-Li??fe: Alyx gets three new gameplay videos, each o??ne unique in its own way appeared first on Destructoid.

Rise and shine

After all these years, the next chapter in Valve's unshakable sci-fi saga is nearly upon us. Half-Life: Alyx will release on March 23, 202??0, with support for the Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift headsets.

"Pre-order bonuses for anyone who has purchased a Valve Index will start rolling out the week of March 2, beginning with Steam VR Home environments inspired by locations in Half-Life: Alyx," Valve announced today. "We will have more information on upcoming Valve Index availability soon."

I feel like the less I know going in, the better, but if you're curious about the scope of the game, Half-Life: Alyx is said to be comparable to Half-Life 2 "in terms of total amount of content." The built-for-VR game is set between Half-Life 1 and 2, and you'll "battle to save the future of humanity: engaging in visceral comba??t, solving puzzles, and exploring a world decimated by a mysterious a??lien race."

If you're in a Half-Life mood, it's worth remembering that the whole dang series is free to play on Steam right now. That promotion extends until Alyx's launch day on March 23, so? you can marathon it.

Valve [Twitter]

The post Valve is releasing Half-L??ife: A?lyx on March 23, 2020 appeared first on Destructoid.

Should be more than a dozen hours

It's tough to know what to expect from Half-Life: Alyx. It's Valve's first Half-Life game in well over a decade, it's only available in a virtual reality format, and it's the first time Gordon Freeman isn't the protagonist. You couldn't fault anyone for assuming Half-Life: Alyx is something of a glorified tech demo meant to push Valv??e Ind?ex hardware.

There's some real meat on these bones, though. This morning, some of the Alyx development team held an AMA on reddit. When asked about the length of Alyx, the team replied "Playtesters have taken a similar amount of time to complete Half-Life: Alyx as they did to complete Half-Life 2. The games are comparable in terms of total amount of content." Just because it's titled Half-Life doesn't me??an each successive g??ame gets smaller and smaller.

For comparison's sake, Half-Life 2 was about a 15-hour game. It makes sense that Alyx isn't some sort of undersized half-story when told the number of people who worked on the game. As answered in another question, there are 80 employees working on Alyx, which makes it "the single largest team" that has ever developed a game at ?Valve.

So, for anyone who's eager for Half-Life: Alyx come March, plan to be strapped into a headset for well over a dozen hours. It'll be a proper Half-Life story for the first time in forever, with all the headcrab VR jump scares that will haunt our dreams?. That's the actual worst part about this interdimensional? dystopian alien-ruled future.

The post Half-Life: Alyx is about the size of Half-Life 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Never say never

At the top of most every VR-owner's wishlist is Half-Life: Alyx, the new VR-only chapter in the Half-Life ?universe. In March 2020, it's coming to SteamVR. After that? It's tough to say.

Half-Life: Alyx designer Ron Coomer was recently interviewed by Push Square who left the door open ever-so-slightly for a PSVR port by saying Valve "has not ruled anything out." He added "We believe Sony's VR platform has been a huge success for the medium, and we assume that lots of Sony customers would love to experience this new chapter of Half-Life."

However, a possible PlayStation port is far from a priority right now. Coomer states that Valve is "very focused on the initial [SteamVR] release." Given how Valve is using Half-Life: Alyx to drive sales for Valve Index, that approach is perfectly logical. It seems to be working thus far; Valve Index has stuck around near the top of Steam's best-sellers ever since Alyx's reveal.

The unspoken truth here might be that Valve's open to the idea when PlayStation's VR is more technically proficient. Valve views Half-Life: Alyx as a showcase for what VR is capable of. PSVR is relatively underpowered and doesn't have functionality for the r??efined tracking that other headsets have. But, if Sony plans to launch a second ve??rsion of PSVR alongside PlayStation 5, then Valve might be happy to break outside the confines of SteamVR.

Half-Life: Alyx on PSVR? Here's What Valve H?as to Say [Push Square]

The post Valve’s playing coy about whether Half-Life: Alyx might come to PSVR appeared first on Destructoid.

It won't be cheap, but it might be worth it

There's good news and there's bad news. The next game in the Half-Life canon won't require the $1,000 Valve Index hardware to play. That's a bullet dodged. However, it will require some sort of PC-based VR setup, and that's going to be costly for anyone who's hellbent on playing the new Half-Life but isn't a virtual reali????ty early(ish) adopter.

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way upfront: You'll need a PC that's beefy enough to run VR. The various headsets have their own compatibility tools (although apparently Facebook discontinued Oculus'), but Road to VR has a catchall list of specs.

If you don't yet have a PC, your path to Half-Life: Alyx is a lot more expensive. Here are a bunch of pre-built gaming PCs on Amazon. They should all be VR-capable, but do your due diligence and individually research whichever one you might buy. Or, go ahead and build your own. It's a fun life experience that you won't regret (unless you critically screw something up which probably won't happen), and you end up with a PC that you're more attached to. Use PCPartPicker if you have no idea where to start.

Okay, now it's time to talk turkey. Valve has stated that Half-Life: Alyx will be compatible with all PC-based VR. If it can run SteamVR, it can run Half-Life: Alyx. The headsets that are explicitly mentioned are:

• Valve Index -- $749.00 - $999.00
• HTC Vive -- $500 but sold out from official retailers
• Vive Pro -- $1,098.00 for the starter kit that comes with controllers and base stations
• Windows Mixed Reality headsets -- $499.00 (there are a ton of these from all sorts of companies like Acer, Dell, and HP, but the $499.00 Samsung HMD Odyssey+ is the only one Microsoft sells directly from the WMR landing page.)
• Oculus Rift -- $399.00
• Oculus Quest -- $399.00 but requires a Link cable to plug the standalone headset into a VR-capable PC

You should also note that Half-Life: Alyx doesn't necessarily need a roomscale setup; people with smaller living spaces can play it sitting or standing as long as they have tracking cameras. However, standard gamepads won't work. Half-Life: Alyx requires some sort of touch cont??roller, whether they're trigger-ba?sed or finger-tracking.

As for Black Friday deals, there are a few options to weigh. Make sure to note that Oculus and Vive's B??lack Friday sales don't start until November 28:

• Oculus Rift S -- $349.00 (Normally $399.00)
• Oculus Quest -- $399.00 (No discount but comes with Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series)
• HTC Vive Pro Starter Edition -- $799.00 (Normally $1,098.00)
• HTC Vive Pro Full Kit -- $1,099.00 (Normally $1,399.00. This is the same as the Starter Edition except it has two SteamVR 2.0 base stations instead of one SteamVR 1.0 base station. Basically, it has improved tracking.)
• WMR Samsung HMD Odyssey+ -- $229.00 (Normally $499.00)

It should be pointed out that spending the extra $50 on a Quest over a Rift is probably the future-proof route. The Quest is a standalone device that requires no extra hardware (meaning it's tetherless), but the Oculus Link functionality essentially turns it into a Rift.

So what's the verdict? Go with a WMR headset if you just want the cheapest possible option. The Samsung HMD Odyssey+ seems to be the best combination of quality and low price, although other WMRs can drop the price even further -- like HP's headset for $180. Oculus is the s?afest bet, and the Quest is probably the best choice even if it isn't the cheapest choice. For an extra $60 or so (factor in the cost of a 10-ft USB C- to A cable), you get?? the freedom of using the headset wirelessly.

If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, go with a Vive. But, at that price, you might as well just buy a Valve Index -- even if there isn't a Black Friday sale to take advantage of. The Vive's AMOLED display is better than the Index's LCD display, but the Index is superior in virtually every other category. Also, the Vive's motion controls are the wand-based touch controls that most VR is built on; Index has the new advanced Knuckles controls that are a step forward in terms of tracking. As an added bonus, if you're going to spend this much money, getting an Index nets you a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx ($60 for anyone who owns a different VR headset). That's the whole impetus ??for buying into VR right now anyway, ??right?

Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive Pro Starter Edition, HTC Vive Pro Full Kit, WMR Samsung HMD Odyssey+ [Amazon]

Valve Index [Steam]

The post These are the best VR Black Friday deals so you can play Half-Life:? Alyx appeared first on Destructoid.

Probably not

While Lyle continues to ??calmly scream into the void for answers, here's what's been happening in video games this past week:

•     Half-Life: Alyx was announced and it sure looks neat!
•     Rumor has it that Anthem might finally be getting an overhaul!
•     Borderlands 3 is getting its first major DLC and much more!

Personally, I'm pretty excited for Half-Life: Alyx and what it could potentially bring to VR and the future of video games. Each Half-Life (outside of the episodes and expansions) has fundamentally raised the bar for first-person shooters. I always assumed if there was going to be a new Half-Life -- it would be for VR. I just don't see where else they co?uld go within that genre that already hasn't been done better by now.

After this week's announcement, though, it seems that's exactly what's going down and I couldn't be more excited and bummed at the same time due to the fact I'm broke and can't? afford VR at the moment. However, I'm still stoked I'll at least have something to look ?forward to when I eventually do!

Discharged question of the week: If Half-life: Alyx is ??any good, do you think it would be a game that could push you over the edge into buying VR?

The post In this episode of Pregame Discharge? we ask: will Half-Life 3 jokes finally stop with Half-life: Alyx? appeared first on Destructoid.

Due in March 2020

Earlier this week Valve revealed that there's a new Half-Life game in the works called Half-Life: Alyx. Whoa calm down there champ! It's a VR project.

This is something every Index user sort of predicted, as the company launched the hardware with one app that had killer potential but ended up being a tech demo (Aperture Hand Lab). Valve needed to eventually give people a reason to buy the device, and a new Half-Life will probably move some units.

Now that Valve has fully pulled back the curtain, you can more easily ascertain if this is your jam. It takes place between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and deals with Alyx Vance and her father fighting The Combine (CMB) alien race. Valve says the game was created "from the ground up" for VR, but has Half-Life staples like puzzles and "vis?ceral combat," as well as an emphasis on story and exploration. Some of the environments shown off so far (apar??tments, citadel, elevator, courtyard, lab, sewer, all in the gallery below) look pretty incredible.

Now here's the sticker shock: Half-Life: Alyx is $59.99 at launch, with a nebulous March 2020 release window on PC. If you own a Valve Index headset (or just the Index controllers), it's free. Valve says that "all PC-based VR headsets" can run it (so, the Vive and Rift, the two most popular, are good to go, as well as Windows Mixed reality and the Quest Link), and it will be powered by Valve's Source 2 engine. Roomscale and sitting/standing play are both available, with teleport, continuous [realtime] movement and a "shift" system that's a little bit of both. Index owners will automatically have the game added to their library with extra bonuses: SteamVR Home Half-Life spaces, alternate gun skins and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive "special content."

You can check out a statement from Gabe Newell below, who is once again really freaking jazzed about VR. Here's the official Steam page, where you can pre-order it now. As an Index owner I'm good to go, but I'm really interested in seeing just how far Valve went to ensure that this was a real Half-Life game; and not just an episodic tech demo that so many big ??IP VR projects end up as.

"Everyone at Valve is excited to be returning to the world of Half-Life. VR has energized us. We’ve invested a lot of ourselves in the technology. But we're also game developers at heart, and to be devoting ourselves to a VR game this ambitious is just as exciting. For that to come in the form of Half-Life feels like the culmination of a lot things we care a lot about: truly great games?, cutting edge technology, and open platforms. We can’t wait for people to experience this."

The post Here’s your first look at the new Half Life: Alyx, free for Valve Index users appeared first on Destructoid.

Half-Life: Alyx

[Update: Valve has confirmed Half-Life: Alyx is real. It'll be revea??led on Thursday morning.]

We’re excited to unveil Half-Life: Alyx, our flagship VR game, this Thursday at 10am Pacific Time.

Can’t wait to share it with all of you! pic.twitter.com/BupFCxSrTw

— Valve (@valvesoftware) November 18, 2019

Valve has spent nearly a decade perfecting indifference to everything that's expected of it as a game developer. Despite creating some of the most beloved franchises of all time, Valve has been content to simply quit making those games. Portal 2 (2011) is the most recent singleplayer-focused title f?rom Valve. People complain about sequel fatigue all the time; with Valve, they ravenously crave those very same seque??ls.

We might get a sequel soon -- but in true Valve fashion, it doesn't come without twisting your emotions and tugging at your heartstrings. There are reports that a direct followup to Half-Life 2 will be revealed this week (although it's not clear if it'll tell the story immediately after Half-Life 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode 2). It's called Half-Life: Alyx and it's a virtual reality game.

Half-Life: Alyx will presumably take place from the perspective of deuteragonist Alyx Vance. There's no more information about this game apart from a vague and jumbled description that was reported by PC Gamer: "You can see? their whole body -- Respond to the situation. You know, panicking, dropping clips on the ground as they fumble their weapons 'cause?? a zombie's in front of them, all these things, they're just -- it's been really fun watching playtests."

Although many many people will be eager to get their hands on another official Half-Life, Alyx will be something few will find themselves equipped to play. It's said to be releasing for Valve Index, which is Valve's new $1,000 VR headset (however, cheaper ?models are available). Valve had teased that it has a "flagship VR game" for Index in the pipel??ine. This is evidently it.

There are two components to the rumor that Half-Life: Alyx will be announced soon. First, it's said that the unveiling will happen this week. Second, there are substantial reports that Half-Life: Alyx will receive screentime at December's Game Awards. A since-deleted script leaked from a Game Awards interview where Geoff Keighley interviews members of Valve. Keighley ends the segment by confirming Half-Life: Alyx will launch in March 2020.

As for the obvious question that most people are wondering right now: No, there's not a good chance it'll be ported for non-VR use. That same leaked script includes a section where an unnamed Valve developer says "I mean we would love to be delivering a version of this that you could play with a mouse and a ke?yboard, but like as we said, it began as an exploration of VR."

Those who have patiently (and not-so-patiently) suffered through year after year without new Half-Life will have three options -- assuming this rumor comes to fruition. They can shell out big bucks for a Valve Index, they can simply not play it, or they can live it secondhand through a YouTube Let's Play. Half-Life fans know best that it's never easy being a Half-Life fan.

Rumour: Valve is about to announce a VR game called?? Half-Life: Alyx [PC Gamer]

The post (Update) Valve could reveal a followup to Half-Life 2 this week, but it’s a VR game appeared first on Destructoid.