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Half Life: Alyx is Five Years Old Today (lemmy.ml)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

129 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

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.