Wake up and smell the ashes… After more than a decade of waiting for Half-Life 3; many fans had all but given up hope on ever seeing a new entry to the legendary FPS series. Suddenly in November 2019, however, a prequel to Half-Life 2 was announced as a Steam virtual reality (VR) exclusive: Half-Life: Alyx. While it was not the anticipated sequel fans had hoped for; it promised revolutionize the VR landscape with an epic new adventure.
Developed and published by Valve, Half-Life: Alyx is a groundbreaking VR first-person shooter game that pushes the bounds of what’s possible. The game features a full length campaign with immersive gameplay; and has been received extremely well by fans, critics and VR junkies alike.. To those who have been looking for a reason to dive into VR: you’ve just found it.
Unforeseen Consequences
You play as Alyx Vance, the daughter of resistance leader and Black Mesa scientist, Eli Vance. During an unexpected turn of events involving Eli being captured, it becomes clear you are humanity’s only chance against the vicious alien race known as The Combine. Being provided a pair of Gravity Gloves from your scientist partner, Russl; who helps guide you on perilous journey through City 17’s dangerous Quarantine Zone to save your father.
Alyx and Russell share a wonderful and engaging chemistry which provides much needed comic relief during rather intense situations. Their relationship brings spirit to the otherwise desolate and haunting area’s you’ll be exploring throughout the game. With other side characters such as Eli Vance and a friendly alien Vortigaunt, Half-Life: Alyx offers some truly memorable characters.
Without going into spoilers, Half-Life: Alyx tells a story in a consistent first-person view just as its predecessors did. All the story moments occur in seamless real-time sequences, completely replacing standard “cut-scenes”. This works extremely well as a VR title, as your immersion is never interrupted for a story moment, and instead it all occurs before your eyes.
The excellently written story dives deep into the Half-Life fiction, offering a special looks into previously unseen aspects of the universe. As a life long Half-Life fan, there was so many references, story beats and huge reveals that truly blew my mind. From a story perspective alone, Half-Life: Alyx simply outshines other VR titles and proves to be one of the best this year. Do prepare yourself for unforeseen consequences…
Hazardous Environments
Half-Life is known for some of the most iconic enemies in gaming, with horrific headcrabs, zombies, and barnacles to action based ant-lions and Combine soldiers. All of which make a triumphant return in Half-Life: Alyx, and have never been so realistic and threatening. In a VR environment, each enemy challenges the you in different ways, forcing you to keep on your toes.
The headcrabs and headcrab zombies may just be the most iconic threat in the series, creating terrifying situations that require quick action. Headcrabs will leap at your head, and if you don’t kill them in time you’ll have to pry them off your face as they try to suck your brain juices. The true horror lies within headcrab zombies; who will moan and screech as they stumble towards you with intention of ripping you apart.
Barnacles are freaky mouth creatures that hang from the ceiling with their long tongue lowered near the ground, awaiting to snatch up a fresh living meal. These well placed enemies will force you to either spend precious ammo to kill, find an object for the tongue to snatch, or sneak around carefully so you don’t become dinner. Mix these in with firefights against Combine soldiers or sprawling ant-lions, and situations become tense as you have to think quickly to dispatch foes without getting snatched.
There’s also special enemies unique to Half-Life: Alyx, such as special enemy variants of previous mentioned enemies such as a armored headcrab. The game also introduces lightning dogs that are shockingly difficult to kill, and will enter dead bodies to create lightning zombies and become your worst nightmare. Speaking of nightmares, “Jeff” is a new zombie-like enemy that requires you to be at the top of your mental game to defeat. Good luck.
Interactive Reality
Half-Life: Alyx proves that virtual reality is more than just a gimmick, and features incredibly immersive gameplay. Almost everything in the game can be shuffled, picked up and thrown with an incredibly realistic physics engine. There’s always reason to move things around, as important supplies such as health and ammo can be found behind and underneath things.
The game provides you with Gravity Gloves, that allows you to hold your hands towards an object in the distance and flick it over to you. Despite being a simple concept, it solves the age old VR problem of having to bend over and pick up everything in sight, or having items teleport to your hands. This allows you to snatch supplies and items to you that can be used in a variety of different ways.
Unlike previous Half-Life games, there is now trusty crowbar in your possession. You only have a few weapons, notably a primary magnum; which can be upgraded with ‘resin’ that can be found throughout the world. With semi-realistic gun-play; you’ll aim, shoot and manually reload as you would an actual gun adding a true sense of intensity.
You are also provided with a hacking tool, which allows you to detect power-lines through walls which light up upon discovery. Follow the power lines and change the power directions to either remove power to get through a door, or activate a device. There are also trip-mines you can disarm and safes you can hack, which play out as little mini-games and add a refreshing variety.
The Future of Gaming
As a VR exclusive game, Half-Life: Alyx is an example of what the standard of gaming could be in short time. The game supports full locomotion, teleportation and room-scale movements – including sitting and standing. This wide variety of accessibility allows you to play the game comfortably based on how you want to play.
Steam VR allows a great variety of different VR headsets to be used, from the Valve Index, HTC Vibe, Oculus and more! The game is designed to work well with all headsets that Steam VR supports, including the different styles of controllers. Ultimately if you have a PC powerful enough to play the game and a common-enough VR headset, you will be able to play Half-Life: Alyx.
With great graphics, immersive gameplay and varied accessibility; you’ll find yourself lost in the world presented to you. The game is continuously being updated too, adding new features and enhancements that genuinely impressive. With the addition of Source Tools given to the community, people are always making new things to enjoy with the game as well.
Recommendation: Alyx
I highly recommend Half-Life: Alyx to anybody who owns, or looking to purchase a VR headset. From a well written story, to immersive gameplay and industry pushing features; it is genuinely one of the greatest video games I have ever played. There is also a lot of special surprises for Half-Life fans as well, making the 13 year wait well worth it.
Learn more about Half-Life: Alyx by visiting the official website and Steam page, as well as keeping up to date their Twitter account! For more reviews and gaming news you can keep up to date at Informed Pixel. Want to speak to the team and interact with other gamers? You can do so over on the Informed Pixel Facebook page or on the Informed Pixel Twitter account.
Listen to my personal project, The Noble Core Podcast on Spotify and Apple. Our weekly Podcast primarily focuses on Halo news and content; and we most certainly talk about Half-Life: Alyx as well. Follow us on Twitter @TheNobleCore, you can also find me @TheNobleGrunt and my co-host @JonTheChief117 as well.
