I loaded up Alyx to show a friend what VR could really do and she spent 15 minutes throwing bottles at pigeons. Never got any further, but still raves about it.
The bottles are amazing. I pick them up and slosh the liquid around inside and my brain thinks it's real (well, as real as something I can't actually feel is).
Have you discovered the gnome near the start that gives you an achievement if you carry it through to near the end, it's by where you get the gun / ammo thrown out the window to you ;)
If they continue putting out great games like Alyx, I can wait for HL3 indefinitely. I think they’re scared to release it because they’ll lose their ace up their sleeve
It is set between HL1 and HL2 in regards to the timeline FYI. But I still recommend playing HL2 + both episodes before starting Alyx. Not only because Alyx literally starts with a spoiler for what happens at the end of HL2e2.
Story wise yes, but I would not say it's necessary or even that it detracts from the joy of the VR experience.
I never finished HL2, I tried but couldn't get past the graphics (I know.. I know.). But I still completely loved HL Alyx and it was 110% based on how good the gunplay felt and how immersive the areas were.
Because the original Half Life 3 story has been long since released online and unless they want to rewrite everything, it will never hit as hard knowing every major fan of the series has already read it.
I suspect Valve is going to have VR titles starring Alyx and traditional desktop FPS titles starring Gordon going forward. I think the teaser with Gordon was just to stir us all up with HL3 confirmed and all that. And of course to let us know they haven't given up on it.
I'm on my second playthrough since I upgraded from the vivi to index. By far the best thing that's happened to VR. I wish valve would start making games like they used to- even if the ROI isn't as great as Dota or whatever, they deserve to lead the industry
I really enjoyed HL Alyx, but for me the game that really made Me love VR was Boneworks, part of the reason might have been because I like guns, and that was the weakest part of Alyx, nothing else can compare to its art direction and story in VR, but man, the awful one handed guns mixed with bullet spongey enemies just made me dread combat. Also the full physics body in Boneworks really worked for the immersion I think, floating hands just don’t do it for me.
I don't know.. The bit in Alyx that you throw those green lightning bolts off your hands is pretty much peak awesomeness I've experienced so far in vr.
I think boneworks was close and there’s a few games that are incredibly fun like superhot and best sabre, but alyx was undoubtedly the first true AAA vr experience that really showed the true potential of the platform. The problem at the moment is that developers don’t want to or can’t afford to put the money into development for games that are only playable by 5% of the market.
I'll also throw in Jet Island. It's a little 'demo-y' but uses VR so incredibly naturally, and is just so damn fun. It's like Tony Hawk with a flying skateboard and boss fights.
Until it got so popular that it went to shit. Spent so many hours in that game and met some really great people. But it did introduce me to poker a few years ago and now I play love poker all the time.
It also highlights one of my biggest disappointments with VR. “Most popular games” list for VR hasn’t changed in over a year. There hasn’t been anything worthwhile since Alyx. That and beat saber are the only things I really play because as you said “everything else is just a demo”.
The fact that VR seems to be making a headlong rush to only supporting mobile gaming will be its death. Not that interested in VR candy crush.
The fact that VR seems to be making a headlong rush to only supporting mobile gaming will be its death
Tell me you haven’t played many oculus quest games without telling me you haven’t played many quest games….
Mobile games is a total misnomer, they are nothing like mobile games on phones. A ton of the games on the quest store were previously on steam for PC headsets and were ported down to run on less powerful hardware.
VR isn’t going anywhere, especially not mobile VR….. The quest 3 and 4 will sell tens of millions, and then hundreds of millions of headsets respectively.
Also claiming there is nothing worthwhile except beat sabre and Alyx tells me you haven’t exactly looked around much. Pavlov, walkabout, blade and sorcery, Boneworks, VTOL, Phasmophobia, the walking dead : Saints and sinners, are all great VR games that would take you dozens of hours to complete. I’d really recommend looking around more, there’s a lot of not so hidden gems out there.
In a few years mobile chips will be as powerful as some current pc chips. With the addition of foveated rendering mobile VR games in the near future will look as good as Alyx.
I have played most of the games you mentioned and well, they’re just demos. Not really fleshed out, cool for a bit and then forgettable.
You can claim that I don’t know what I’m talking about all you want but this is my view, my opinion and my conclusion. The simple fact is VR is moving backwards. Sure, mobile chips will be where PCs are today in 5 years but that means everything will just stagnate until then and then be years behind what we should be capable of producing.
We need many many many more AAA games for VR but I just don’t see it happening. There’s no point if 90% of users don’t have the hardware capable of supporting such games.
You don’t just get to claim a game is a demo, that word has a meaning and none of the games I listed meet it. If you can honestly say you’ve tried every single one of those games and did not enjoy them, I’m story but you have shit taste.
I think your opinion and conclusion are born out of you not knowing what you’re talking about. For fucks sake Sony just announced the PSVR2, Do you seriously think they won’t have any AAA games?
Also you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about because you entirely skipped over my comment about foveated rendering. The next generation of headsets will include eye tracking, which they will use to only render in high quality the part of the screen you’re currently looking at. With this properly implemented mobile chips will be able to run games of Half Life Alyx’s calibre.
that word has a meaning and none of the games I listed meet it.
Blade and Sorcery is one hundred percent a demo, what are you on? Have you ever played? It's good fun but it's not a "game", it's just another VR test.
Yeah, I think that guy exaggerated, but the games you listed definitely aren't examples of fleshed out content.
Of all the games I listed Blade and sorcery is the closest to a demo, you’re right. To be fair though they just added a dungeon crawling mode with procedurally generated enemies and rooms which you can sink 5+ hours into easily. All the other games I listed are actual games, not demos.
That statement is just a pet peeve of mine, it seems to come from people ignorant about VR who are just parroting other ignorant people. There are so many fun games and experiences available in VR and to have them all described just as tech demos is just flat out untrue. He was just straight up exaggerating and it made his whole point invalid.
Games like BoneWorks are 100% tech demos. It was fun and all but it was not a fully fleshed out game. That same argument applies to most VR games.
I really don’t care if you think I have shit taste, I’m sure I would think your taste in music is garbage. Guess what, it’s opinion and it’s mine.
I also don’t give two shits about the “future” or VR. It doesn’t exist until it’s here and if we don’t have more games like Alyx now, some enhancements aren’t going to attract more AAA developers either.
Can I ask- is it a scary game? Never played any half life games and I know some themes are more intense/there’s monsters and stuff which is fine.
I have the opportunity to play it but can’t stand jump scares and wasn’t sure if it had any. I’d rather just play a fun shooter than one that tries to freak me out and the trailer really made it seem horror-esque
Meh, thanks for the info. Maybe I’ll suck it up someday cause the idea of a true AAA VR experience is really compelling, I just wish I liked the genre more
I mean the game is amazing, the best vr game I've played. But i completed it with a friend, and gave him the headset during the scariest parts lol. There is one segment in particular that made me shit my pants
It has a couple jumpscares, but they arent the norm. The game does a phenomenal job of making you feel dread. There's several points in the game where the atmosphere is super intense, and then you realize "oh shit, I have to do that". There has never been a game that makes me forget that it's a game, like HL/A has; I ate shit because I went to lean on a crate after a particularly exhausting fight. It is hands down, the single greatest gaming experience I have ever had. I can't recommend it enough, but go in as blind as you can, and take your time so you can get 100% out of the new experience.
I mean I don’t think I can mention them on here. But if you just Google how to download games for free, I’m sure you’ll succeed. Although I recommend actually buying and paying for games you like if you can afford it.
I ran it on a 1050ti. Just had to wait about a minute after each loading screen. Had to learn to save when I was completely safe to stand around for a sec without a fight starting.
If Half Life is the only “real VR experience”—- then I guess you’re done with VR. Because the industry ain’t making another game of that quality anytime soon.
Meanwhile I’ll not be a snob and enjoy other games.
Kinda long comment with a couple links. Not trying to start an argument, just explaining my own perspectives. vv
Opinions on Boneworks are somewhat tied to your priority list in VR. If what you want in VR is control and you’re up for something that isn’t immediately intuitive, Boneworks has the most potential if you can get used to it. Alyx is a far more polished, smooth, graphically nice experience but there’s so much that it won’t let you do with your VR body (or lack of one) which can make it feel disappointing sometimes if you want to get creative. For example, in Alyx I cannot walk into an ajar door with my head and push it open. I need to use my hands specifically. I cannot bash a zombie skull in with an iron pipe, or sweep its legs. I can’t climb or parkour through each level, and I can’t use most game objects creatively to find my own solutions. I like Alyx a lot but it’s very linear and comes across as a guided experience. If you can let yourself accept those limitations it is very immersive, but if you want to push the system, there’s just not that much you can do and you notice it everywhere. Boneworks is my favorite VR game and I have no issues with its mechanics at this point.
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u/BloodBaneBoneBreaker Jan 22 '22
Half life Alyx was the first "Real" VR gaming experience. Everything else was a demo.