Half-life: AlyxValve’s surprise VR return to the series that established the company has received several “Best in VR” awards from major establishments. However, most critics neglected him in search of more conventional recognition, like FPS of the Year or the all-important Game of the Year, and in many cases he was not even nominated.
To some extent, this is understandable. The December 2020 Steam hardware survey shows that Steam users with virtual reality headsets still represent less than 2% of the overall Steam user base. Meanwhile Alyx has been optimized to work well on several different headsets, it requires a powerful PC, so it is unclear how many of those 2% can actually run it. So why give popular recognition to a game that only an extreme minority of players can enjoy?
Let’s start with ideological reason. Half-life: Alyx it was meant to be a “killer app” for a nascent platform, something that changes virtual reality headsets areola changed the original Xbox. And so it was. Sales of virtual reality headsets increased dramatically after the surprise announcement of Alyx in November 2019. Even the Valve Index, priced at $ 1000 for the complete system, was sold globally in January 2020, two months before Alyxlaunch of.
More than just a sales pitch for virtual reality headsets, Half-life: Alyx it should also be a transformative moment for the gaming industry. The objective was to demonstrate that it is possible to tell a complete story involving VR with AAA fidelity, interactivity, elegance and minimal discomfort. And he managed it all too. Even at the lowest graphics settings, the scale, attention to detail and interactivity are jaw-dropping and free from motion sickness throughout the 15-hour campaign.
Valve also launched modding tools for Alyx, which is generating a lot of user-created content that is easily accessible through Steam Workshop, including some genuinely brilliant custom levels. This is a democratization of VR like we’ve never seen before, allowing users to tell their own VR stories with relative ease. It is true that it is democratization for the 2%, but it is an important step towards making VR content more accessible at the same time.
However, none of this is worth much if Half-life: Alyx it is recognized only for its qualities as an VR game. By not recognizing that Alyx can go toe-to-toe with non-RV titles, the industry is undermining Alyxpotential of. It’s messing up exactly what you expected Alyx would succeed – moving VR games from the RV space to the mainstream. In fact, given the small installation base for VR, it is much easier to discard Alyx like “just another VR game” than discarding something like The Last of Us Part II as “just another action adventure game”.
Of course, ideological reasons can quickly turn into dogmas. What if Alyx not as good as a game, so what does it matter how good it looks and feels, or how important it is to the industry? Why consider it for popular recognition if it is just a display of glorified technology?
Thank you, Half-life: Alyx it is an excellent game in itself. The story is long overdue, but it is fascinating, with a provocative and possibly ingenious approach (I haven’t decided yet). Half life lore. And the game makes up for its slow start with brilliant world-building, art direction, characters and more than a touch of Portal 2mood.
Alyx makes obvious concessions to VR that, in terms of scope, bring it closer to Half-Life 2: Episode 1 or Half-life: opposite force than other games in the series. The Gravity Gloves place most of Alyx’s surroundings within comfortable reach, but do not have the power of Gordon Freeman’s Gravitational Weapon. Combat encounters are limited to a handful of enemies at a time and focused on coverage. And the game reveals itself more in puzzle variants of collecting points than in the physics-based fare we get used to Half-life 2. But none of this hurts. With the headset on, combat and exploration seem visceral without being overwhelming and carry Valve’s characteristic eye for balance and rhythm.
This means Half-life: Alyx it would almost certainly not be a good translation for a flat screen, but that is precisely the point: it is an exclusive attempt at virtual reality that tries to prove a concept to a mainstream audience. As such, in its design, writing and gameplay, it deserves to compete with the rest of them. In his grandest ambitions, needs to compete with the rest of them. Without that, I’m not sure if we will ever see virtual reality leaving its niche.