• GoodbyeBlueMonday@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    7 months ago

    Half-Life: Alyx is mostly what I hoped we’d get from HL3, inasmuch as it hits your points a & b for sure, and IMHO c (though I know that’s not agreed on by everyone). It had great action and expository setpieces (avoiding spoilers), and the (albeit relatively simple) puzzles definitely added something to Half-Life that really worked for me.

    Unfortunately it didn’t solve all VR issues (melee being an obvious one), and not least of which the cost. I played it on a cheap (~$100), janky old WMR headset, but not everyone can do that without vomiting, so a great PC and good headset are a hefty price, which is probably the biggest hurdle for a full-scale 3 in VR. Especially considering there just aren’t many other games worth making that investment in, IMHO. I played the hell out of Alyx, a little of a few other games…but Alyx was the pinnacle of what VR could do for me.

    • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 months ago

      Alyx did what most Valve games do, it advanced the industry. It is absolutely a half life game and it fits but it isn’t HL3. It isn’t that grandiose.

      For people who accuse it of being a glorified tech demo, well, that’s exactly what Half Life 1 and 2 are. The sole reason for the existence of HL2 is just to sell the source engine to devs and to push Steam forward. It is a tech demo. Its puzzles are tech demos.

      What Alyx did is implement proper gunplay and looting mechanics and really showcased how possible it is to tell a story in VR without taking your POV from you. I’d argue that there still isn’t a single VR game that nails one of the foundational pillars of Alyx as much as Valve did.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 months ago

      IIRC, Valve pretty much admitted that they really have no interest in making games anymore, unless they have a interesting technology to play with and learn, and the game is an excuse for that.

      Thats why Alyx got made, cause they wanted to play with VR.