Valve Finally Announces new Half-Life Game, but...

[WhiteNoise]

VR is one of those things you don't really get until you experience it. It takes gaming to another altogether incredible level. But current tech is still behind and I get people not wanting to invest for one reason or the other. I have little to no space for VR as well and have no problem playing most of the games.

My friend picked this game up and will be playing tonight. I'm waiting on his input before purchasing.

 

[EXCellR8]

I don't really have a good space either atm, but maybe in a few years.

I've got a buddy setting up his Index at his office space for some after-hours play time. Good timing since the place is barren lately anyway, so I'll hopefully get to at least try it out soon.

 

[UsandThem]

The game has gotten great reviews from what I've seen: https://www.pcgamer.com/half-life-alyx-review/

I just don't have any interest in buying a VR system at this point. I'm just not a big enough gamer to justify that kind of expense. If they had released it as a standard PC game, I would have already purchased it as I loved the prior games.

Maybe one day they will release it for the PC.

 

[shortylickens]

Jack makes it look fun.

But I wont be getting a VR set any time soon.

 

[EXCellR8]

Yea it's getting high praise from most people and being dubbed as the first "real" VR game with top-tier production value. That's of course what HL deserves this day in age but I wish we had gotten something else between 2007 and 2019... 12 years+/- of radio silence on the franchise, and just little bits of lore here and there.

My bud told me that the ending of Alyx was really good, FWIW

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yea it's getting high praise from most people and being dubbed as the first "real" VR game with top-tier production value. That's of course what HL deserves this day in age but I wish we had gotten something else between 2007 and 2019... 12 years+/- of radio silence on the franchise, and just little bits of lore here and there.

My bud told me that the ending of Alyx was really good, FWIW

it’s a money thing. I’m sure Alyx will equal less than 1% of valves revenue. All businesses and all people typically focus on what efforts yield results. Steam is what funds Valve not Half-life.

 

[EXCellR8]

GB guys stuck at home but trying Alyx on an Oculus Quest lol

Lockdown 2020: Here's Half-Life: Alyx Running On That Oculus Quest

Clearly this isn't the ideal way to play it, but until we can get back into the office where our large room-scale setup lives, this seated setup is gonna have to do.

www.giantbomb.com

 

[quikah]

VR is one of those things you don't really get until you experience it. It takes gaming to another altogether incredible level. But current tech is still behind and I get people not wanting to invest for one reason or the other. I have little to no space for VR as well and have no problem playing most of the games.

My friend picked this game up and will be playing tonight. I'm waiting on his input before purchasing.

Meh, I have a headset (Samsung Odyssey+, not the best but decent), I don't use it because it is generally underwhelming. At the end of the day it is a bad hack. VR like the old battletech centers are cool and fun (sitting in an actual cockpit with multitudes of switches and buttons), headset VR is just too limited. There is a VERY limited number of games like beat sabre that sort of work well for VR. After watching a review of Alyx I think I would rather play it conventionally. Will probably pick it up if it ever goes on sale.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Meh, I have a headset (Samsung Odyssey+, not the best but decent), I don't use it because it is generally underwhelming. At the end of the day it is a bad hack. VR like the old battletech centers are cool and fun (sitting in an actual cockpit with multitudes of switches and buttons), headset VR is just too limited. There is a VERY limited number of games like beat sabre that sort of work well for VR. After watching a review of Alyx I think I would rather play it conventionally. Will probably pick it up if it ever goes on sale.

Not a fan of the Odyssey myself. I own two Oculus headsets. The Rift S is awesome. VR might just not be for you but every person that straps on one of my headsets at my house is floored. Plenty of good games too.

 

[EXCellR8]

My friend with the Index said that his got kind of warm while he was playing Alyx, but nothing too bad.

He also said the game only took him 8 or 9 hours to play through... but I didn't ask how difficult it was or how the pacing worked.

 

[Igo69]

Hopefully someone posts a gameplay of the whole game on YouTube without talking. I found one video but i am not interested watching it because some moron yelling and screaming and blocking a quarter of the screen. I just want to enjoy the game video quietly.

 

[clamum]

I didn't want to watch anything about it (gameplay) cause I didn't want to spoil anything but I couldn't help it and watched D's (from Node/Corridor Crew fame) first 30 minute gameplay video of it (see below).

Holy poop it looks fricking awesome. I'm definitely getting it but promised myself I'd finish Metro Exodus first before I bought it. We'll see if that holds. :-/

 

[Igo69]

Found it! For anyone who doesn't have VR like me and just want to watch it without any commentary...

 

[EXCellR8]

There are plenty of walkthroughs floating around already.

I've also read that some users have managed to run the game in Dev Mode which allows the use of regular monitor and mouse/kb from what I understand. I mean, there's no way all playtesting and debugging was done on VR headset; for development purposes Valve would have needed to use more conventional methods--even if just temporarily.

Apparently the files required for this are no longer available, but there could possibly be some leaked stuff out there that could be used in the near future. Creators know that gamers aren't dumb and Valve themselves have already stated that it would just be a matter of time before someone runs it sans VR headset. Does that defeat the purpose? Absolutely. Do people care? Probably not...

May be borrowing my friend's Index this weekend in order to try the game. Ain't got a whole lot else to do anyway.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Jack makes it look fun.

But I wont be getting a VR set any time soon.

*******' Jack, the fifth worst RLM member.



No profanity in the tech forums.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[Fenixgoon]

Not a fan of the Odyssey myself. I own two Oculus headsets. The Rift S is awesome. VR might just not be for you but every person that straps on one of my headsets at my house is floored. Plenty of good games too.

I was a VR skeptic. After I tried just a handful of earlier games, I was blown away. It's incredible. Super Hot VR was a blast

 

[sze5003]

I have it and I also have a hp reverb. Last time I played it said I had low GPU memory but the game ran smooth on high settings. It is pretty damn cool but I need to set it up to play it sitting down because I got nauseous playing it standing up. I have no idea when I'll get a chance to continue. I'm working from home more than doing anything else other than not working it seems now a days.