There's a lot to say about Half-Life: Alyx. I'll start by saying I absolutely loved it. The visuals are incredible, best I've seen in a VR game yet, and the art style is on point for Half-Life, the series has never looked better. I'm excited to see future Half-Life games in this engine. The gameplay is very solid, on par with Boneworks but obviously more streamlined, since this is Half-Life after all. The multitool hologram puzzles are simple and fun to solve, but do get somewhat challenging later on. A lot of people don't like the lack of a sprint function and the backpack rather than hip magazine locations, but I wasn't really bothered by these things. The weapon selection is small but carefully designed, and every weapon is very fun to use, with each suiting a particular situation depending on your play style. There's no melee weapons, but they probably would've been too janky, so that's okay.

As for another staple of Half-Life games - atmosphere - it's there and it's great, they really nailed it and it feels like a proper entry in the series. Yes, it's a prequel and not the game everyone really wants, but it's new a Half-Life game so why complain? The story is very engrossing and on top of everything else it kept me coming back to play it for several hours every day, because I really wanted to know what happens next. Not going to spoil anything, but the plot will throw you for a loop.

Now of course I have to address the elephant in the room: VR exclusivity. Like it or not, this is how it is. I believe a game like this simply can't be designed to work well in both VR and non-VR. A lot of the game mechanics (for example sifting through containers for loot) are intrinsically tied to VR. You simply can't make these sorts of interactions work well with a mouse and keyboard. The only way this game could work as a non-VR game would be to completely redesign it to remove the need for these interactions, which would essentially be making two different games. The game is also very much balanced around the fact that you have to aim like you would in real life, which is absolutely nothing like aiming with a mouse or joystick.

Yes, I understand how frustrating it is that there's a new Half-Life game and you can't play it because you don't have a VR headset, but it is honestly worth getting one just to play this game. Don't bother with the inevitable non-VR mods, you really need to experience this game in VR, it's truly surreal. Definitely game of the year for me.

There's a lot to say about Half-Life: Alyx. I'll start by saying I absolutely loved it. The visuals are incredible, best I've seen in a VR game yet, and the art style is on point for Half-Life, the series has never looked better. I'm excited to see future Half-Life games in this engine. The gameplay is very solid, on par with Boneworks but obviously more streamlined, since this is Half-Life after all. The multitool hologram puzzles are simple and fun to solve, but do get somewhat challenging later on. A lot of people don't like the lack of a sprint function and the backpack rather than hip magazine locations, but I wasn't really bothered by these things. The weapon selection is small but carefully designed, and every weapon is very fun to use, with each suiting a particular situation depending on your play style. There's no melee weapons, but they probably would've been too janky, so that's okay. As for another staple of Half-Life games - atmosphere - it's there and it's great, they really nailed it and it feels like a proper entry in the series. Yes, it's a prequel and not the game everyone really wants, but it's new a Half-Life game so why complain? The story is very engrossing and on top of everything else it kept me coming back to play it for several hours every day, because I really wanted to know what happens next. Not going to spoil anything, but the plot will throw you for a loop. Now of course I have to address the elephant in the room: VR exclusivity. Like it or not, this is how it is. I believe a game like this simply can't be designed to work well in both VR and non-VR. A lot of the game mechanics (for example sifting through containers for loot) are intrinsically tied to VR. You simply can't make these sorts of interactions work well with a mouse and keyboard. The only way this game could work as a non-VR game would be to completely redesign it to remove the need for these interactions, which would essentially be making two different games. The game is also very much balanced around the fact that you have to aim like you would in real life, which is absolutely nothing like aiming with a mouse or joystick. Yes, I understand how frustrating it is that there's a new Half-Life game and you can't play it because you don't have a VR headset, but it is honestly worth getting one just to play this game. Don't bother with the inevitable non-VR mods, you really need to experience this game in VR, it's truly surreal. Definitely game of the year for me.