Half-Life: Alyx Reviews
All future VR games will look to Half Life: Alyx as the gold standard hereon, and thanks to its absolute excellence in design and presentation we are all the better for it. Virtual reality will never be the same, nor will Half Life after Alyx's jaw-dropping conclusion.
But judged on its merits as a VR game, it excels. If you're looking for something to wow you with what the technology can do, this will get that job done.
I hope I don’t have to wait for brain-computer interfaces to exist before the series returns again, because despite a handful of complaints, I still think Valve make the best first-person shooters around.
Alyx doesn't propel VR to unseen heights, nor does it overcome the limitations of the platform. What it does is provide an exceptional name-brand experience that is extraordinarily polished and just about the best example of what VR has to offer right now. Every puzzle is satisfying, every gunfight is a thrill. The environments are beautifully horrifying and the interactables are absurdly detailed. It has no lulls, nothing ever gets played out or boring. It has a ton of fan service and builds some really exciting hype for the future of the series. However, I wish that the game built its core mechanics over time the way Portal 2 so famously did. Alyx is much more akin to a rollercoaster ride than a hill to climb. If you can afford the price of admission though, it's one wild ride.
A groundbreaking experience that makes the world of Half-Life more tangible than you could imagine.
The hysteria generated by last year's surprise announcement heralding the return of the genre-defining but long-presumed killed-in-action shooter series Half-Life was quickly tempered by news it would do so exclusively in virtual reality.
The classic shooter series gains a thrilling new perspective, thanks to VR tech that works symbiotically with the narrative
It’s the best VR game yet, and maybe, just maybe, the best in the Half Life franchise.
I had such an incredible time going back into the Half-Life universe, and in VR. It's outstanding. The story is full of surprises as you can expect from a Half-Life game. A true AAA experience in VR, Half-Life: Alyx is a triumphant return for Valve—even if you aren't playing as Gordon Freeman.
Tight gunplay and a solid, ambitious crack at AAA VR mean that Half-Life: Alyx is one of the big hits of virtual reality. While the combat could be a little too mellow for some, the ambulatory opening is dripping with atmosphere and provides a nice way for players new to VR to get familiar.
Valve selects the best features of VR action games and takes them to another level. Half-Life: Alyx is not innovative in choosing what is needed for the perfect virtual reality experience – between interactivity of the environment, gestural use of firearms or environmental puzzles – but it is in putting together everything in the style of Half-Life. The kind of first person game that made the series famous, and forever changed the action adventure into a "before and after Gordon Freeman", returns to linear origins without genres contamination, becoming an immersive sim only for what falls within our view, or what we can physically accomplish in a crazy City 17. Masterful.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Half-Life: Alyx sets a new high standard for VR games, both in technical terms and gameplay itself. Visually impressive and customizable for accessibility, Alyx's 20-hour campaign strikes an enjoyable balance between action, horror, puzzle-solving, and humor. VR gamers shouldn't miss this one.
If you were worried about the quality, you can calmly exhale - Valve has not forgotten how to make great games. Half-Life: Alyx is not just the best and most beautiful project for virtual reality to date, but also an excellent and very worthy addition to the Half-Life series. It is simply a "must have" in the collection of a fan of the genre and franchise. If you were looking for a reason to buy an expensive VR helmet for PC, then you have finally found it. And everyone else should at least play it at a friend's house. And, Valve, you are now obligated to release Half-Life 3!
Review in Russian | Read full review
Although they're mainly known for maintaining the video game distribution network Steam these days, it's important to remember how instrumental Valve's games have been in moving the video game industry forward. With the recent release of Half-Life: Alyx, Valve's most impressive title yet, it's hard not to think that a new era for virtual reality has either just ended, or just begun. Either way, the game is a step forward for new, more immersive ways to engage with the interactive storytelling medium, and once a larger number of players get a chance to experience Half-Life: Alyx for themselves it's likely many, many more people will be inspired to go out and buy their own virtual reality headsets.
“Half-Life’s” ties to survival-horror shine in “Alyx.” One enemy that most who have played “Half-Life” will remember are the Barnacles — monstrosities that attach themselves to the ceiling and dangle their long, thin, dark tongues close to the ground. VR makes their presence more unnerving. A random moment I loved happened when I pulled an object toward me that a Barnacle caught then with its tongue and devoured. I moved into place underneath it while carefully avoiding its grotesque appendage and fired a few shots, killing it and causing it to spit up my item. In that moment, and several others, I felt noticeably transported to one of the most vivid science fiction worlds I’ve experienced.
Half-Life: Alyx is the new benchmark for future VR products. More generally, it is a magnificent game, the worthy heir of an immortal saga: an adventure that has nothing to envy to those episodes that have contributed to mark the history of gaming.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Half-Life: Alyx is truly the new standard bearer for virtual reality. This is a major, not to say revolutionary, title, as was Half-Life and Half-Life 2 in their time. For more than 10 hours of play, we live the horrifying, supernatural and science fiction adventures of Alyx, as if we were there. A Masterpiece !
Review in French | Read full review
Valve has surpassed impossible expectations with Half-Life: Alyx, bringing a series long thought buried back into the limelight with extraordinary impact. While some might find it unfortunate that such an experience is housed inside virtual reality, I feel it's an innovative step forward for the series. If you have the means to play it, Half-Life: Alyx is absolutely essential.