Half-Life: Alyx Reviews

Half-Life: Alyx is ranked in the 100th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
IGN Spain
Top Critic
9.5 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx is the new bar for Virtual Reality. Valve has made a game so realistic, immersive and detailed that we can consider it a main iteration of Half-Life. Only its story, something fair in what it contributes to the saga make it not have a perfect score.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

GameMAG
Top Critic
9 / 10
Mar 23, 2020

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

Mar 23, 2020

As someone who’s already sold on VR, I think Alyx is a hell of a good time. I put in four or five hours straight on Saturday (thanks to Dramamine) and few VR games manage to hold my attention that long. But I don’t think it’s the revolutionary new experience that people might expect, particularly people who owned a Vive or a Rift and have been living in this future for a while.

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Dan Stapleton
Top Critic
10 / 10.0
Mar 24, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx has set a new bar for VR in interactivity, detail, and level design, showing what can happen when a world-class developer goes all-in on the new frontier of technology.

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Metro GameCentral
Top Critic
8 / 10
Mar 24, 2020

An incredible technical achievement but one that is surprisingly short of genuinely new ideas, and often struggles to get the balance right between VR showpiece and satisfying gameplay experience.

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9 / 10.0
Mar 24, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx is a triumph for VR games and sets the benchmark for other developers to follow suit.

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PC Invasion
Top Critic
9 / 10
Mar 24, 2020

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.

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9 / 10
Mar 24, 2020
Half-Life: Alyx - Angry Review [Discussion] video thumbnail
10 / 10.0
Mar 25, 2020

Genre-bending and hauntingly mesmerizing, Half-Life Alyx brings the series as it should have always been experienced while doing the impossible: surpassing Half Life 2.

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Mar 25, 2020

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.

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Guardian
Top Critic
Mar 25, 2020

The classic shooter series gains a thrilling new perspective, thanks to VR tech that works symbiotically with the narrative

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9.3 / 10.0
Mar 25, 2020

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

The Outerhaven Productions
Conner B
Top Critic
Mar 26, 2020

Prepare for the experience of your life in the best VR game yet from legendary Developers Valve. Valve have taken all their innovative ideas that they've kept bottle up for years and finally unleashed them unto the world.

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9 / 10
Mar 26, 2020

Half-Life: Alyx is the perfect example of the best Virtual Reality can be. After years of what felt like nothing more than tech demos or ports, this game has arrived to show everyone how it’s done.

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Telegraph
Top Critic
Mar 27, 2020

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.

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GBAtemp
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2020

If you were waiting for that one "killer game" before you wanted to dip into the VR scene, this is it. If you already have a PC VR headset, you absolutely must own this game. Half-Life: Alyx is easily one of the best VR games I've ever played, easily beating out my previous favorite Beat Saber, and every Half-Life fan should experience the game in one way or another.

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Mar 27, 2020

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.

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9.5 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2020

With Half-Life: Alyx, Valve has proved once again that they are the best. After a few underwhelming projects like Artifact or Dota Underlords, the developers went back to their roots and created a superb single-player game. Alyx has a great storyline with fun characters and offers unique gameplay utilizing a technology capable of delivering a new experience. This VR title is a true revelation.

Review in Polish | Read full review

10 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2020

Before the release of Half-Life: Alyx, series’ fans were worried that it might not live up to the expectations. But now, we can say Half-Life: Alyx is a great Half-Life game and a perfect VR experience too. Level Design, VR interactions, story-telling, art design, and all other aspects of the game are at a very high-quality level. Every gamer that has access to VR headsets must play this masterpiece.

Review in Persian | Read full review

Mar 27, 2020

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.

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