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Artifact was a good card game only killed by really dumb marketing and monetization decisions. Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game

Artifact was a good card game only killed by really dumb marketing and monetization decisions. Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game and as good if not better than the previous Half-Life games. That being said, you're right about them neglecting a lot of their IP. Specifically a TF3 might be really cool to see, along with more love for Counter-Strike.

Sleepytime 5y ago
Alyx is fun to play but the jokes and dialog are really bad. Previous half life games did a lot more with a lot less.
anthonypasq 5y ago
Artifact was just straight up a trash game. I hate this new idea that every failed game is just "bad marketing"
- ThatMedicIsASpy 5y ago
  I would argue that games lasting 30-60min was an issue as well (for a 1v1 card game)
andrewmcwatters 5y ago
Half-Life: Alyx was definitely nowhere near as good as previous Half-Life games. Graphics and VR don’t determine a good game. Half-Life 2 and associated technologies put Valve in the position they are today.
- rowanG077 5y ago
  I would say Half-Life: Alyx is better. Immersion is much better, gameplay is better. I don't see any reason to prefer HL2 over Alyx. User scores at least indicate they are very, very close to eachother. On steam Alyx has a higher score (98%) then HL2 (96%).
bitL 5y ago
> Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game MS Flight Simulator 2020 and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice might be other "best VR game" contenders.
- kroltan 5y ago
  > Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice How so? I wasn't able to play past the intro when they literally letterboxed me in a cutscene.
  - bitL 5y ago
    You probably hit some bug, I was able to finish it completely without any major issues (I think it crashed like twice). Alyx, while cool, is too static, Hellblade features some fast combat movements and both are atmospheric in their own way.
    - kroltan 5y ago
      Actually I "ragequitted" (well, not rage, just disappointment) when it seemed to be an adaptation of the 3rd-person perspective. Might have been infantile on my part, I'll give it a chance again once I repair my rig.
- rowanG077 5y ago
  I haven't played Hellblade but FS 2020 can't be even really be called a VR ready game. Even with a 3080 you struggle to reach 90 fps. It's a vomit machine.
  - bitL 5y ago
    Try to increase cache from default 8GB to 64GB, that helped a lot. I play it on a 10980XE/128GB RAM/RTX3090 and HP Reverb G2 at high details and flying over Paris with the latest update is now very smooth.
    - ansgri 5y ago
hn8788 5y ago
Being the best VR game isn't a very high bar. From what I read from people who play a lot of VR games, the amount of polish was the only thing to make it stand out, and without the Half-Life name, it would just be a slow hallway shooter that didn't do anything innovative like the previous Half-Life games did.
justinclift 5y ago
> Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game and as good if not better than the previous Half-Life games. Yet weirdly, Valve refuses to sell their Index VR system to people in Australia. As I discovered recently, when looking to get one, here in Australia. :/ There are people selling some international version via Amazon, however apparently if any kind of warranty issue happens then you're screwed. So, "no" to that.
- dbetteridge 5y ago
  Probably related to https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/high-court-dismisses-valve%E2%80%99s-special-leave-to-appeal-application https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/high-court-dismisses-v... Hardware devices have an even higher cost burden for warranty handling then software products, So given they're not really wanting to do proper warranty on software I don't see hardware being better.
  - justinclift 5y ago
    Interestnig. Valve doesn't honour that agreement anyway. I bought a game a while back that turned out not to work on my system (very clearly), and Value rejected the (several) refund requests I created for it. So it became a matter of "do I want to do a chargeback on this (and lose my entire Steam account), or not?". Decided to just put up with it, as it wasn't much money. That being said, I rarely buy via Steam any more, and never full price.
    - joshschreuder 5y ago
      From memory they give refunds based on some time threshold of hours played. So if you’ve played more than say 2 hours, it’s much harder to get a refund
      - justinclift 5y ago
        Yes, that's well known. The game in question had about 15 mins of total time, as it _wouldn't run_ on my system. So, not even close to the threshold. Still, they just kept rejecting it with some form-letter-like excuse (eg no actual conversation), and that's the end of the matter each time. No appeal, etc.
chucky_z 5y ago
The most recent update for Counter-Strike is honestly really great. It's a difficult game to touch as the community is in a pretty good spot meta game wise. I'd love for them to shake things up faster and more frequently, but as a spectator it's a super competitive game and I love watching it.
- schmorptron 5y ago
  Oh, I feel you! CS is one of those games where, at least with regards to weapon balance, it's in such a good spot that the community actively doesn't want many changes. Most people are also content with the same 7 maps and don't play new ones when they're added. Still, I think seeing a proper map rotation with competitive seasons would be really cool, especially since the community makes so many high quality maps! A bit more could be done to battle cheaters though, as those have been getting very bad in the last few months once again. Definite agree on the watchability, CS is the only e-sport I really watch the big tournaments for, they just nailed the aspect of it being easy to understand and creating a lot of high-adrenaline moments.

Sleepytime 5y ago

Alyx is fun to play but the jokes and dialog are really bad. Previous half life games did a lot more with a lot less.

anthonypasq 5y ago

Artifact was just straight up a trash game. I hate this new idea that every failed game is just "bad marketing"

ThatMedicIsASpy 5y ago
I would argue that games lasting 30-60min was an issue as well (for a 1v1 card game)

andrewmcwatters 5y ago

Half-Life: Alyx was definitely nowhere near as good as previous Half-Life games. Graphics and VR don’t determine a good game. Half-Life 2 and associated technologies put Valve in the position they are today.

rowanG077 5y ago
I would say Half-Life: Alyx is better. Immersion is much better, gameplay is better. I don't see any reason to prefer HL2 over Alyx. User scores at least indicate they are very, very close to eachother. On steam Alyx has a higher score (98%) then HL2 (96%).

bitL 5y ago

> Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game MS Flight Simulator 2020 and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice might be other "best VR game" contenders.

kroltan 5y ago
> Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice How so? I wasn't able to play past the intro when they literally letterboxed me in a cutscene.
- bitL 5y ago
  You probably hit some bug, I was able to finish it completely without any major issues (I think it crashed like twice). Alyx, while cool, is too static, Hellblade features some fast combat movements and both are atmospheric in their own way.
  - kroltan 5y ago
    Actually I "ragequitted" (well, not rage, just disappointment) when it seemed to be an adaptation of the 3rd-person perspective. Might have been infantile on my part, I'll give it a chance again once I repair my rig.
rowanG077 5y ago
I haven't played Hellblade but FS 2020 can't be even really be called a VR ready game. Even with a 3080 you struggle to reach 90 fps. It's a vomit machine.
- bitL 5y ago
  Try to increase cache from default 8GB to 64GB, that helped a lot. I play it on a 10980XE/128GB RAM/RTX3090 and HP Reverb G2 at high details and flying over Paris with the latest update is now very smooth.
  - ansgri 5y ago

hn8788 5y ago

Being the best VR game isn't a very high bar. From what I read from people who play a lot of VR games, the amount of polish was the only thing to make it stand out, and without the Half-Life name, it would just be a slow hallway shooter that didn't do anything innovative like the previous Half-Life games did.

justinclift 5y ago

> Half-Life Alyx is almost universally hailed as the best VR game and as good if not better than the previous Half-Life games. Yet weirdly, Valve refuses to sell their Index VR system to people in Australia. As I discovered recently, when looking to get one, here in Australia. :/ There are people selling some international version via Amazon, however apparently if any kind of warranty issue happens then you're screwed. So, "no" to that.

dbetteridge 5y ago
Probably related to https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/high-court-dismisses-valve%E2%80%99s-special-leave-to-appeal-application https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/high-court-dismisses-v... Hardware devices have an even higher cost burden for warranty handling then software products, So given they're not really wanting to do proper warranty on software I don't see hardware being better.
- justinclift 5y ago
  Interestnig. Valve doesn't honour that agreement anyway. I bought a game a while back that turned out not to work on my system (very clearly), and Value rejected the (several) refund requests I created for it. So it became a matter of "do I want to do a chargeback on this (and lose my entire Steam account), or not?". Decided to just put up with it, as it wasn't much money. That being said, I rarely buy via Steam any more, and never full price.
  - joshschreuder 5y ago
    From memory they give refunds based on some time threshold of hours played. So if you’ve played more than say 2 hours, it’s much harder to get a refund
    - justinclift 5y ago
      Yes, that's well known. The game in question had about 15 mins of total time, as it _wouldn't run_ on my system. So, not even close to the threshold. Still, they just kept rejecting it with some form-letter-like excuse (eg no actual conversation), and that's the end of the matter each time. No appeal, etc.

chucky_z 5y ago

The most recent update for Counter-Strike is honestly really great. It's a difficult game to touch as the community is in a pretty good spot meta game wise. I'd love for them to shake things up faster and more frequently, but as a spectator it's a super competitive game and I love watching it.

schmorptron 5y ago
Oh, I feel you! CS is one of those games where, at least with regards to weapon balance, it's in such a good spot that the community actively doesn't want many changes. Most people are also content with the same 7 maps and don't play new ones when they're added. Still, I think seeing a proper map rotation with competitive seasons would be really cool, especially since the community makes so many high quality maps! A bit more could be done to battle cheaters though, as those have been getting very bad in the last few months once again. Definite agree on the watchability, CS is the only e-sport I really watch the big tournaments for, they just nailed the aspect of it being easy to understand and creating a lot of high-adrenaline moments.