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From my perspective HL:Alyx basically made E3 moot. I mean, it's not E3, that's obvious from a number of perspectives including abandoned content and so forth,

From my perspective HL:Alyx basically made E3 moot. I mean, it's not E3, that's obvious from a number of perspectives including abandoned content and so forth, but it serves the same function as E3, which is to continue the HL universe in another game. I guess you could say there's still an unmet desire for non-VR HL games, so maybe in that sense it doesn't occupy the niche E3 would have. But HL and HL2 themselves were seen as moving game dynamics forward so use of VR is in keeping with that.

tshaddox 2y ago
> From my perspective HL:Alyx basically made E3 moot. I mean, it's not E3, that's obvious from a number of perspectives including abandoned content and so forth, but it serves the same function as E3, which is to continue the HL universe in another game. Unfortunately it's in a medium that is extremely niche, and as a result will almost certainly be played by a much smaller number of people than Half-Life 2 and have a much smaller cultural impact.
- breckenedge 2y ago
  You can play it without VR. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/half-life-alyx-is-now-fully-playable-without-vr-hardware/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/half-life-alyx-is-now...
  - tshaddox 2y ago
    That’s good to know! I might try that out one day.
  - aranelsurion 2y ago
    Not to gatekeep it, but having played all HL games on PC and Alyx on VR, I don't see this PC conversion being a meaningful experience. It's mainly because of the restrictions of different mediums, for example Alyx has much less enemy density, very narrow corridor-based levels made for limited movement of real human bodies and environments, a lot more emphasis on interactivity with the world and objects that would lose their meaning if replaced with "press F to $WHATEVER" buttons. It might be pretty mediocre as a flat-screen game. I guess it may still be worth it if you desperately need something Half Life and want to see the story, though for that I'd rather watch it on YouTube, or just rent a VR headset for a month.
    - hobotime 2y ago
      Being jump scared by head-crabs scary on 27" monitor, and entire another thing in VR glued to your face.
    - ehnto 2y ago
      It does still let you experience the story, and enjoy the stunning environments. But I agree the experience was tailored too much to VR for it to be an excellent gameplay experience in flatsceen. Some mechanics are pretty mundane and the combat sequences preferred less walking movement and less enemies. I played in VR and it was an all encompassing experience, still the best VR game I have played. I had even been playing VR games for a few years before trying Alyx, and it still blew me away, in a way that other VR games had not yet. That level of graphical fidelity and immersion is simply not in any other game. Which means it's a skill issue for VR studios, not a hardware issue (in my humble opinion)
      - tumsfestival 2y ago
        At that point you might as well just watch someone stream the game from start to finish, at least you get the "experience" the game the way it was meant to be played.

tshaddox 2y ago

> From my perspective HL:Alyx basically made E3 moot. I mean, it's not E3, that's obvious from a number of perspectives including abandoned content and so forth, but it serves the same function as E3, which is to continue the HL universe in another game. Unfortunately it's in a medium that is extremely niche, and as a result will almost certainly be played by a much smaller number of people than Half-Life 2 and have a much smaller cultural impact.

breckenedge 2y ago
You can play it without VR. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/half-life-alyx-is-now-fully-playable-without-vr-hardware/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/half-life-alyx-is-now...
- tshaddox 2y ago
  That’s good to know! I might try that out one day.
- aranelsurion 2y ago
  Not to gatekeep it, but having played all HL games on PC and Alyx on VR, I don't see this PC conversion being a meaningful experience. It's mainly because of the restrictions of different mediums, for example Alyx has much less enemy density, very narrow corridor-based levels made for limited movement of real human bodies and environments, a lot more emphasis on interactivity with the world and objects that would lose their meaning if replaced with "press F to $WHATEVER" buttons. It might be pretty mediocre as a flat-screen game. I guess it may still be worth it if you desperately need something Half Life and want to see the story, though for that I'd rather watch it on YouTube, or just rent a VR headset for a month.
  - hobotime 2y ago
    Being jump scared by head-crabs scary on 27" monitor, and entire another thing in VR glued to your face.
  - ehnto 2y ago
    It does still let you experience the story, and enjoy the stunning environments. But I agree the experience was tailored too much to VR for it to be an excellent gameplay experience in flatsceen. Some mechanics are pretty mundane and the combat sequences preferred less walking movement and less enemies. I played in VR and it was an all encompassing experience, still the best VR game I have played. I had even been playing VR games for a few years before trying Alyx, and it still blew me away, in a way that other VR games had not yet. That level of graphical fidelity and immersion is simply not in any other game. Which means it's a skill issue for VR studios, not a hardware issue (in my humble opinion)
    - tumsfestival 2y ago
      At that point you might as well just watch someone stream the game from start to finish, at least you get the "experience" the game the way it was meant to be played.