Half-Life: Alyx has introduced a plethora of new mechanics that VR has never seen before in any capacity. Valve has always been known for being an innovative developer with both Half-Life and Portal. In addition to the amazing new VR mechanics, Alyx is one of the first releases from a major development studio to come out in the short history of VR gaming.
This list will take a look at 10 of the ways that Half-Life: Alyx will inspire future VR games of similar genres and help pave the way for the virtual reality industry altogether. From functioning pianos to interactable puzzles, here are 10 ways that Half-Life: Alyx pushes the boundaries of VR gaming!
10 Interactable Objects
Most VR games have some form of interactable objects scattered throughout the world. However, Alyx creates a more interesting dynamic by making almost every object interactable. Players can pick up, throw around and even shatter almost every object in the game world.
From bicycles to beer bottles, there aren't many objects in Half-Life: Alyx that can't be interacted with in some form. It's a blast picking up a bottle and just throwing it against a wall to watch it shatter, and its everything people wish they were allowed to do in the real world!
9 Graphics
The graphical capability in Half-Life: Alyx is truly a sight to behold. Peering over a balcony and staring at the broken-down city has never been more amazing in any VR game. Because VR games take so much power to run and are usually made by small development teams, graphics are usually subpar.
Hopefully, players will see future VR games including visuals that can compete with Alyx's graphical superiority, but only time will tell. Until then, players can experience this Half-Life VR game over and over until they've truly seen it all!
8 Gravity Gloves
The Grabbity Gloves in Half-Life: Alyx are a feature that any kind of player would love. Coming out of Alyx's world is difficult because players get so used to using the gloves in-game that they'll try to use them to grab objects in the real world too!
These gloves give the player the ability to quickly levitate objects towards themselves by selecting distant objects and pulling the controller back. When the object is flying through the air and the player catches it, there's no better feeling in the world, and similar mechanics will no doubt be used in future VR games!
7 Mainstream Game Franchise
Because Half-Life was already an extremely popular game franchise before Alyx, this VR game is very likely to inspire other large game studios such as Ubisoft and Activision to create their own VR masterpieces. Siege or Call of Duty in VR would be a dream!
Valve making the decision to create a VR only game may be limiting for a lot of fans, but, in the end, it will only lead to more interest in VR from larger companies and maybe cheaper headsets in the future. Valve made the right choice on this one!
6 Atmosphere
The atmosphere in Half-Life: Alyx is one of its shining qualities and is only fully realized by playing the game with a VR headset on. At different points in the game, the player can feel surrounded, while other areas evoke a sense of loneliness.
Because of Alyx's innovative ability to create multiple feelings in a single game the atmosphere deserves a spot on this list. It is an amazing feeling when one second everything is peaceful and then the next a Headcrab is trying to eat a person alive, more so than ever in virtual reality!
5 Story
A lot of VR games sacrifice a good story for interesting gameplay mechanics. Half-Life: Alyx proves that a VR have can have it all. It is surprising how well Half-Life managed to still be interesting even after a decade of no new game being released.
The story in Alyx is set in between the first two games, and it is an engaging tale with twists and turns. Half-Life fans will have no trouble getting immersed in Alyx Vance's quest to track down the Combine's secret weapon, and the ending isn't too shabby, either. With how popular the story of Half-Life is, it's surprising that it doesn't have its own movie yet.
4 Piano
Half-Life: Alyx has a functional piano that the player can use to create music with hand tracking. How cool is that? VR instruments are definitely an interesting mechanic that deserves to be explored more in-depth in the future.
For now, however, fans can create their favorite songs in the interactable piano in the game. Valve knew what they were doing when they decided to add a piano to the game, and it will surely create similar mechanics in future VR titles. Who knows what kinda great youtube videos will be spawned from this piano!
3 Combat
The combat in Half-Life: Alyx is somewhat lacking in terms of the selection of weapons. However, the actual combat mechanics are fully fleshed out and more in-depth than in other VR shooter games.
The guns that the player can use are upgradable at an upgrade station with an item hidden throughout the gameworld called resin. The player has three guns and can use grenades found throughout the world and on enemy bodies. Lining up that perfect shot or throwing a grenade the perfect distance in VR is a feeling that can't be compared to many other things. Hopefully, future VR games will have combat as polished as Alyx, but also with just a few more guns.
2 Length
Half-Life: Alyx is a long game in comparison to most other games built from the ground up for virtual reality. The game lasts somewhere between 9-12 hours for most players, and it has four different difficulties, so players can have a new experience replaying it on harder difficulties as a challenge.
It is unfortunate that most VR games are only around 2-5 hours long, and only time will tell if Alyx becomes the new standard for a linear VR game's length. Ten whole hours of maneuvering past Barnacles is just too much fun!
1 Puzzles
The puzzle minigames in Half-Life: Alyx were created in a style that's never been done before. The player can manipulate the environment to solve these puzzles, and the way puzzles were physically interactable will surely inspire future VR games to do something similar. They are one of the most fun features in the entire game.
Twisting and grabbing the orbs in Alyx's puzzles was more fun than anyone could've predicted, which is why the puzzles deserve the number one spot on this list. The puzzles in Alyx could make their own separate game!