Half Life: Alyx is Easily The Best Exclusive of This Year.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on Half Life: Alyx after receiving a VR headset. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had in a video game in a long time. I was waiting to play The Last of Us Part 2 before making this thread. Since, I've played it and my honeymoon phase for both games is over, it's safe to say that Alyx is one of the most unique and rich experiences you'll ever get in gaming medium. Story for new comers will be pretty simple and straight forward. However for Half Life fans, it brings back so many memories. Visiting City 17 in HD and seeing all those characters you loved back then alone makes the whole experience worth it.

People who understand Half Life's lore will not miss subtle hints or details here and there. They will connect the dots easily, which makes the experience even richer. There is so much detail in each and every location. Every object holds up quite well up close... it has to because it's an interactive world and you are picking up and looking at everything right in front of you. From fully functional snooker to an actual fully playable piano and water bottles, everything is richly detailed and polished. And it's entirely physics based. Production values, character detail, level design, sound design, moment to moment gameplay... everything stands out.

Simplest of tasks like reloading a weapon or searching environments to find items, or just throwing things away to show your anger at your enemies, or breaking window by hitting it with your pistol like in the movies or making hand gestures just for fun... it's all immersive and beautifully crafted. Of course you can encounter minor issues every now and then but none of em are game breaking. Half Life: Alyx delivers a great experience and makes you fall in love with it without being edgy or using cheap tricks to get your attention. You give it your attention at your own will because it's really that good. Last but not least, it isn't 4 or 5 hours long either. It's around 15 to 20 hours long with that much detail in every section of the game.

I'd say it's 9.5/10 and one of the greatest PC games of all time.

Black Mesa. The fan made remake, PC exclusive and prob best exclusive this year.

@ghosts4ever: You haven’t even played Half-Life Alyx.

@cloud_man: Of course but it won’t get the same attention as TLOU2 which does nothing new. Half-Life Alyx pushes gaming forward yet it’s generic console crap like GOT that get attention.

Then people say there are no PC exclusives. There are, they’re just not your AAA garbage with a checklist to satisfy dudebros.

if it was not for VR, it would not be "PC" exclusive.

its VR exclusive not Proper PC exclusive.

I'm not the biggest HL fan and I'm definitely getting this game, looks amazing.

I believe Valve have said that they wouldn't release a new Half-Life game unless there's a new technology to showcase, because as they put it, they see their job as "using art to solve technological problems."

From what I've seen, HL: Alyx certainly puts VR to good use, and raises the bar for narrative-based VR games.

You didn't play Half Life Alyx. You can't talk.

Also, the Jeff level in Half Life Alyx is one of the most brilliant levels in a game, ever. See online reaction and how much everyone is praising it as one of the standouts. It uses VR-only mechanics and puzzles that no pancake game could achieve.

I’d probably vote for Final Fantasy VII Remake as being the best exclusive this year myself. It’s a timed exclusive though so I’m not exactly sure if that would count. If not then I’d probably go with Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. That game is amazing.

Very good, but not perfect.

Probably the most bizzare aspect of Alyx is that it fixes Half-Life 2 weak gun-play, yet decides to largely focus on puzzles and methodical exploration.

Which is a real shame, far from hindering the experience, VR elevates it where previously mundane aspects like shooting a headcrab suddenly becomes a engaging, manually putting slugs in shotgun, snapping it back and clocking, wonderfully gratifying stuff.

The horror elements in particular where it feels closer to Resident Evil are top notch. It almost makes me wish Valve would make a new IP exclusivly around it to promote their headset.

Aesthetically the final section is probably one of the most jaw sections seen in a game, with a supremely satisfyIng ending.

Unfortunately prior to that basically doing a inferior version of Episode 1's Strider confrontation.

Saw some people throw hyperbole at the puzzles, they aren't bad, and generally can be done in seconds, with s gradual ramping of difficulty. However the nature of the puzzles themselves don't really change, like..Breath Of The Wild or, I guess Portal 2. Move ball, follow wire. Repeat

The game in general lacks the almost consistent new ideas Halflife (and to a much higher degree) Half-Life 2 would introduce to the player.

Rather than the big game-changer Half-Life was, it feels like a far more polished implementation of VR without the jank others run into.

Best exclusive? Yea maybe. But as far as games go Streets Of The Rage is my GOTY.

Agree! Easily the best game so far this year!

The lack of NG+ was annoying as well. Having a Infernal mod akin to Revelation would have added much needed replay value.

Never stopped him before.

hope this comes to psvr.

If only they put this effort into making a real HL sequel.

It was a really cool experience, and I'm glad I invested in VR when I did back when Odyssey Plusses were cheap.

Lol, no. It would have to get rid of the VR training wheels to even be considered the best. But it is a good game.

It looks like an overglorfied light gun game.

Sadly I cannot play Alyx myself but I watched a playthrough online and even as a viewer I was left amazed at the amount of detail and interactivity.

@johnd13: Yea, once you play an FPS like that, never want to go back to traditional flatacreen. just unfortunate the entry bar is too high for many, be it price or usability.

Faster games like Doom won't be viable, and generally won't make proper use of it regardless.

Alyx's voice acrtress is too annoying.

Don't have proper equipment yet. A shame really.

I watched a few walk-throughs on YouTube. It looked ok, but there’s a ton of gathering required and the action is quite scarce. I’ve heard the immersion is impressive though.

I’d buy it if I had a headset, but I wouldn’t buy a headset for the only VR game that mildly interests me.

Maybe for PC

I have no idea why you like this game. It's so much worse than the original except in cosmetic things.

Wrong if it was a VR exclusive it would be on Playstation VR too the game was built from the ground up on PC for PC it's one of the only few games that pushed PC hardware in the past decade.

@uninspiredcup: I'm completely fine with certain types of games sacrificing fast-paced action in favor of an immersive experience that allows you to interact with the environment in exciting new ways.

I hope Alyx will the first of many and VR will become a bit more mainstream down the road, thus lowering its entry point. There are still other issues at play like motion sickness but it's a start.

@warmblur: Its not but you only play mainstream games so i can see.

Its light gun VR game and we fans waited for proper HL3.

I have VR and got this game for free since I have all Valve games for free for some reason a couple of years ago but never played it because I don't have any VR controllers. I'm a Pimax Backer but still waiting on controllers which won't release until next year I think. I have the Rift too but I bought it back before they released the touch controllers so mine came with an xbox gamepad...which is now worthless for the majority of VR games. But not gonna spend some $400'ish dollars for an index bundle so screw it, I'll just stick with VR games that work with a gamepad.

Must've finished the original Half Life around 50 times.

Apart from the ending Interloper chapter which just drags on and on, I don't see anything wrong with Black Mesa.

It's not just a visual upgrade, it's also more fun to play imho.

Had a smile on my face from the minute I started playing up until the Gonarch boss fight. The music was so good there too, after that Black Mesa took a dip.

I think that if Valve was interested in making a traditional Half Life game they would've done so by now. There won't be any Half Life 3.

Sorry dude, but TF 2 and CSGO microtransactions just make too much money!

It's on sale for 25% off right now, but I am still holding off for a cheaper price. Also, I have the original Oculus Rift and I don't want to play the next Half-Life game at reduced quality (resolution, lenses, etc.). I may hold off and play this on the next-gen VR headsets.

DOOM is so not mainstream!!!

@ghosts4ever: But my friend, Half-Life: Alyx is closer to Half-Life than DOOM: Eternal is to Doom.

Doom Guy just gun DMC.

@cloud_man:

That spot is reserved for the Last of Us Part 2. One of the best games Naughty Dog has made in a long time. If you can get past the story changes.

If what you mean by "proper HL3" is you're waiting for just another first-person shooter that does the same thing over and over incrementally better, then I'm afraid you'll be waiting forever.

As I said, Valve have stated that Half-Life games are artistic solutions to technological problems. They will only make one to showcase some kind of technological leap. In this sense, HL: Alyx is thoroughly a proper Half-Life game, no matter how much you want to claim otherwise.

I don't know, man. I didn't have fun at all with the game. I really wanted to like it, I've been following Black Mesa since it was announced.

The hit-scanning enemies which bombard you with impossibly accurate shots from across the map along side them not flanking you really at all and not tossing grenades as much as HL1 (had similar issues with Half Life 2 AI) felt flat and boring in comparison to the original... which felt much more intense and visceral.

Then again, maybe I just have really sensitive tastes. I have historically disliked playing the Cod campaigns for these very reasons (even back to the CoD 2 days).

If I had a VR Headset ala Index, I would've bought it day 1. Sadly, I'd rather use the VR Headset money for a better GPU or a better monitor instead.

I think most people have forgotten this game even existed. It dropped off the radar the same week it was released.

Agree about Black Mesa's enemy AI. The way they would constantly move while peppering you with inhumanly accurate shots made them simply no fun to play against. It felt like the game was designed to beat me rather than entertain me.

If you say so. VR headsets for PC are too expensivo.

shhh ghost is in active denial of the fact that Doom: Eternal is in fax a Champ game.

@warmblur said:

@ghosts4ever said:

@warmblur: Its not but you only play mainstream games so i can see.

Its light gun VR game and we fans waited for proper HL3.

DOOM is so not mainstream!!!

Not as mainstream as GTA.

non gamers doesnot know what Doom is, but they know and play GTA.

Its a different kind of Doom game. otherwise formula would get stale since 1993.

also its DMC done right.

@warmblur: To be fair, the psvr is pretty low tech and couldn’t handle a game like this.

Being one of ND best games isn't saying much lol, and LOU2 isn't worthy of the title.

HL VR may win best VR game, but not even in the running for GOTY.

Streets of Rage 4 is the real GOTY, but because it won't generate clicks it won't get a mention.

VR ignorance at its finest.

Yes, the PSVR can handle it, because it's powered by the console. The PS4 is definitely too weak. But the PS5 will easily get the job done.

@ghosts4ever: Please explain how DMC does DMC wrong my friend. Deeply confused.

Trespasser did this back in 1998, just a low budget VR game plus valve games were never known to push actual graphics technology.

More interesting tbh, trespasser inspired half life mod.