Alyx is not getting the mainstream recognition she deserves

Half-life: AlyxValve’s surprise return to VR in the series that founded the company has won a number of “Best in VR” awards from major establishments. However, most critics overlooked it for more mainstream recognition, like FPS of the Year or All-Important Game of the Year, and in many cases it didn’t even get nominated.

To some extent this is understandable. The December 2020 Steam Hardware Survey shows that Steam users with VR headsets still make up less than 2% of Steam’s total user base. And while Alyx has been optimized to work well on a number of different headsets, it requires a powerful PC, so it’s unclear how many of that 2% can actually run it. So why give mainstream recognition to a game that only an extreme minority of gamers can enjoy?

Let’s start with ideological reason. Half-life: Alyx was meant to be a ‘killer app’ for a fledgling platform, something that changes the path of VR headsets Halo moved the original Xbox. And it did. Sales of VR headsets increased dramatically after the surprise announcement of Alyx in November 2019. Even the Valve Index, with its price of $ 1000 for the complete system, sold globally by January 2020, two months before Alyxthe Liberation.

More than just a sales pitch for VR headsets, Half-life: Alyx was also meant to be a transformative moment for the games industry. It aimed to demonstrate that it is possible to tell an engaging full story in VR with AAA fidelity, interactivity, polish, and minimal discomfort. And he handled it all as well. Even at the lowest graphics settings, the scale, attention to detail, and interactivity are breathtaking and motion sickness free throughout the entire 15 hour campaign.

Valve has also released modding tools for Alyx, which generates swathes of user-created content easily accessible through Steam Workshop, including some really brilliant custom levels. It’s a democratization of virtual reality unlike anything we’ve seen before, allowing users to tell their own VR stories with relative ease. Admittedly, it is democratization for the 2%, but it is an important step forward to make VR content more accessible all the same.

However, none of this is worth much if Half-life: Alyx is only recognized for its VR gaming qualities. By not recognizing that Alyx can go hand in hand with non-VR titles, the industry undermines Alyxpotential of. It hinders the exact thing he was hoping for Alyx would achieve – the displacement of VR games from the VR space to the general public. Indeed, given the tiny RV installation base, it is much easier to dismiss Alyx as “just another virtual reality game” than dismissing something like The Last of Us Part II like “just another action adventure game”.

Of course, ideological reasons can quickly turn into dogma. Yes Alyx ain’t good as a game, so what does it matter how good it looks and how great it feels, or how important it is to the industry? Why consider it mainstream recognition if it’s just a glorified tech demo?

Fortunately, Half-life: Alyx is a great game in its own right. The story is very busy, but it is fascinating, with a provocative and perhaps ingenious (I still haven’t made up my mind) approach to the existing. Half life traditions. And the game makes up for its slow start with brilliant world-building, art direction, characters and more than a touch of Gate 2humor.

Alyx makes obvious concessions to virtual reality which, in terms of scope, bring it closer Half-Life 2: Episode 1 or Half-Life: Opposing Force than other games in the series. Gravity Gloves put the majority of Alyx’s surroundings within easy reach, but they lack Gordon Freeman’s gravity pistol punch. Combat is limited to a handful of enemies at a time and focuses on cover. And the game reels in more variations of join-the-dot-type puzzles than the physics-based fare we’ve grown accustomed to. Half Life 2. But none of this hurts him. With the headset on, combat and exploration is visceral without being overwhelming, and carries Valve’s trademark eye for balance and stimulation.

It means Half-life: Alyx Almost certainly wouldn’t translate well to a flat screen, but that’s precisely the point: it’s a VR exclusive that tries to prove a concept to a mainstream audience. As such, in its design, writing, and gameplay, it deserves to compete with others. In his greater ambitions, he Needs to compete with others. Without it, I’m not sure we’ll ever see VR leave its niche.