from Hacker News

Half-Life: Alyx

by arthurfm on 11/21/19, 6:31 PM with 437 comments

  • by rocky1138 on 11/21/19, 6:51 PM

    A criminally overlooked feature of this game is the release of the dev tools used to make maps and mods. Giving the tools away for such a powerful base game is what gave HL1 and HL2 it's incredible staying power.

  • by ben7799 on 11/21/19, 7:02 PM

    This has got to be the most narrowly targeted game ever.

    I played through all of HL/HL2/Ep1/Ep2 IIRC, but I can barely even remember the story clearly it was so long ago. And it's such a blur maybe I never finished Ep2.

    I was 21 when HL1 came out but I didn't get to play it till I was like 24 maybe when I had gotten out of school and got a nice computer & some money. HL2 came out when I was 27.. still playing games but I don't remember beating it till much later. Probably 2010, by which point I was married and had bought a house.

    Now I'm 42 and I have a 7 year old.. so I'm old enough to actually remember this, don't really have the time to play anymore.. and I'd be looking at buying a new PC & VR equipment to play it.. yah no thanks.

    That and I remember HL2 and Ep1/Ep2 taking forever. The whole thing was good, unlike time sinks like Oblivion and Skyrim that were full of filler, but it still took forever to play through.

    Just seems like a small target of players who are old enough to fondly remember the original + still have time to play long form games + still have gaming equipment + have VR/are willing to buy VR.

    Even as an engineer who knows more than a usual amount of gamers including younger players I'm not sure I know anyone who has VR equipment. If you're 15-20 do you care about this or do you just think it's your Dad's stuff?

  • by SimonPStevens on 11/21/19, 8:11 PM

    "Play on any SteamVR system. If you have VR hardware that works with a computer, then it works with SteamVR."

    Bravo Valve. This is why anyone interested in this should get a Vive and stay well clear of Oculus/Facebook's headsets. They are busy trying to capture the VR market by setting up exclusivity arrangements with studios to lock games to their platform to cut others out which just divides up the already small market.

    Value have built a cross platform framework and SDK and are releasing their games for all headsets.

  • by aresant on 11/21/19, 7:07 PM

    I think a fascinating part of Alyx is Valve choosing a female protagonist.

    85%+ of VR users are male, compared to say 70/30 male/female balance of say Fornite. (1/2)

    Any way you carve it the audience for Alyx is going to weight heavily male.

    And research suggests that gender-swapping in VR is a profound psychological experience:

    https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949

    (1) https://www.rakutenintelligence.com/blog/2016/virtual-realit...

    (2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/865625/fortnite-players-...

    (3) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8260949

  • by MaximumMadness on 11/21/19, 6:46 PM

    Looks like this game's focus is going to be on the player, rather than the game world itself.

    Where HL1/2 were focused on making the objects, enemies, and places you interacted with feel like real life. HL:A will be focused on the character you control, giving you complete autonomy with finger capture and motion control.

    Valve is pushing forward gaming with Half Life once again

  • by atonse on 11/21/19, 6:50 PM

    A cool idea that I'd never ever ever try. Half Life 1 on low res was scary enough.

    In all seriousness though – is there any studies done on potential PTSD-like effects that arise from this sort of VR game?

  • by notus on 11/21/19, 6:46 PM

    It looks interesting at least, It's hard to tell how gimmicky it will be though. I've felt like a lot of VR experiences I have had felt gimmicky. Some of my best VR experiences have been more in line with games like beat saber rather than story driven games. I'm also the type of person that pretty much exclusively plays story driven games so I want to like those experiences in VR but they just feel kind of off to me and not relaxing.

  • by on_and_off on 11/21/19, 6:48 PM

    Call me salty but I am not sure I am super interested in half life 1.5 while half life 2 episode 2 has ended on a cliffhanger more than ten years ago.

    I am still curious to see how they will handle the character of Alyx, she was little more than an admiration delivery device in half life 2. They will have to do a lot more now that she is the center of the game.

  • by eanzenberg on 11/21/19, 6:55 PM

    I still remember the first time I saw screen grabs of screenshots of Half Life 2 from PC Gamer, back in 2004 (or was it 2003). I thought I was looking at real-life photos and didn't realize they were from a video game initially. Then, watching the tech demo with all the cool physics really excited me.

    Maybe it's because I'm older now, but this didn't "knock me out" like that did.

  • by mikl on 11/21/19, 7:45 PM

    Hope they’ll make a non-VR version at some point. Much as I enjoyed previous Half-Life games, I don’t want to buy a VR-rig. They’re obviously hoping that a Half-Life game will be enough to get gamers to adopt VR, but I don’t see a lot of people willing to remodel their living room to make space for a VR setup, at least over here in Europe, where people have fairly small homes in comparison to the U.S.

  • by purpleidea on 11/21/19, 6:51 PM

    Pretty lame that there's no Linux support. Valve was supposed to be on our side. Oh well :(

  • by whatshisface on 11/21/19, 7:06 PM

    This game is a lot more cartoony and blue/orange than Half-Life 2, which had a very distinctive low-saturation photorealistic style. However, it's less cartoony than half-life 1. It's fitting that a game set between them chronologically would mix their art styles.

  • by davnicwil on 11/21/19, 7:08 PM

    Assuming I'm starting from scratch, what's the minimum cost these days to get the hardware that'll play this?

  • by willis936 on 11/21/19, 8:05 PM

    Here is a light read for any fans of the series who want a nice conclusion to the story. This is a bit of a myth to me, as I don’t know how substantiated the story is, but it is nice to think that this is a conclusion written by the author. Considering its darkness, it is more likely a piece of fanfiction. It reads like its fanfiction. Anyway, it was nice to go for one last ride with the characters. It sounds like Vincent’s VA is different and the overall tone is lighter. The tone of the trailer did feel very much like the writers involved with portal, which managed to treat its setting with proper respect while still managing to be light for those not paying too close attention. I hope HL:A manages to keep the themes of the series intact.

    https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/08/half-life-3-plot-marc...

  • by thatguyagain on 11/21/19, 7:37 PM

    I just want to say that this is without a doubt the most exciting thing I have seen in VR so far, and I will definitely buy an Index for this. They got me. Full length game, brand new engine, Half Life story?? Holy s*it

  • by huhtenberg on 11/21/19, 6:45 PM

    I sure hope there'll be a non-VR version as well.

  • by dsfyu404ed on 11/21/19, 7:37 PM

    On Tuesday I said:

    >Due to some of the technical limitations with people (motion sickness does not make a popular game) I don't think this is not going to be an open spaces and free-movement heavy game like HL2. Not having some really good expansive panorama scenes would be a disservice to the VR tech but don't expect to be able to drive a go-kart around in them. I'm expecting a lot of semi stationary scenes where the player is free around a small space as the environment smoothly and steadily around them (like all the various freight elevator and rail car scenes in HL1). I expect that in typical Half-Life fashion there will be lots of object manipulation and head crab batting practice while the player remains nearly stationary.

    So based on the trailer it looks like I was decently right. I think you're gonna spend a lot of time solving puzzles with one hand while defending yourself with the other. I really hope they nail the cinematic aspect of it like they did in HL2 since that greatly contributes to how immersive the game feels.

  • by ralfd on 11/21/19, 6:58 PM

    Question to VR gamers: Why are the arms not animated?

  • by martin1b on 11/21/19, 9:13 PM

    We've been waiting for decades for the release of this. I'm a HUGE fan of HL but not a fan of prequels. Hopefully this will showcase VR as a viable medium.

    IMHO, I think Portal VR would have given a more immersive experience, along with less locomotion issues. However, I'm sure Valve has done their research.

    My concern is, if this isn't met with favor, will Valve bow out of game development permanently? It just feels as if they are losing interest in new game development and would rather buy other studios and keep Steam chugging along. More money there..

  • by filereaper on 11/21/19, 6:47 PM

    Bet this game ends at "Red Letter Day" starting Half-Life 2

  • by BuckRogers on 11/21/19, 7:53 PM

    This is VR's big moment given the mod support. I have a gaming grade PC, but have been completely sold on the Oculus Quest ever since they announced Oculus Link support and that you'd be able to play games on Steam with it as well. I need the standalone support to make it more useful, taking it into another room and using it either for gaming or watching a video.

    Looks like I'll be picking up that Quest, upgrading to Ryzen 4900X and a Nvidia 3060 when they're out next year for this game.

  • by tombot on 11/21/19, 7:10 PM

    The final hours interview has plenty of backstory to dig into https://youtu.be/-9K0eJEmMEw

  • by outworlder on 11/21/19, 7:41 PM

    I just want to know one thing: what happened to Half-Life 2 Episode III ? As it is, I'll wait for people to play this and tell me if it ends in a cliffhanger too.

  • by fwxwi on 11/21/19, 7:31 PM

    Considering the price of the VR headset you must buy to play this, this might be the most expensive game ever.

  • by hising on 11/21/19, 7:17 PM

    It will be interesting to see if this title can drive adaption to VR and drive sales of headsets and create a market for VR-games. Hard to find a more hyped IP than Half-Life. Maybe it can breath some life into the "it will happen next year"-hype of VR.

  • by magashna on 11/21/19, 6:50 PM

    Wonder if I can do Oculus Quest + PC Link + Index controllers. Don't really want to buy an Index, but the controllers look really nice. Also considering Quest since my biggest gripe before was the wired headset and how heavy it was overall.

  • by s9w on 11/21/19, 7:25 PM

    As much as a Half-Life fan I am, VR is a gimmick. It's expensive and will not be a "thing" in the foreseeable future. This is such a wasted opportunity. A normal Half-Life 3 would have brought back a lot of goodwill for Valve.

  • by dugditches on 11/21/19, 6:50 PM

    Appears to be fairly on rails, which I guess eliminates the whole movement thing.

    Good to see them releasing something, even if it is a narrow market. Seems to be a lot of doubt in them after lackluster Artifact and Epic Store entering their space.

  • by hyko on 11/21/19, 7:42 PM

    Why does this need to be VR?

  • by canada_dry on 11/21/19, 8:08 PM

    > "Hammer - Valve's level authoring tool, has been updated with all the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components.

    Community built environments are possible - that's a pretty huge thing!

  • by mdrachuk on 11/22/19, 1:59 PM

    Talking about managing expectations: starting the trailer narration with a phrase “what we’re doing here could change things forever” puts a lot of pressure on the game.

  • by nottorp on 11/21/19, 8:54 PM

    Have they solved motion sickness yet? I borrowed a playstation VR once but got nauseous after half an hour, no matter which game i tried.

    Are the newer things getting better?

  • by xvx on 11/21/19, 7:09 PM

    Now make a Left 4 Dead VR game and I'm sold!

  • by hacker_9 on 11/21/19, 7:22 PM

    Wow this looks like finally a reason to buy VR

  • by h91wka on 11/21/19, 8:13 PM

    Too late. Now I am only feeling disappointed that "after another Half-Life is released" meme has become obsolete.

  • by cptskippy on 11/21/19, 8:28 PM

    Does this feel like an attempt by Valve to flog VR by appealing to player's desire for a new Half-Life game?

  • by d--b on 11/21/19, 8:32 PM

    Wooooo, parallax vertical scroll.

  • by bilekas on 11/21/19, 8:03 PM

    Critics : "Development studios are making games for Valve hardware, sure, but they're not using everything properly"

    Valve : "Hold my beer, lets give them what they wanted in 3D, in VR"

  • by microtherion on 11/21/19, 7:57 PM

    Frankly, I would rather play a new Portal.

  • by vhakulinen on 11/21/19, 7:38 PM

    I guess I'm buying VR gear then.

  • by 2444344978 on 11/24/19, 5:37 PM

  • by dfcagency on 11/21/19, 7:54 PM

    I hate that In The Valley of the Gods was cancelled for this.

  • by bloody-crow on 11/21/19, 9:23 PM

    I've never understood the appeal of the VR.

    I play games that benefit from low reaction time and precision and my body is the main source of latency and mistakes. When I watch recordings of my own gameplay, I notice how my brain usually operates a few hundred milliseconds ahead of what my hands controlling mouse & keyboard are capable of executing. Throwing your untrained and sometimes unhealthy body into this mix doesn't seem like a beneficial strategy.

    Also, characters in the games I play do things that are completely impossible for a regular human body to accomplish. They're running faster, jumping higher, aim and swing swords better than I or any real human even could. Why would you want your character to be a mirror of your real-world tired and untrained self?

    They say that the biggest sell of VR is immersion. How can something be immersive when it has no capability to provide any kind of feedback besides audio/visual? You can't swing swords in VR cause it has no capability to communicate weight of the thing you're holding back to you. A light sword feels exactly the same as a huge two-handed sword because all you're actually carrying in a lightweight plastic controller. You can't punch a wall because there's nothing in reality to stop your hand from going through. You can't hide behind cover because the object you're trying to lean on doesn't exist in real life. You can't feel an impact of receiving a fatal blow or taking a rocket in your face, cause there's nothing to actually push you in real life.

    I think VR is dumb and I haven't seen any games yet that would want me to spend money on it. I was a huge fan of HL back in the day, but I guess I'm going to skip this one.