Half-Life: Alyx

Half-Life: Alyx is the next installment in the famous FPS series, whose roots go back to 1998. The game focuses on Alyx Vance, who first appeared in Half-Life 2 and then also in Episode One and Two. It is worth noting that the title was created with VR technology in mind. Valve Software (creators of Half-Life and Portal and Left 4 Dead series) is responsible for the development of this work.

Plot

Half-Life: Alyx takes place between the first and second part of the Half-Life series. We take on the role of the title character, Alyx Vance, who together with her father conducts research on the weakness of the Combine - a powerful group of aliens controlling the Earth since the Black Mesa incident - trying to give humanity a chance to defeat the occupants.

Mechanics

Half-Life: Alyx is a first-person shooter. The game consists of exploring the locations, fighting opponents and solving various puzzles, which most often require interaction with the elements of the environment. Gradually, we also learn more about the plot.

The title was prepared with VR technology in mind. We control the camera by moving our head and use objects with handheld controllers (some types of VR goggles also support finger tracking, which means that our hand movements are reliably transferred to the virtual world.

When shooting, we use held controllers or even the whole body - for example, we can lean out of the corners or avoid objects or projectiles. We also have to manually reload the weapon (in some cases, having picked up scattered bullets).

The game offers complex tools that enable us to modify various elements of the environment, and even create completely new things. We can share the results of our work with the Steam community.

Game modes

Half-Life: Alyx can only be played solo. The mainstay of the game is the story campaign.

Technical aspects

Half-Life: Alyx features three-dimensional visual that represents a very high level of execution, compared to other VR games. In terms of atmosphere, the title strongly resembles what we know from the iconic Half-Life 2. Valve Software's game works with all helmets compatible with Steam: Valve Index, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality and Oculus Quest (with Link cable).

Last updated on June 13, 2020