I genuinely can’t believe Half Life Alyx is five years old.

No other video game has felt the way Alyx felt. No one else has taken such a bold swing in what a video game can be. It’s burned into my mind as my Half Life game, the one that came out at just the right time for me.

It was also my “pandemic” game. While everyone else was playing Animal Crossing or Doom Eternal, I was playing and replaying Half Life Alyx.

It definitely feels like it’s somewhat doomed to be less remembered in the popular consciousness than most big games that come out, and indeed the rest of the games in the Half Life lineage. Cries of “Half Life 3 when?” still abound in spite of the very clear effort Alyx made to move the story forward. But to me it feels like a game that still hasn’t been topped in the five years since it came out, not by a long shot.

Half Life Alyx received a Game of the Year win from GameSpot, and nominations from a few other publications. When it came to events like The Game Awards with a dedicated “Best VR Game” category, it won handily.

    • tauren@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      3 days ago

      But it’s not required, there are much cheaper options, especially today with used quest 2 devices.

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.socialEnglish
        131·
        3 days ago

        The “other reasons” people aren’t buying affordable VR setups is because they don’t trust Meta or their privacy policies. If the new Valve headset was $300-500 it would go a long way. But $1200 isn’t it.

        • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          3 days ago

          That is why those other VR sets are so cheap.

          With valve, you’re paying for the hardware. With Meta, you’re the product

        • BroiledShit@reddthat.comEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Psvr2, plus the pc adapter, i got both for a total of like $400 a few months ago, and got hl alyx on sale.

            • Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              I’ve used pretty much all of the headsets on the market. I still haven’t tried a Big screen VR headset though :(

              For popular headsets I’d rank them kinda like this

              1. Valve Index - it’s just really old and really expensive now, don’t buy one unless you get a hell of a deal on it used
              2. Quest 2 - Still very very good, screens are getting a little dated now
              3. PSVR2 - its a little janky on PC but it works fine and the OLEDs are sublime
              4. Pixmax Crystal - Money not a problem this is the best headset I’ve tried. The FOV is crazy, displays are beautiful, and tracking is damn near perfect. Its just like $2300 for the whole lot
              5. Quest 3 - Overall the best headset on the market. Its $570 (just get the pro strap, trust me) and gets you so close to the big boys in screen quality, plus it’s wireless, plus it has crazy good passthrough (I use it a lot, most people don’t), and streams PC games perfectly.

              PSVR2 has really really really good looking displays, but it has some other downsides which really bring it down in the rankings. I’d stay away from it unless you get a deal on a used one, then it would absolutely be worth it.

            • BroiledShit@reddthat.comEnglish
              1·
              2 days ago

              The only other one ove used is psvr1, and one of those smart phone ones, psvr2 is obvioisly miles ahead of bith, though i cant say how it compares to Index, or quest. Id imagine its probably near quest quality.