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.

  • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    46·
    3 days ago

    Sure, but if people love Half-Life and don’t care about other VR games it sucks that it’s locked behind hardware requirements that even Valve doesn’t give a crap about considering it’s the only VR game they made.

    Edit: I’m sure all of you would be pissed if Sony released a new PlayStation with one game from a beloved series and then just said “now it’s in other people’s hands, let them take care of creating more games for our hardware!”

    • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      This entire argument can be made identically for Half-Life 1 and 2 requiring people to upgrade their PCs to be able to play them.

    • tauren@lemm.eeEnglish
      71·
      3 days ago

      It isn’t up to Valve alone to push forward the industry and release top-tier VR games every other year. They took a risk and created one of the best games I’ve played, and I’m not alone in that opinion. Valve are trying expand the gaming experience, they are trying to be innovative, and people blame them for “not giving a crap”. Say what you want, but I thank Valve for what they are doing.