Half-Life: Alyx

Introduction to what it is

For my Student's Choice presentation, I decided that I wanted to talk about the game that came out earlier this year and it is part of a game series, Half-Life: Alyx. This game is created by Valve, and this is a first-person shooter game, and you are only allowed to play the game in VR. I wanted to talk about how this game uses virtual reality compared to the other two games, where it doesn't use VR, and how this game makes you feel like you are in this world just by all the interactions and story in the game.

For the plot of the game, you are playing as a character in the game's story, Alyx, and you are basically humanity's only chance for survival because there is an alien race known as the Combine, which are the same antagonists from Half-Life 1 and 2, and they have taken over the Earth. Your job in the game is to explore the world in VR, engage in combat by fighting alien monsters, and solve obstacles that are created in the game. You can view the Steam game page here for more information about the game.

Why is it a good use of VR?

I feel that this game uses VR components very well such as having the user being able to interact with almost every single item in the game. In most VR games that I have seen, you would only be able to interact with items because they are essential in order to play and continue the game. However, in Half-Life: Alyx, you are allowed to play around with your surroundings. You can interact with almost every item and object in the game such as a bottle of liquor or play around with random light switches, even though it has nothing to do with the game. I think this is a good use of VR because although it has nothing to do with the story, it lets you explore the environment and interact with things, which makes the game feel very realistic. You are able to appreciate the environment and take your time with the game since it does not force you to follow the story right away. The environments and physics for the game feel so realistic as well. For example, if you were holding a bottle of liquor, you could place it down gently or throw the bottle really hard, and it actually breaks the bottle like it does in real life. There are even sound effects of a bottle breaking when it is thrown. I feel that this is also another good use of VR because it uses sounds effects like they are in real life, making the game feel more realistic. The physics as well also seemed balanced like you will not break the bottle if you place it down gently, but it will break if you throw it. Even though these are also unrelated to the story, these components are also fun to explore and lets you play with the environment.

Who are the intended users?

Obviously, since this is a VR game, it is intended for users that have or are going to buy the VR equipment such as the HTC Vive. If we are talking about a certain age group the game is intended for, then I would say the game should be played by users who are 18+ or older. The game is considered mature (17+ or older) on Steam because of its gore and violence, as well as some nudity. However, that is not the main reason why I think it should be played by this age group. Since this is a VR game, the fear factor is a lot more intensified, meaning you will most likely get scared a lot playing this game than non-VR games. Even though Half-Life: Alyx is not particularly supposed to be scary, there are some jump scares that occur in the game, which I think some users below that age group could not handle. The sound effects are also a lot louder, and since the game is in VR, people get scared at jump scares more easily since it looks like the monster is coming right at you, so you were not expecting it.

For example, I posted a video below that shows streamers getting scared playing the game, Half-Life: Alyx. One particular clip you should see is at the timestamp: 0:40. In this clip, the person was trying to lure the monster to that doorway, but the monster ended up coming from behind him and he wasn't expecting that. You can see that the jump scares feel so much more real because when he got scared, he ended up falling to the ground with his head touching the floor. You would not really get this kind of fear reaction in a non-VR game since those games do not feel as realistic as VR. This shows that VR is a lot scarier than you would think because it feels like the monster is actually coming after you if it were real. Also, the jump scare did not really look as scary to us because we are watching the video, while it is a lot scarier for them because the virtual reality feels so real. You should take a look at other clips besides that particular one from the video below and see how some of these streamers' reactions. Notice how some of the fall to the ground, hit the wall in their room, open up the menu while panicking, etc.

What are the issues (positive and negative) with it?

Since Half-Life: Alyx is part of a game series, it is very popular among the fans. According to the majority of the reviews from Google, this is one of the most realistic VR games you can play right now. Most of the reviews about this game are generally positive, however, there are still some negative issues to talk about with this game.

Ratings from multiple popular websites

Google's rating system, ratings for Half-Life: Alyx

In Game Model of a Human

In Game Graphics of the World

Some positives to talk about for this game is that the graphics are very realistic to the real world. The human models look like actual human beings and the textures of objects and the environment look so detailed. You can see from these images that there is a lot of detail put into this game. The first image is probably the best human model I've ever seen that closely resembles a human. The second image shows what the world looks like, and I must say that this is probably one of the best worlds that also resembles the real world.

I really liked how even the lighting of the game modeled after real life. For example, Jacksepticeye, one of the streamers who played this game, mentions how the lighting of the game is strikingly similar to real life. In the video below, at timestamp: 12:09, he mentions how the lighting is reflected on the windows of the buildings, and how the light cascades over the buildings. You can also see how in alley ways, the lighting is a lot dimmer, which resembles how alleyways are like in real life.

Another positive is that this game lets you do a lot of VR mechanics with your hands. What I mean is that most VR games would only let you just grab and hold stuff, but there are also other functionalities in this game as well. For example, these are one of the items you will heavily use in the game, gravity gloves, which allows you to grab items that are far away from you. For example, if you wanted to pick up gun ammo rounds somewhere or you need to grab an item that's in an unreachable spot, you can use these gloves by making a fist and pointing your fist at the item. Then, flick your wrist upwards, and the item will fly towards you. This feels amazing because it makes it really feel like you have the power to pull objects towards you. Another VR mechanic is that in order to reload your gun, you actually have to move your hands and put the magazine into the gun and then pull off the safety in order to use it. This is a really good use of VR because it resembles what it is like to actually load a gun with ammo, and how you actually have to pull off the safety for the gun to shoot. In non-VR games, you would have to just press the R key in order to reload your ammo, which is not really realistic. I do not want to get too into depth, but some other mechanics include having to turn valves, pulling levers, pressing buttons, etc.

Gravity Gloves

Reloading a Gun

One negative issue I have noticed in the reviews is that this game could make some people get motion sickness easily. This could be because of the frame rate and how some movements are not smooth. Valve tries to fix this, however, by letting the user customize the settings to reduce the frame rate. There is also teleporting to a location by pointing to the direction, so you do not have to go through running around and feeling sick at looking at the animation frame rate. Another negative issue, although this isn't really related to the game mechanics, is that since there are jump scares in the game, you should make sure you are in a openly-spaced room or else you could hurt yourself. I've noticed for some streamers playing VR games, they end up hurting themselves because they got scared inside the game, and so they jumped and banged their head on the wall or tripped over something. This is a common issue for all VR games, so you would have to make sure you are playing in a openly-spaced room. Another negative issue is the cost in order to play this game. First off, the game alone is $60, which makes sense since the graphics are amazing and there's a lot the user can do in the game. However, the user would also have to own a VR headset and controllers in order to play the game. If you do not own these, you would have to purchase them, which range from $550-$750. Not only that, but you also have to make sure you have a good gaming PC or else you may have jerky animation and lag the whole game. Valve specifies the system requirements on their website, but that is still at least $600 for a PC that can run the game. Overall, this is over $1200, which is a lot for people who do not have the budget for this game.