Well, if had told me that Valve would finally be making a new Half-Life game, well I’d just laugh at your face and assumed you’re just memeing like everyone else. However lo and behold, Valve sneaked attacked us all and revealed Half-Life: Alyx, a new VR game that frankly looks really impressive. So impressive in fact that I feel like we’re looking at potentially the next evolution of gaming.
According to its Steam page:
Valve’s return to the Half-Life universe that started it all was built from the ground up for virtual reality. VR was built to enable the gameplay that sits at the heart of Half-Life.
Immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat.
Lean to aim around a broken wall and under a Barnacle to make an impossible shot. Rummage through shelves to find a healing syringe and some shotgun shells. Manipulate tools to hack alien interfaces. Toss a bottle through a window to distract an enemy. Rip a Headcrab off your face and throw it out the window.
Now here’s why I say that Half-Life: Alyx could be the next step in gaming evolution in terms of giving the player an authentic experience that is unique just for them. As you know, the way games are today, they’re all scripted. Most of the time, it’s a combination of cutscenes and gameplay, each always leading to the same outcome. Some games have tried to break that cycle in the past by trying to push the envelope on what can be dynamically generated so that every action you take in a world will affect it completely differently. From unique dialogues depending on what you say and do, buildings changing their visuals, to meeting certain NPC’s depending on what quest you complete. The true form of gaming that I envision is the one in which no two player will have the same experience and your actions actually affects the world.
From what I’ve observed and heard about Half-Life: Alyx , it seems we one step closer to that reality. Not only that, but I feel like this is the first VR game, (not to discredit the VR games that have come before it), that looks not only triple A but was built from that ground up to push the limits of what VR games can do. I have said in the past that VR is the future of gaming but yes, we may be a long ways from that future but it’s one I continue to look forward to seeing come into existence.
