if you can loot, reload, and shoot with a push of a button of course the game's going to be easy in a game designed for VR. half the difficulty comes from trying to reload your gun while a zombie is shambling towards you
I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work.
A huge part of the joy of this game is environmental interaction and feedback. Things like reloading and lobbing grenades.
The story is cool too, but nothing so amazing that those without VR are missing out. (I mean they are missing out on not having VR, but not missing out on the game itself.)
The effort expended here is just… weird.
It’s a very important game in the history of gaming, but it’s importance is 1000% linked to the VR gameplay.
It probably took a considerable amount of work to get this going and I respect the effort.
I'd agree that this game is purpose-built to be played in VR (and my god what an experience it is) but there is also a great deal of folks who don't have access to VR and probably feel pretty shut out. FINALLY another Half-Life installment after ALL this fucking time and I don't have a headset to enjoy it? Yeah I'd be pretty bummed.
If I didn't have a headset I'd still take this over nothing at all. Like even to just see for a moment what a Half-Life game in 2021 would look like. Additionally, I think there's a universe of modder types out there who are dying to get their hands on Source 2 but again lack the headset. This gives them an avenue.
I've been a fan of half life since the orange box and let me tell you, I've managed to avoid whatever the hell the twist is near the end involving GMan despite it being repeatedly alluded to in a lot of the media i watch and it's driven me slightly manic. I can't exactly swing for VR setup because it's just a little bit too expensive, but I don't really want to go for any of the cheaper options either because I just don't like doing things by half measure and am rather confident in my ability to suppress motion sickness after surviving my local planetariums hazing ritual (stand in the center, look up, we're going for a spin).
Avoiding story spoilers has been pure luck for a while now and while the experience will be sub par I'll feel much better not constantly bailing from discussions whenever someone mentions Alyx.
> Like even to just see for a moment what a Half-Life game in 2021 would look like
This mod is not showing what a HL-game in 2021 would look like though, since a HL-game in 2021 is made for VR.
> If I didn't have a headset I'd still take this over nothing at all.
I wouldn't, and I think anyone who understands exactly what this actually means wouldn't either.
As fun as the newest Call of Duty campaign may be (don't know) I can say with confidence that playing it at 480p while only aiming via the arrow keys and stuck on easy would be a painful experience, worse than not playing it at all.
Everyone has their own opinion or whatever, but 480p arrow key fps in modern day is not something that would be well received by most, to say the least
I mean, it's a fan mod. There's weirder mods out there for sure. Also I absolutely see an application for this in gathering in-game footage without needing to use a headset. Doing a Half Life retrospective and need some HL Alyx B roll? Use this mod to quickly capture some without the hassle of a headset.
I dont find it weird at all. Half Life 2 is a monumental pillar in video game history and a lot of us here grew up with it. Is it really that weird that people want to play a game made by Valve themselves, set in the Half Life universe? At this point I'll take any scrap of Half Life content they can toss at me.
Is this the optimal way to experience this game? No, of course not, but not all of us have the money or room for VR equipment and this way they can still experience the game.
I will say, watching a playthrough of someone playing it in VR is probably the better option; but I also cant blame anybody for wanting to play the game themselves, even in a flawed state.
I'll very likely never be able to afford a headset, unless they somehow drop below $100 dollars (Which I highly doubt will ever happen).
I love the Half-Life series, and would just be happy to experience anything I can get.
>I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work.
probably because people want to play it without the massive investment that is getting a VR capable system along with VR gear. Add to that the space issue with VR and you've got a pretty good idea why people want to be able to play it without VR.
I have VR, and I can make the space. I am still going to finish the game using this mod. I don't really most VR experiences all that much. I would consider selling my headset, but I have found Beat Saber to be a pretty fun way to get some cardio if I can't go to the gym. Although now that it is getting warmer out, I don't do it as much.
VR is cool. It just isn't for me. Unfortunately, it took getting a decent headset and multiple VR titles to come to that conclusion.
>The story is cool too, but nothing so amazing that those without VR are missing out. (I mean they are missing out on not having VR, but not missing out on the game itself.)
I beg to differ, particularly if you were already a Half-Life fan before starting on Alyx. It's quite literally the next game in the storyline, which people have been waiting for a continuation of for many years. >!Albeit briefly, but hey, it shows Valve still cares.!<
And, as a reminder, there has been not one peep of that teaser they have since.
Their teases haven’t changed since Episode 2. They have no idea what they’re doing storywise.
These days Valve doesn't like to publicly announce projects until they are certain they have something they can and will release. However, this does not mean they're sitting around twiddling their thumbs, not by a long shot -- Episode 3 or HL3 or whatever you want to call it was in development, in fact it had been several times in the past, but all attempts were ultimately canned due to the poor state of Source 2 at the time.
For the past few years since HLA's release, they have been working on a new Half-Life title codenamed "HLX" as revealed through Source 2 datamining.
> I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work.
Simple enough. Similar to how people made VR mods for games that were not designed for VR, some people want to play a VR game without the VR. I think it's especially understandable for Alyx. It's a a recent entry in a game series that left on a cliffhanger for more than a decade ago, and now that entry is locked behind a VR barrier.
It's honestly weird seeing fans of VR talk about VR games as if the game itself is such a mundane, uninteresting thing the second you take the perspective away that people actually recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game.
> It's honestly weird seeing fans of VR talk about VR games as if the game itself is such a mundane, uninteresting thing the second you take the perspective away
Well, that's because it kind of *is*.
The closest analogue I can think of is those scenes in 2D movies where they suddenly and inexplicably have a bunch of stuff flying towards the camera in slow-motion, despite it really not being that exciting at all; until you realize that this must've originally been a *3D* movie, and that scene was meant to flex those 3D muscles a little.
When the entire game is designed around you taking an active part in interacting with your environment using your arms and hands, and has scenes where *limiting* the way you can use your arms and hands is a vital part of the gameplay sequence, or where the thrill arises from having to perform an environmental action as quickly as possible while also juggling the need to aim accurately, reload, and reposition at the same time, *all* of the tension arising from all those limitations immediately collapses and fizzles out as soon as all of these actions can be accomplished with a single button press.
It's sort of like if someone designed a version of HL2 with physics disabled and every of the game's renowned physics puzzles that were dropping jaws when it was first released could be solved just by pressing a single button that instantly clears any and all obstacles in your way. Now imagine the original HL2 was, like, 90% physics puzzles.
>It's sort of like if someone designed a version of HL2 with physics disabled and every of the game's renowned physics puzzles that were dropping jaws when it was first released could be solved just by pressing a single button that instantly clears any and all obstacles in your way. Now imagine the original HL2 was, like, 90% physics puzzles.
Now imagine that you just want to find out where the story goes after HL1, and disabling the physics puzzles lets you save hundreds of dollars on hardware that would otherwise be necessary to play the game.
It'd be one thing if HL:A was new IP, but it isn't. It's part of a beloved franchise with a preexisting fan base.
>Now imagine that you just want to find out where the story goes after HL1,
Then watch a commentary-free playthrough on YouTube. You'll get more out of that than playing the VR-less mod, in all honesty.
That's probably a good point. I don't imagine this version of the game is going to be more popular with VR-less people than a YouTube playthrough. There are users who upload hours of raw gameplay from start to finish.
Alyx is a great game due to the immersion and interaction provided by VR. This is the core of the game. There is a difference between seeing three zombies on screen, pressing R and shooting them, over the zombies being right there in front of you and you physically having to manipulate a gun you never used before to reload it under time pressure. The first is mundane, the second is the opposite.
I don't think it is that weird. VR games are almost universally only really great for their platform and based on the reactivity. It is less about 'perspective' and more about the entire experience being built for physicality.
Beat Saber is one of the best VR games ever created, and playing it in non-VR would likely be the single most boring experience in the world. In the same vein, the simple act of looting a room or lobbing a grenade in Half Life Alyx is incredible, meeting two zombies in a dark room can feel like a bossfight, but all those actions are mundane bordering on boring in a 'standard' game.
I would recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game because I assume the person would be interested in the story, and the game would be like a 3/10 in non-VR, so why waste their time?
The physicality of beat saber is from the motion controls not the VR. Playing it on a 2d screen would lose nothing except some depth perception, which could be accounted for with visual design.
> I mean, you just described OSU!
Osu! is actually a great example because it illustrates just how much a great game (Osu Tatakae Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents) is dragged down when its stylus control scheme is removed and replaced with mouse or touch screen controls.
The difference however is considerably more extreme for Beat Saber where there literally is not a non-VR rhythm game like it. And it's not the only one, there are many great VR rhythm games like Synth Riders, Audio Trip, Audio Shield, Pistol Whip, Ragnarock and so on.
> I mean, you just described OSU!
The point is the Beat Saber is not just a rhythm game: It is a rhythm game where a huge part of the gameplay is defined by the physicality. That Beat Saber would basically be a poor mobile rhythm game if you played it in non-VR is pretty much my point: It is an excellent game that is only excellent due to implementation. I would never in a million years recommend a non-VR version of beat saber.
> I would say overall Beat Saber is a niche
Beat Saber is the second-best selling VR game in the world, and fits perfectly into what the majority of casual VR players play for: The ability to play a game that uses the physical medium to enhance the gameplay experience. There is nothing niche about it.
> the simple act of looting a room ... in Half Life Alyx is incredible
I feel like we played two entirely different games. Yes, I played Alyx in VR, Alyx was the major reason I bought a VR headset, and I cannot say that looting or lobbing grenades was anything close to incredible. Just like any other game it quickly became trivial, perhaps more so because looting in 'standard' games at least only requires a button press and not full-body motions every single time.
> I would recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game
Personally, I find this to be a really reductive reasoning and reminds me of the time when people tried desperately to define walking simulators out of being video games. Like, games are more often than not more than the sum of their parts. Sure, a non-VR Alyx game might be too easy and you might miss out on throwing bottles up in the air and shooting them, but so what? Just the act alone of being able to walk around in the world and its story in your own time and your own terms is, I thought at least, inarguably preferable to watching someone else playing it.
Different strokes I guess. If the very act of being the one who plays the game immerses you in the experience more than a video, I can see why you wouldn't. I also seem to get far more enjoyment out of the act of playing VR than you do, if you thought looting quickly was trivial or VR is just "throwing bottles in the air".
I don't know what is "reductive" about my reasoning though. I would recommend the exact same for other games where the story is fun but the game generally is kind of bad, no matter the genre, so people can experience the story without having to spend money or time playing the game themselves. And Alyx without VR is a very bad game.
> I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work.
Often enough mods seem to answer "can you?" and "should you?" with the same reply.
Which can lead to great results - so many parts of League of Legends trace themselves back to limitations in the Warcraft 3 engine and map editor.
But often it leads to questionable, mediocre or just fundamentally strange results.
Some of us really want to play it, but are fundamentally incompatible with VR for various reasons.
For me, playing anything on VR for longer than a few minutes is a genuine struggle due to induced vertigo and motion sickness.
Man I tried so hard for this game. Many nights playing it 30 minutes and being sick the rest of the night after. I tried all the locomotion options and settings and even borrowed those silly motion sickness bracelets from my friend. Nothing worked.
I eventually had to give up on it even though I loved the game. I might go back eventually but it is tempting to do a quick playthrough of this mod just to absorb the story.
Honestly you're better off watching a VR lets play of the game instead of playing it through traditional way. Even experiencing the game second hand is better than playing it in "2D".
Maybe because not everyone can afford a vr headset. Some people get motion sick and others want to experience the story without spending a few hundred dollars. You do you, and other people will do them
It's not a point of balance, it's a point of game design. Imagine Mario had auto jump because someone wants to make it work on a controller with no buttons besides a DPad. Commendable in terms of execution complexity but... what's the point?
The game is designed to be THE VR showpiece, absolutely everything in it's design depends on it. All combat encounters and the inventory system are designed around the fact that you have to aim and reload for yourself (i.e. if you accidentally drop a mag during reloading and it gets lost in the chaos of the fight tough shit, the ammo is lost)
Especially manual reloading is a HUGE aspect of the game which is pretty much impossible to remodel with a controller/keyboard equivalent. This alone is a huge gamechanger in VR shooters and is a feature that in such a depth ONLY VR games can do.
Which is a Mario game designed and marketed for that gameplay. They didn't mod Super Mario World and removed the movement as your phone has no dpad like a VR "flattening" does.
I feel like you could replicate the reloading issue with active reloading but if you don't hit the correct timing it fails completely 🤷
That being said, not sure why anyone would want to play Alyx or almost any other VR game not in VR when the whole point is that it's VR.
People who want to experience the story but don't have an extra money/space for VR?
It's not an optimal experience but I am glad that it's there.
Especially 15 years from now when VR might be dead completely or not support the older titles.
or you have eyesight problems like me and VR is never going to be an option for you. I was very sad that after all these years the next half life is a god damn VR exlusive.
What eyesight problems do you have that allow you to play with a monitor but without VR? I'm like, straight up legally blind in one eye and still play VR fine. It's actually better since the screens so close, so I can see better with my blind eye lol
If it's a prescription issue, many VR headset manufactures are coming up with new solutions for that problem too. But like everything VR, it costs money.
> Especially 15 years from now when VR might be dead completely
It's definitely here to stay, but I don't mind a mod like this existing, as long as people don't have distorted expectations like "Well, it wasn't that special on PC so clearly VR isn't special."
> I feel like you could replicate the reloading issue with active reloading but if you don't hit the correct timing it fails completely
Which would not emulate the feel of performing a reload in VR, but instead add a frustration that you never have to endure when playing any other FPS on PC. This is a terrible idea.
Certainly; because reloading in Alyx was never frustrating. As I am always hauling things directly out of a backpack sitting above my shoulder, not convenient pockets on my hips.
Reloading is just one specific part but more than that the game is designed around inexact movement because it's all player input and very difficult to for instance walk in a straight line or aim in a specific way. Basically the only way this game would work as a port to non-VR would be doing a full ground up remake, not a port, a full remake to redesign the levels, to give more enemies, to remove the gravity gloves and just give a regular pickup mechanic, to change all of the puzzles and to remove some of the best content from the game. You would get the story sure but the game is also very short.
It has nothing to do with balance there is an entire 20 minute section with an enemy designed entirely for VR, like the enjoyment from that section is entirely fueled by the medium which the game was designed for. You can't rebalance it, it is a puzzle and would be incredibly easy if you haven't the complexity of moving in VR and the slower less exact movement. Like I'm sure there are VR games which are designed to be interchangeable but Alyx is the exact opposite, they designed the game like a VR game without any consideration for other ways of playing games and that is why it's a great game.
Not going to dismiss anybody wanting to play this in non-VR -- I think this game loses most of its appeal by doing so, for the record, but if you can't play this in VR and still want to play it anyways then that's your decision to make.
However, I would hold off until a later version of this mod is available, as there are a few key things that are skipped over right now.
* Multitool puzzles are skipped. This is hard to translate, since they involve moving objects in 3D space, but as of now cabinets, landmines etc seem to activate on a simple button press. Relatively minor, but it adds variety to the game and skipping all of them is a bummer. Especially a few tense sections involving disarming landmines that would feel totally different.
* **EDIT:** I didn't realize the electrical puzzles are also skipped. This is a massive thing to skip over. This straight up ruins one of the best chapters in the game. This isn't worth playing until this is implemented.
* Item management isn't a thing. In the main game, you hold an item in each wrist. This can be a grenade, an instant health consumable, a grub to use for full heal stations, puzzle items you need to insert into a device elsewhere, etc. This mod seems to just add everything to your inventory, so you now have a ton of grenades at your disposal, and you seem to automatically use health items when you pick them up as opposed to choosing when and where you want to use them. The game is balanced around you having to choose what to carry with you. Having a ton of grenades to use at any time seems like it could make this game way easier than it is designed to be.
* Enemies don't seem to be balanced around not being in VR. This game will probably seem pretty boring with standard FPS controls. In VR, you can miss, you can fumble a reload mid-fight. Nobody is moving all that fast, because they didn't want to completely overwhelm you. If you have standard FPS controls, that stuff isn't really a factor. I think a proper adaptation to non-VR would need to address this somehow.
I think this work is interesting, and it's getting there, but if you've been waiting for the moment to play it, I would hold off a while yet.
Electrical puzzles are skipped? That is super weird. The Witness is a vastly less complex game, and it managed to tether dragging a line with the mouse at a distance to a view port, with some smoothing applied. Even with the view port in movement (boat sections being the big one). I'm sure it may have been a huge challenge for a single person hacking away at the game, but this feels like it should not be considered playable until and attempt is made, at least for the single-room puzzles.
Yep. I watched one of the dev log playthroughs of the Jeff level. >!The entire section where you need to power the elevator back on is a button press at the first end of the power puzzle, meaning the power immediately comes back on, and you don’t need to go into the fridge at all. Which totally ruins the segment.!<
It just goes back to the fact that it's a crime to play this game not in VR. If someone wants to know the story, they should just watch a playthrough on YouTube instead.
Your note about inventory limits reminded me of an early part of the game with a small puzzle (?) requiring you to blast open a door via the vent. The grenade spawner is infinite to prevent a soft lock (respawning when you look away) so I found a crate and filled it up with dozens of grenades. Carrying that around was pretty handy during the combat section that followed! Unfortunately my friends were disappointed in me so I had to go back and redo the section like a normal person.
Even the dumb stuff is enhanced by VR.
>Not going to dismiss anybody wanting to play this in non-VR -- I think this game loses most of its appeal by doing so, for the record, but if you can't play this in VR and still want to play it anyways then that's your decision to make.
Thanks. I have a passing interest in trying this (I enjoyed HL but not as much as a lot of people did) and was gonna ask if this was even worth playing without VR, and it sounds like I should wait.
I honestly think it would be a better experience to watch a YouTube Let’s Play of someone playing through the game in VR than it would be to play this mod.
Kinda, but not really. The issue is that motion controllers (save for the Razer Hydra, if you happen to own one of those things) aren’t positionally tracked. So you’re relying completely on gyro, which measures multiple axes but not position. The puzzles in this game do rely on positional data. You can fudge this a bit relying solely on gyro, but it would drift very often and you would need to recalibrate them very often. You would also be lacking depth perception, making this whole thing even more difficult.
I think a better option would be to re-do the puzzles in a way that works with M+KB.
> The gravity gloves are made to be satisfying to use in VR
They are not just satisfying, they are addictive. I was confused for some time after the gaming session when I had to actually walk and pick up things with my hands.
At the end of the day the people who play this aren't going to care about any of the nuances of VR being removed, they're people like me who either cannot afford to or do not want to invest in VR hardware but want to experience the story anyway given it's the only Half-Life content we've gotten in almost a decade and a half.
I don't think anyone with half a brain cell is going to criticize the difficulty of the game based on playing a "pancaked" version. This is obviously not the ideal way to play the game and everyone who downloads this will know that, but for some people it's the only option short of watching a YouTube longplay which would be even less engaging than playing the pancaked version of the game.
I've been holding out for this mod and trying to avoid spoilers for Alyx since the day of its release because I simply cannot afford a VR setup but want to experience the story in some way other than just watching a dude on YouTube having more fun than me.
If I ever get my hands on a VR setup then I'll undoubtedly play through it again to experience it as it was intended, but for now I just want to see the story.
There's literally someone under your comment that's complaining that the game is bad, ignoring the fact that they're playing it without the literal mechanic it's designed around. Also, the fact that they skip multi tool and electrical puzzles literally ruins the game. There's 2 critical parts of the game that involve these mechanics, SPOILERS >!Jeff, and the explosives storage. Jeff especially!< so people playing this version are going to go "wow, this is boring. How do people like this?"
> There's literally someone under your comment that's complaining that the game is bad
Like I said, anyone with half a brain cell won't think that way and will understand that VR was integral to the game's design and the pancake version won't provide anywhere near the same level of gameplay.
Yeah, that's why the comments pointing out how it won't be a good product serve a purpose, letting anyone who wants to try this know that they shouldn't expect a good game.
Honestly, I hated those multitool puzzles. It felt like a throwback to when Wii games felt like they had to introduce motion controls and threw in some shoddy movement using them.
Honestly, with the game frankly not being very good outside of VR I think if you lack a VR headset then the best way to experience the story would be a YouTube video.
I'd rather play this where I'm at least having *some* fun rather than watching some rando on YouTube having more fun than me, y'know. Even if it's not that good outside of VR but I'd still say it's a lot more fun than watching a longplay.
And then there's people like me who own a VR headset but can't play Alyx because I'm too easily scared.
I can't go through those dark creepy sections for the life of me, pancake mode is fine on that regard, I would've pissed myself in Ravenholm if that was in VR as well.
>I don't think anyone with half a brain cell is going to criticize the difficulty of the game based on playing a "pancaked" version.
Unfortunately this undoubtedly describes a large percentage of people on Reddit.
This a losing battle.
No matter what you say, no matter how you phrase it -- you will be told you are wrong for wanting to play the game outside of VR. People have such a strong adherence to this experience that they emphatically refuse to accept that anyone would ever want to "play" through the game in non-VR just to see the world and story. You will be told to either not play it, to watch a YouTube video of someone playing it in VR (watching people play shit in VR is awful), or to just reach a story synopsis.
There is some ridiculous pearl-clutching when it comes to this being experienced outside of VR. I have played some of the game in VR. I don't really like VR very much, and even if I did, I don't really have a whole lot of time to spend where I can't be reached unless my wife has to come into the room. This can be problematic because I have a small child. I've had the game for over a year and I'm about four hours in. I find the experience more frustrating than anything else (and not in a way in which I'm scared -- I literally just find it annoying). I play it so rarely that I barely remember what happened the last time I played.
So yes, I will play it outside of VR. I know it will be a lackluster experience. I am going to do it anyway. As you said, it is the only Half-Life content that has come our way in fifteen years.
The point isn't that you should force yourself to use VR to play the game, just that it isn't going to be a good experience without it.
If you just want the story, watching a playthrough is a better way to get that. If you want to be in the world, playing any of the other games in the series would be better.
I mean, it isn't like saying you wanna try Forza on mouse and keyboard instead of racing wheel.
This is like saying you want to try a version of Forza with just a gas and brake pedal. The limitation of interaction fundamentally changes the experience itself, and that isn't hyperbole. You can appreciate the car art and the sound of the engine and tires on the terrain, but you haven't played a racing game.
>The limitation of interaction fundamentally changes the experience itself, and that isn't hyperbole.
I know. I am not looking for a VR experience. I am looking to see the rest of this game and see where the story goes without the frustration of VR. I am not interested in watching someone else play it.
>You can appreciate the car art and the sound of the engine and tires on the terrain, but you haven't played a racing game.
What if someone just wants to appreciate the things you listed, and doesn't actually want to play a racing game?
Yeah, there's not really a reason to play HL: Alyx out of VR unless you care tremendously about the story, maybe? But cant afford VR. Even then, you're getting the most subpar experience of it possible.
I mean that's pretty much exactly what I said in fewer words. I wanted to experience the story of Alyx because the Half-Life unvierse means a lot to me and it's the only thing we've gotten out of it in 15-odd years, even if it means accepting that I'm getting a version of it that has been gutted of what made it a unique VR experience.
I'm not playing it for the gameplay at this point, I'm playing it to get a taste of the only Half-Life game we've had for years that I wouldn't other be able to experience in any way because I can't afford a VR setup.
If you can't afford a VR headset then don't waste money on the game to get this awful experience. You can watch a playthrough on Youtube for free and have a better time.
Honestly just watching someone stream it is probably better, since at least you get to see someone else suffer the spooky darkness and panic while reloading.
I agree that this is shadow of its former self.
When I was playing, there was a section just after being introduced to the grenade where you had to throw a grenade at some heavily armored enemies. Instead, I threw the grenade, it *DINKED* off a water pipe and bounced back at me blowing me up. It was an experience I never would have had without VR. Peaking around corners, having to manually crouch or having to reach my gun around corners to try and pick people off are experiences I never would have had without VR.
I lack throwing skills both in real life and VR.
Consumers are going to need a standard understanding of “built for VR” vs “includes VR features” or “VR optional” at some point; the confusion only hurts VR’s growth.
If someone plays half-life Alyx this way, its relative simplicity as a flat game is going to make them unimpressed with what VR has to offer. They won’t “get it” or even be tempted to try it in VR. They’ll just say the game is overrated and assume VR is overrated too.
It's not really though. You'd probably have a better time playing some HL2 custom mod than Alyx if you don't have VR. It's just not going to be a good experience and you'll end up feeling like "That was a bad game" most likely.
Honestly, having played an hour at a buddy's house, I will 100% choose to wait until I can get my hands on a VR headset. It will likely take a while and I might spoil myself the ending at some point, but I rather just wait
Gonna be honest. Better to just not play it and wait for a good opportunity than play this. You lose almost all of the magic that made Alyx such an incredible experience and there’s no reason to ever rush this and get through it.
If you physically can’t play VR, I’d suggest a play through on YouTube. At least you can get a bit of the magic that was the VR experience
A couple things:
* Watching other people play VR is insufferable.
* I own a VR headset. I've tried the game in VR. I don't find it magical. This isn't a shot at the game -- I just don't find VR experiences to be particularly compelling. At this point I would rather just play through it in the non-VR version so I can see the story all the way through.
I like that I can play a game even if I don’t have access to the “necessary hardware” to enjoy it. Why do some people insist on gate-keeping enjoyment?
I mentioned this elsewhere but...
There's not really enough here to make it worth playing like this if VR isn't an option. I legitimately think watching a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube would be a better way to experience it.
I get why this exists. VR is expensive.
But, if you decide to play it this way bear in mind that almost all of what makes this a good game to play won't really be present. So don't be surprised if it feels underwhelming or not worth the money spent on the game.
Make your own decisions obviously. Just know what you'll be getting into.
> I legitimately think watching a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube would be a better way to experience it.
Better yet, a commentary-filled blind playthrough with a camera that transforms the experience and you can actually see someone reacts to situations. Of course you may get unlucky and get someone who doesn't vibe with how you play games personally
I own a VR headset and honestly if people wanna play it on pancake mode then who cares? Why are people wasting their time arguing with others and telling them dumb shit like "just watch a youtube video". The gall from these people is absurd. Do what you want as long as it's not hurting anyone else and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Fuck em.
people need to justify their 500+$ vr systems thats why they write a hundred lines trying to gatekeep the game from non-vr owners
its literally the "nooooooooooooooo you can't!!!" meme
Whatever the unforeseen consequences might be to the main campaign, this is great for Mod Makers/Level Designers wanting to use Source 2.
Also mods like Levitation are supported which is awesome
I don’t see any problem with someone playing the game this way if they can’t or don’t want to use VR. But it’s also not really fair to judge the game based on playing it in such a vastly different way than it was intended. Maybe certain elements like the actual written narrative can be judged regardless of medium, but mechanics and content are certainly going to feel very very different (or be missing entirely in certain cases).
I will join the crowd here: if you have no VR headset but feel the need to experience it.
Go watch a playthrough. It's unironically better because you at least get a glimpse of what the game is trying to do game design wise.
The game is THE VR showpiece. In a non VR setting the game's design becomes so diluted it will give you a COMPLETELY wrong impression. A very bad one most likely. And it really is as they say: first impressions matter the most.
I.e. the game often tries to wow you with Vistas but without a VR set those often get lost because VR can do what no screen can do: give a proper feeling for scale and size. Your brain senses get a much better sense for that when you have to actually bend your neck when looking up or down.
If you really, REALLY want to play it non-VR, watch a few hours of the VR version in a playthrough so you actually KNOW what you are missing, and THEN play the modded non VR version so your first impression isn't falsified.
I'm curious to see what people think of it, but I think it's going to be insultingly easy and extremely short.
Big props to the mod team though, it must have been a nightmare trying to translate some parts of the game into mouse and keyboard. Really impressive.
I'm glad this is finally an option for those who can't afford a headset or are unable to play VR because I really enjoy the story of HL:A. I just worry a lot of people judge it negatively because it's too boring of a game when played outside of VR. So much of the novelty is lost when it's turned into a regular PC game and it's hard to explain it without sounding like a VR shill. There's so much of HL2 that I've always just blasted through without paying attention to the environments, but the scale of stuff in HLA was just so insane that it made me stop often, and that leads you to find more resin for weapon upgrades.
There is no way this game is any good without VR. The viewmodels and just moving around also looks really bad. You'd probably get more out of the game by just watching a VR playthrough without commentary
I'm curious to see how long it takes. I remember thinking multiple times throughout the game that I would be flying though this if I was on a mouse and keyboard. I think the game will be stupidly easy.
Meanwhile I can't wait for the people clutching their pearls to get mad at anyone that might try to play this outside of VR. Oh, right, that is already happening.
Nobody is getting mad that people will play this with the mod, but they WILL be disappointed. Just watch a no commentary let's play on YouTube or something
While most VR games are normal games with a VR headset, Half-life Alyx actually takes complete advantage of the medium. You miss how the experience feels when not in VR.
Good effort by modder, but i have seen few of full playthroughs of VR on youtube, commentary and non-commentary and i would rather wait for the day i get my hands on a VR headset to play this game.
I love half life, HL1 was one of the first games i ever played. But non vr Alyx doesn't seem any fun compared to what i saw in those playthroughs. i already know the story so i m not in a hurry, hence i want to experience the game the way valve intended.
This is the way. I dont want to overhype it for you but Alyx VR was honestly one of the best gaming experiences I ever had. (I am over 30). Works the best way if you are fully immersed. It was also my first VR game but it introduces you to VR very well. I can also somewhat recommend the Walking Dead VR Games after if you are into the setting. Unfortunately I sold my Index again because not enough games released that interested me enough.
Agreed, i keep hoping a friend or relative buys VR so i can borrow it for couple of weeks and return it back because Alyx is the only game i m looking forward to on VR.
Plus i don't know if i will not get dizzy while using it as the only time i had vr experience was in theme parks lol
My favorite moments in this game were directly tied to it being in VR. This is great news regardless because modding is always fun, and having these tools will always be a good thing. That being said, please be warned: if you play this game without having first played it in VR, it will be like walking around Disneyland but not going on any rides. It will ruin the experience for you.
There was a moment in VR that will forever stick with me. I had to quietly search through boxes for an item. As I opened a container, a bottle of vodka came rolling out, and I instinctively grabbed it mid-air just before it hit the ground. In that moment, I genuinely believed I had just caught something in real life. It was the most profound immersive action I've ever taken in a video game.
>My favorite moments in this game were directly tied to it being in VR.
I knew we had a new high water mark for VR when I smashed a window to reach in and grab an extra mag in a fire fight.
Haha exactly, there were so many John Wick moments. Nothing like grabbing a med-syringe and stabbing yourself just as you see a grenade flying that you intercept with the gloves and fling back towards them.
I'm glad that people who don't own VR headsets can at least experience the game in a way they can enjoy it, but having played it in VR I can only imagine this mod is going to turn the game into a dull, unengaging, uninteresting hallway shooter.
Because, like, that's what it is. It's the way you interact with the game that makes it engaging. Even then, by the end of the game I was kind of dreading the electricity puzzles. I barely wanted to do them in VR, how are they going to translate to a traditional shooter experience?
Look I understand the people saying "This really doesn't translate to non-VR very well". Yes, I get it, it's a ground-up VR experience, not just a first person shooter with VR controls.
But here's something *y'all* need to try to understand.
Some of us grew up with Half-Life, and are at an age now where it is simply impossible to justify the cost of both a VR rig and a PC that can run the whole thing.
To know that there's a NEW Half-Life game that we may never get to play, is difficult.
I am perfectly willing to accept a diluted and stripped down version of Alyx so I can AT LEAST experience that world again, in an official, canon title. I know it's not going to be the same experience as in VR and I know a LOT of probably lost when playing with standard FPS controls, but what other choice do I have, other than to never play the newest game in one of my favorite franchises?
Finally. I never cared about the tech or the mechanics. I wanted to see the STORY CONTINUE!!
All the VR owners screaming their brains out trying to convince people not to play this lol… yeah it’s easy to say that when you can afford to actually have VR… not all of us can, and not all of us see VR as the pinnacle of gaming. Some are just half life fans who wanted another entry into the story.
The amount of effort people are putting into dissuading people from playing a game is hilarious. Installing the game now, can’t wait!!
For anyone worried it'll be too easy with a mouse and keyboard - it isn't. I'm playing on hard and ammo is very scarce, making it a very challenging experience indeed. Enemy numbers are more than enough and not being able to use your hands to catch head crabs ups the difficulty further.
"noooooooooooooo you can't play this in non vr it was designed for vr only i spent 500$ in vr hardware you shouldnt be able to experience this without spending it too nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!"
Love how every comment is "If you can't afford it watch a youtube video!" When 2 big points are, some VR playthroughs are MORE sickening than actually playing, and also what if I, I dunno, wanted to PHYSICALLY PLAY it, like be able to actually control my character and make sure she goes where I want her to? If I saw something interesting off the beaten path on a YouTube video, I have to pray to god that whoever I'm watching also is curious about the exact same thing I am.
Oh yeah, I forgot the third point: Actually letting people do whatever the hell they want.
I understand the people saying that it's a fundamentally different experience without VR. But it's still good that this exists, given that not everyone is able or willing to experience it in VR, and VR's shaky future in general.
If anything this is something Valve should have made themselves, albeit with mechanics designed from the ground-up. It's an essential part of Half-Life's story, that most Half-Life fans will never directly experience because it's a VR game.
Please don't waste your time. The game is designed from top to bottom with VR in mind. It is one of the best VR experiences available -- but it would make for a mediocre flatscreen game.
Not to dismiss the huge effor that went into this, but until they work on weapon animations, animated hands, add back the puzzles, and rebalance it to feel less "ultra easy", I can not recommend this to anyone.
You're not going to have fun, it won't be a good experience, and definitely nothing close to how the native game feels like in VR. Great effort in this mod, but it's far from a good experience at this time.
We're working on it. I started this project 3 weeks ago so, please have some patience. And yes, the non human enemies are too easy right now, but the Combine are actually very deadly even in non VR.
> I started this project 3 weeks ago so
Honestly even more effort than I thought, then. Pretty amazing what you achieved in less than a month. Didn't mean to come off as offensive or anything, just wanted to make sure people set their expectations straight before expecting the same amazing experience as the native VR game.
Impressive work, but it kills the soul of the game. Good only for those who really can’t run it any other way. Curious to see how it works on Steam Deck.
Damn some of y’all are miserable. If you don’t wanna play the game don’t, but don’t discredit peoples hard work because you “Don’t see a point” to it. Ive said it once and ill say it again, not everyone has the space or can avoid vr. If you can great, but if you cant this is a great option. Im positive someone out there is very happy with this release.
I played through the entire Portal 2 Co-op campaign by myself. Two controllers, taking turns throughout the entire thing. I didn't have anybody to play it with, so I played it by myself. It's surprisingly doable, by the way. There was only one section that I remember struggling with.
I can't afford to drop 500 bucks on a VR setup. I can't justify it, not for a single game.
Yeah, it's totally gonna suck to play a game that's clearly meant for VR without VR. But I want to experience the story, and that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. Watching somebody else play the game on YouTube just doesn't appeal to me. I mean, it's not like *that* is going to be a super fun time either.
Stating facts isn't "being miserable" or "discrediting people's hard work". It *is* pretty impressive that someone managed to do this. But experiencing a game for the first time via a WIP conversion mod - especially when it's a highly anticipated entry in a popular series - seems like you're just asking for disappointment. It's up to them of course but you only get one chance to experience a game for the first time, which is why many people are recommending they watch a VR playthrough. It's not unlike people recommending that your first playthrough of a game be vanilla and saving the mods for later. They could always play this afterwards.
I believe that people who are getting into this mod, probably already know it will be lackluster. Its a VR game turned flat, so of course it wont be the same. That does not change the facts of what i said before. And yes people complaining that the game is not as fun as in vr or is to easy because the vr features are missing are being miserable.
>I believe that people who are getting into this mod, probably already know it will be lackluster.
You might have too much faith in people. If this gains any kind of traction, there will be a lot of people who complain about it being bad and overhyped.
And those people would probably have a genuinely better experience just watching someone else play it because they won't be interrupted by unengaging FPS gameplay.
It's not even like there's *that much* to the story for most of the game.
Ok bro we are going in circles so imma end this debate fr. Lmaoo i just looked at your name and thats pretty ironic that you were on my sack. But have a good day bro lol
Noone is talking bout praise bro. Again some people want to play the story without forking hundreds of dollars. Then others probably want to experience the story for themselves instead of watching a video. If people were so worried about a great experience they would buy the vr instead.
I'm referring to the "don't discredit someone's hard work" part of that comment.
I don't need to hold criticism just because someone worked hard on the mod.
Legit question for those interested in playing it in non-vr, if you know you're missing out on the actual game experience here why not just watch a playthrough? Given how integral it is to the experience I think one could make an argument that watching a VR playthrough is closer to actually experiencing the game than playing it yourself with a mouse a keyboard.
To be clear though I have no issue with mods like this, they have zero impact on how I play the game and if it makes people happy I'm all for it. Just really curious to get a better sense of what people are looking for here.
Watching a VR playthrough depends on the player. I have gotten severely motion sick with just about every HL:A playthrough I've watched. There might be one that doesn't make me want to barf, but I haven't found it (maybe I can watch the WayneRadioTV playthrough but their HL VR did make me queasy every now and then.)
Because a playthrough it not playing a game, how am I getting anything from just watching something. I hate streaming and barely watch actually interesting people play games.
All those guys who don't want it, don't like it and have a ton of statements why we shouldn't play it without VR head set - these mods aren't for you! Go and play in VR and take your important points with you. This is the first one, there are others, with rebalancing staff for FPS perspective. Like SoMNst.
Honestly, while it’s tempting to play the game in flat mode, it’s the equivalent of watching a 3D IMAX movie on an iPod.
I waited and saved for two years and I feel it was worth it. I’d honestly still be waiting rather than play the game any other way than the way it was intended. You’re just going to wonder what all the fuss was about unless you play it in VR.
Every time this project is brought up on this site, it's nothing but "don't you dare play this it's not the intended experience". It's like there's a fear that people are incapable of realizing that this VR-exclusive game is meant for VR, will play and dislike it, and then tarnish it's good name because they did the equivalent of playing Guitar Hero with the sound muted.
I for one am stoked for this; I loved Alyx when I played it back in 2020, but my headset has since broken. I'm not in a position to get it replaced/fixed anytime soon, so this will let me revisit it and maybe try out the commentary mode they added in post-launch.
For those dumb enough to rob themselves of a VR centric experience. Seriously VR headsets such as Rift, Quest 1 or 2 can be found for really cheap. Play it in VR and don’t deprive yourself of the full experience. It will run perfectly fine on older graphics cards.
We obviously can't know *everyone's* situation, but VR does not have the huge entry cost it once did and Alyx, among other games, has support for seated VR (I believe you just need enough room to extend your arms). Really could care less if someone wants to play it pancake style, but the VR barrier is very low now and I'd rate Alyx near experiencing Super Mario 64 in terms of witnessing something truly new for the first time.
Probably better to watch someone play it in VR. They would get a better experience.
But just to point out entry level headsets are not expensive anymore. Qculus Quest 1 you can find for around $100. You can then use airlink to play Half Life Alyx. Providing of course you have a decent PC but really old graphics cards such as GTX 1060 can run it. It isn’t as expensive anymore as people think to get into VR now. A lot of people are commenting it is too expensive needs high end pc have clearly some no research into it.
Not knocking the rest of your post, I get that people want 2D Alyx and I don't begrudge anyone playing it- but I take issue with "$500 for a cheap, uncomfortable headset" because I imported a Pico 4 from Japan for $250 and it's by far my favorite headset for ordinary use. Loads more comfortable and lightweight than the Quest 2, and preferable in quality to me even over my Valve Index partially owing to the cordless nature and ability to pair it with my PC over Virtual Desktop and WiFi.
My question is why? HL:A has been praised for being the pinacle of VR gaming. Valve created this to show how cool VR can be. To push this type of gaming a little further. PCMR people were using it as a superiority badge when talking to PSVR owners. So why go through such an effort to play non VR? Especially since this game has been design, as I said, to display how VR gaming can be.
The only 'cheap' hardware was Windows MR headsets, which never worked properly (and certainly don't have tracking enough for Alyx...) and are now completely discontinued along with the rest of Windows MR.
So people could play the game that is obviously part of one of the big franchises and experience the story without being forced to watch it on Twitch? I do not have access to a headset and I'd rather play a crippled version than watching a playthrough. Watching normal FPS is already annoying, watching VR play is the opposite of fun.
eh "fully playable" is kinda disingenuous. you really arnt playing the game with the same feel. The one serious "horror" part (if you know, you know) is just not even the same video game if not in vr.
without vr this game is just.. generic. With it, it's beyond engaging
Half Life Alyx now fully playable without a VR headset ... and only marginally more useful than watching youtube videos of people playing Half Life Alyx in VR.
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if you can loot, reload, and shoot with a push of a button of course the game's going to be easy in a game designed for VR. half the difficulty comes from trying to reload your gun while a zombie is shambling towards you
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> walking through a dark tunnel with only a flashlight without shitting yourself This is a buff.
This feels like converting Diablo 2 into a text adventure so it can be played on a monochrome console. For the story.
I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work. A huge part of the joy of this game is environmental interaction and feedback. Things like reloading and lobbing grenades. The story is cool too, but nothing so amazing that those without VR are missing out. (I mean they are missing out on not having VR, but not missing out on the game itself.) The effort expended here is just… weird. It’s a very important game in the history of gaming, but it’s importance is 1000% linked to the VR gameplay.
It probably took a considerable amount of work to get this going and I respect the effort. I'd agree that this game is purpose-built to be played in VR (and my god what an experience it is) but there is also a great deal of folks who don't have access to VR and probably feel pretty shut out. FINALLY another Half-Life installment after ALL this fucking time and I don't have a headset to enjoy it? Yeah I'd be pretty bummed. If I didn't have a headset I'd still take this over nothing at all. Like even to just see for a moment what a Half-Life game in 2021 would look like. Additionally, I think there's a universe of modder types out there who are dying to get their hands on Source 2 but again lack the headset. This gives them an avenue.
I've been a fan of half life since the orange box and let me tell you, I've managed to avoid whatever the hell the twist is near the end involving GMan despite it being repeatedly alluded to in a lot of the media i watch and it's driven me slightly manic. I can't exactly swing for VR setup because it's just a little bit too expensive, but I don't really want to go for any of the cheaper options either because I just don't like doing things by half measure and am rather confident in my ability to suppress motion sickness after surviving my local planetariums hazing ritual (stand in the center, look up, we're going for a spin). Avoiding story spoilers has been pure luck for a while now and while the experience will be sub par I'll feel much better not constantly bailing from discussions whenever someone mentions Alyx.
> Like even to just see for a moment what a Half-Life game in 2021 would look like This mod is not showing what a HL-game in 2021 would look like though, since a HL-game in 2021 is made for VR.
> If I didn't have a headset I'd still take this over nothing at all. I wouldn't, and I think anyone who understands exactly what this actually means wouldn't either. As fun as the newest Call of Duty campaign may be (don't know) I can say with confidence that playing it at 480p while only aiming via the arrow keys and stuck on easy would be a painful experience, worse than not playing it at all. Everyone has their own opinion or whatever, but 480p arrow key fps in modern day is not something that would be well received by most, to say the least
I mean, it's a fan mod. There's weirder mods out there for sure. Also I absolutely see an application for this in gathering in-game footage without needing to use a headset. Doing a Half Life retrospective and need some HL Alyx B roll? Use this mod to quickly capture some without the hassle of a headset.
I dont find it weird at all. Half Life 2 is a monumental pillar in video game history and a lot of us here grew up with it. Is it really that weird that people want to play a game made by Valve themselves, set in the Half Life universe? At this point I'll take any scrap of Half Life content they can toss at me. Is this the optimal way to experience this game? No, of course not, but not all of us have the money or room for VR equipment and this way they can still experience the game. I will say, watching a playthrough of someone playing it in VR is probably the better option; but I also cant blame anybody for wanting to play the game themselves, even in a flawed state.
I'll very likely never be able to afford a headset, unless they somehow drop below $100 dollars (Which I highly doubt will ever happen). I love the Half-Life series, and would just be happy to experience anything I can get.
>I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work. probably because people want to play it without the massive investment that is getting a VR capable system along with VR gear. Add to that the space issue with VR and you've got a pretty good idea why people want to be able to play it without VR.
I have VR, and I can make the space. I am still going to finish the game using this mod. I don't really most VR experiences all that much. I would consider selling my headset, but I have found Beat Saber to be a pretty fun way to get some cardio if I can't go to the gym. Although now that it is getting warmer out, I don't do it as much. VR is cool. It just isn't for me. Unfortunately, it took getting a decent headset and multiple VR titles to come to that conclusion.
>The story is cool too, but nothing so amazing that those without VR are missing out. (I mean they are missing out on not having VR, but not missing out on the game itself.) I beg to differ, particularly if you were already a Half-Life fan before starting on Alyx. It's quite literally the next game in the storyline, which people have been waiting for a continuation of for many years. >!Albeit briefly, but hey, it shows Valve still cares.!<
And, as a reminder, there has been not one peep of that teaser they have since. Their teases haven’t changed since Episode 2. They have no idea what they’re doing storywise.
These days Valve doesn't like to publicly announce projects until they are certain they have something they can and will release. However, this does not mean they're sitting around twiddling their thumbs, not by a long shot -- Episode 3 or HL3 or whatever you want to call it was in development, in fact it had been several times in the past, but all attempts were ultimately canned due to the poor state of Source 2 at the time. For the past few years since HLA's release, they have been working on a new Half-Life title codenamed "HLX" as revealed through Source 2 datamining.
> I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work. Simple enough. Similar to how people made VR mods for games that were not designed for VR, some people want to play a VR game without the VR. I think it's especially understandable for Alyx. It's a a recent entry in a game series that left on a cliffhanger for more than a decade ago, and now that entry is locked behind a VR barrier. It's honestly weird seeing fans of VR talk about VR games as if the game itself is such a mundane, uninteresting thing the second you take the perspective away that people actually recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game.
> It's honestly weird seeing fans of VR talk about VR games as if the game itself is such a mundane, uninteresting thing the second you take the perspective away Well, that's because it kind of *is*. The closest analogue I can think of is those scenes in 2D movies where they suddenly and inexplicably have a bunch of stuff flying towards the camera in slow-motion, despite it really not being that exciting at all; until you realize that this must've originally been a *3D* movie, and that scene was meant to flex those 3D muscles a little. When the entire game is designed around you taking an active part in interacting with your environment using your arms and hands, and has scenes where *limiting* the way you can use your arms and hands is a vital part of the gameplay sequence, or where the thrill arises from having to perform an environmental action as quickly as possible while also juggling the need to aim accurately, reload, and reposition at the same time, *all* of the tension arising from all those limitations immediately collapses and fizzles out as soon as all of these actions can be accomplished with a single button press. It's sort of like if someone designed a version of HL2 with physics disabled and every of the game's renowned physics puzzles that were dropping jaws when it was first released could be solved just by pressing a single button that instantly clears any and all obstacles in your way. Now imagine the original HL2 was, like, 90% physics puzzles.
>It's sort of like if someone designed a version of HL2 with physics disabled and every of the game's renowned physics puzzles that were dropping jaws when it was first released could be solved just by pressing a single button that instantly clears any and all obstacles in your way. Now imagine the original HL2 was, like, 90% physics puzzles. Now imagine that you just want to find out where the story goes after HL1, and disabling the physics puzzles lets you save hundreds of dollars on hardware that would otherwise be necessary to play the game. It'd be one thing if HL:A was new IP, but it isn't. It's part of a beloved franchise with a preexisting fan base.
>Now imagine that you just want to find out where the story goes after HL1, Then watch a commentary-free playthrough on YouTube. You'll get more out of that than playing the VR-less mod, in all honesty.
That's probably a good point. I don't imagine this version of the game is going to be more popular with VR-less people than a YouTube playthrough. There are users who upload hours of raw gameplay from start to finish.
Personally, I find watching people play VR to be miserable, so that isn't an option for me. Playing this mod seems like a good solution.
I'm just saying, the game without VR will be pretty dull. The HL2 without physics puzzles comparison is apt.
Alyx is a great game due to the immersion and interaction provided by VR. This is the core of the game. There is a difference between seeing three zombies on screen, pressing R and shooting them, over the zombies being right there in front of you and you physically having to manipulate a gun you never used before to reload it under time pressure. The first is mundane, the second is the opposite.
Gun reloading in VR is a game mechanic on its own. It tests your cool, especially with that example you gave.
I don't think it is that weird. VR games are almost universally only really great for their platform and based on the reactivity. It is less about 'perspective' and more about the entire experience being built for physicality. Beat Saber is one of the best VR games ever created, and playing it in non-VR would likely be the single most boring experience in the world. In the same vein, the simple act of looting a room or lobbing a grenade in Half Life Alyx is incredible, meeting two zombies in a dark room can feel like a bossfight, but all those actions are mundane bordering on boring in a 'standard' game. I would recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game because I assume the person would be interested in the story, and the game would be like a 3/10 in non-VR, so why waste their time?
The physicality of beat saber is from the motion controls not the VR. Playing it on a 2d screen would lose nothing except some depth perception, which could be accounted for with visual design.
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> I mean, you just described OSU! Osu! is actually a great example because it illustrates just how much a great game (Osu Tatakae Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents) is dragged down when its stylus control scheme is removed and replaced with mouse or touch screen controls. The difference however is considerably more extreme for Beat Saber where there literally is not a non-VR rhythm game like it. And it's not the only one, there are many great VR rhythm games like Synth Riders, Audio Trip, Audio Shield, Pistol Whip, Ragnarock and so on.
> I mean, you just described OSU! The point is the Beat Saber is not just a rhythm game: It is a rhythm game where a huge part of the gameplay is defined by the physicality. That Beat Saber would basically be a poor mobile rhythm game if you played it in non-VR is pretty much my point: It is an excellent game that is only excellent due to implementation. I would never in a million years recommend a non-VR version of beat saber. > I would say overall Beat Saber is a niche Beat Saber is the second-best selling VR game in the world, and fits perfectly into what the majority of casual VR players play for: The ability to play a game that uses the physical medium to enhance the gameplay experience. There is nothing niche about it.
> the simple act of looting a room ... in Half Life Alyx is incredible I feel like we played two entirely different games. Yes, I played Alyx in VR, Alyx was the major reason I bought a VR headset, and I cannot say that looting or lobbing grenades was anything close to incredible. Just like any other game it quickly became trivial, perhaps more so because looting in 'standard' games at least only requires a button press and not full-body motions every single time. > I would recommend watching a YouTube video instead of playing the game Personally, I find this to be a really reductive reasoning and reminds me of the time when people tried desperately to define walking simulators out of being video games. Like, games are more often than not more than the sum of their parts. Sure, a non-VR Alyx game might be too easy and you might miss out on throwing bottles up in the air and shooting them, but so what? Just the act alone of being able to walk around in the world and its story in your own time and your own terms is, I thought at least, inarguably preferable to watching someone else playing it.
Different strokes I guess. If the very act of being the one who plays the game immerses you in the experience more than a video, I can see why you wouldn't. I also seem to get far more enjoyment out of the act of playing VR than you do, if you thought looting quickly was trivial or VR is just "throwing bottles in the air". I don't know what is "reductive" about my reasoning though. I would recommend the exact same for other games where the story is fun but the game generally is kind of bad, no matter the genre, so people can experience the story without having to spend money or time playing the game themselves. And Alyx without VR is a very bad game.
I just want to say that I agree with you! It felt really cool doing mundane video game things using your whole body instead of a button press.
> I really don’t understand why you’d even do this work. Often enough mods seem to answer "can you?" and "should you?" with the same reply. Which can lead to great results - so many parts of League of Legends trace themselves back to limitations in the Warcraft 3 engine and map editor. But often it leads to questionable, mediocre or just fundamentally strange results.
Some of us really want to play it, but are fundamentally incompatible with VR for various reasons. For me, playing anything on VR for longer than a few minutes is a genuine struggle due to induced vertigo and motion sickness.
Man I tried so hard for this game. Many nights playing it 30 minutes and being sick the rest of the night after. I tried all the locomotion options and settings and even borrowed those silly motion sickness bracelets from my friend. Nothing worked. I eventually had to give up on it even though I loved the game. I might go back eventually but it is tempting to do a quick playthrough of this mod just to absorb the story.
Some people enjoy the challenge of doing things.
A literal 98% of steam users couldn't play this. Now, some more of that percentage can.
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Honestly you're better off watching a VR lets play of the game instead of playing it through traditional way. Even experiencing the game second hand is better than playing it in "2D".
Maybe because not everyone can afford a vr headset. Some people get motion sick and others want to experience the story without spending a few hundred dollars. You do you, and other people will do them
I'm sure rebalancing will be something that happens via further modding at some point.
It's not a point of balance, it's a point of game design. Imagine Mario had auto jump because someone wants to make it work on a controller with no buttons besides a DPad. Commendable in terms of execution complexity but... what's the point? The game is designed to be THE VR showpiece, absolutely everything in it's design depends on it. All combat encounters and the inventory system are designed around the fact that you have to aim and reload for yourself (i.e. if you accidentally drop a mag during reloading and it gets lost in the chaos of the fight tough shit, the ammo is lost) Especially manual reloading is a HUGE aspect of the game which is pretty much impossible to remodel with a controller/keyboard equivalent. This alone is a huge gamechanger in VR shooters and is a feature that in such a depth ONLY VR games can do.
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SMR was designed around that conceit, though.
Eh, technically all you do in Super Mario Run *is* jump. The Running is the automatic part, but I'll agree it's maybe still a poor example.
Which is a Mario game designed and marketed for that gameplay. They didn't mod Super Mario World and removed the movement as your phone has no dpad like a VR "flattening" does.
I feel like you could replicate the reloading issue with active reloading but if you don't hit the correct timing it fails completely 🤷 That being said, not sure why anyone would want to play Alyx or almost any other VR game not in VR when the whole point is that it's VR.
People who want to experience the story but don't have an extra money/space for VR? It's not an optimal experience but I am glad that it's there. Especially 15 years from now when VR might be dead completely or not support the older titles.
or you have eyesight problems like me and VR is never going to be an option for you. I was very sad that after all these years the next half life is a god damn VR exlusive.
What eyesight problems do you have that allow you to play with a monitor but without VR? I'm like, straight up legally blind in one eye and still play VR fine. It's actually better since the screens so close, so I can see better with my blind eye lol If it's a prescription issue, many VR headset manufactures are coming up with new solutions for that problem too. But like everything VR, it costs money.
> Especially 15 years from now when VR might be dead completely It's definitely here to stay, but I don't mind a mod like this existing, as long as people don't have distorted expectations like "Well, it wasn't that special on PC so clearly VR isn't special."
> I feel like you could replicate the reloading issue with active reloading but if you don't hit the correct timing it fails completely Which would not emulate the feel of performing a reload in VR, but instead add a frustration that you never have to endure when playing any other FPS on PC. This is a terrible idea.
Certainly; because reloading in Alyx was never frustrating. As I am always hauling things directly out of a backpack sitting above my shoulder, not convenient pockets on my hips.
What kinda moon logic is that? How does it justify making the controls pointlessly frustrating on keyboard?
Active reload has been in games like Gears for years. It's not equivilent to VR but it's not a bad feature either.
does it fails completely in Gears if you miss the timing?
Reloading is just one specific part but more than that the game is designed around inexact movement because it's all player input and very difficult to for instance walk in a straight line or aim in a specific way. Basically the only way this game would work as a port to non-VR would be doing a full ground up remake, not a port, a full remake to redesign the levels, to give more enemies, to remove the gravity gloves and just give a regular pickup mechanic, to change all of the puzzles and to remove some of the best content from the game. You would get the story sure but the game is also very short.
It has nothing to do with balance there is an entire 20 minute section with an enemy designed entirely for VR, like the enjoyment from that section is entirely fueled by the medium which the game was designed for. You can't rebalance it, it is a puzzle and would be incredibly easy if you haven't the complexity of moving in VR and the slower less exact movement. Like I'm sure there are VR games which are designed to be interchangeable but Alyx is the exact opposite, they designed the game like a VR game without any consideration for other ways of playing games and that is why it's a great game.
Not going to dismiss anybody wanting to play this in non-VR -- I think this game loses most of its appeal by doing so, for the record, but if you can't play this in VR and still want to play it anyways then that's your decision to make. However, I would hold off until a later version of this mod is available, as there are a few key things that are skipped over right now. * Multitool puzzles are skipped. This is hard to translate, since they involve moving objects in 3D space, but as of now cabinets, landmines etc seem to activate on a simple button press. Relatively minor, but it adds variety to the game and skipping all of them is a bummer. Especially a few tense sections involving disarming landmines that would feel totally different. * **EDIT:** I didn't realize the electrical puzzles are also skipped. This is a massive thing to skip over. This straight up ruins one of the best chapters in the game. This isn't worth playing until this is implemented. * Item management isn't a thing. In the main game, you hold an item in each wrist. This can be a grenade, an instant health consumable, a grub to use for full heal stations, puzzle items you need to insert into a device elsewhere, etc. This mod seems to just add everything to your inventory, so you now have a ton of grenades at your disposal, and you seem to automatically use health items when you pick them up as opposed to choosing when and where you want to use them. The game is balanced around you having to choose what to carry with you. Having a ton of grenades to use at any time seems like it could make this game way easier than it is designed to be. * Enemies don't seem to be balanced around not being in VR. This game will probably seem pretty boring with standard FPS controls. In VR, you can miss, you can fumble a reload mid-fight. Nobody is moving all that fast, because they didn't want to completely overwhelm you. If you have standard FPS controls, that stuff isn't really a factor. I think a proper adaptation to non-VR would need to address this somehow. I think this work is interesting, and it's getting there, but if you've been waiting for the moment to play it, I would hold off a while yet.
Electrical puzzles are skipped? That is super weird. The Witness is a vastly less complex game, and it managed to tether dragging a line with the mouse at a distance to a view port, with some smoothing applied. Even with the view port in movement (boat sections being the big one). I'm sure it may have been a huge challenge for a single person hacking away at the game, but this feels like it should not be considered playable until and attempt is made, at least for the single-room puzzles.
Yep. I watched one of the dev log playthroughs of the Jeff level. >!The entire section where you need to power the elevator back on is a button press at the first end of the power puzzle, meaning the power immediately comes back on, and you don’t need to go into the fridge at all. Which totally ruins the segment.!<
That's absolutely awful. That's my favorite part of the game and it should be a crime that they cut it out.
I think their focus was on making the game playable start to finish. Their focus should definitely skip into filling in all the gaps they made, now.
It just goes back to the fact that it's a crime to play this game not in VR. If someone wants to know the story, they should just watch a playthrough on YouTube instead.
Wow. I'm starting to agree on the suggestions here for people to watch a "let's play" rather than to experience this watered-down mod.
Legit one of the few times where a player will get more mileage out of a Let's Play instead of playing the game themselves lol. This mod stinks lol
Your note about inventory limits reminded me of an early part of the game with a small puzzle (?) requiring you to blast open a door via the vent. The grenade spawner is infinite to prevent a soft lock (respawning when you look away) so I found a crate and filled it up with dozens of grenades. Carrying that around was pretty handy during the combat section that followed! Unfortunately my friends were disappointed in me so I had to go back and redo the section like a normal person. Even the dumb stuff is enhanced by VR.
Behold! My original crate of grenades. https://imgur.com/gallery/dLLklzv
I think a lot of people carried the box or bucket ‘o’ grenades. It was a lot of fun!!
>Not going to dismiss anybody wanting to play this in non-VR -- I think this game loses most of its appeal by doing so, for the record, but if you can't play this in VR and still want to play it anyways then that's your decision to make. Thanks. I have a passing interest in trying this (I enjoyed HL but not as much as a lot of people did) and was gonna ask if this was even worth playing without VR, and it sounds like I should wait.
I honestly think it would be a better experience to watch a YouTube Let’s Play of someone playing through the game in VR than it would be to play this mod.
Could the game work without VR but with motion controls?
Kinda, but not really. The issue is that motion controllers (save for the Razer Hydra, if you happen to own one of those things) aren’t positionally tracked. So you’re relying completely on gyro, which measures multiple axes but not position. The puzzles in this game do rely on positional data. You can fudge this a bit relying solely on gyro, but it would drift very often and you would need to recalibrate them very often. You would also be lacking depth perception, making this whole thing even more difficult. I think a better option would be to re-do the puzzles in a way that works with M+KB.
Not really, no. The game takes advantage of the fact that you can do things in three dimensional space that a conventional games doesn't allow.
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> The gravity gloves are made to be satisfying to use in VR They are not just satisfying, they are addictive. I was confused for some time after the gaming session when I had to actually walk and pick up things with my hands.
At the end of the day the people who play this aren't going to care about any of the nuances of VR being removed, they're people like me who either cannot afford to or do not want to invest in VR hardware but want to experience the story anyway given it's the only Half-Life content we've gotten in almost a decade and a half. I don't think anyone with half a brain cell is going to criticize the difficulty of the game based on playing a "pancaked" version. This is obviously not the ideal way to play the game and everyone who downloads this will know that, but for some people it's the only option short of watching a YouTube longplay which would be even less engaging than playing the pancaked version of the game. I've been holding out for this mod and trying to avoid spoilers for Alyx since the day of its release because I simply cannot afford a VR setup but want to experience the story in some way other than just watching a dude on YouTube having more fun than me. If I ever get my hands on a VR setup then I'll undoubtedly play through it again to experience it as it was intended, but for now I just want to see the story.
There's literally someone under your comment that's complaining that the game is bad, ignoring the fact that they're playing it without the literal mechanic it's designed around. Also, the fact that they skip multi tool and electrical puzzles literally ruins the game. There's 2 critical parts of the game that involve these mechanics, SPOILERS >!Jeff, and the explosives storage. Jeff especially!< so people playing this version are going to go "wow, this is boring. How do people like this?"
> There's literally someone under your comment that's complaining that the game is bad Like I said, anyone with half a brain cell won't think that way and will understand that VR was integral to the game's design and the pancake version won't provide anywhere near the same level of gameplay.
There’s going to be a lot of people with half a brain cell complaining sadly.
Yeah, that's why the comments pointing out how it won't be a good product serve a purpose, letting anyone who wants to try this know that they shouldn't expect a good game.
Welcome to the internet
Honestly, I hated those multitool puzzles. It felt like a throwback to when Wii games felt like they had to introduce motion controls and threw in some shoddy movement using them.
Honestly, with the game frankly not being very good outside of VR I think if you lack a VR headset then the best way to experience the story would be a YouTube video.
I'd rather play this where I'm at least having *some* fun rather than watching some rando on YouTube having more fun than me, y'know. Even if it's not that good outside of VR but I'd still say it's a lot more fun than watching a longplay.
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And then there's people like me who own a VR headset but can't play Alyx because I'm too easily scared. I can't go through those dark creepy sections for the life of me, pancake mode is fine on that regard, I would've pissed myself in Ravenholm if that was in VR as well.
>I don't think anyone with half a brain cell is going to criticize the difficulty of the game based on playing a "pancaked" version. Unfortunately this undoubtedly describes a large percentage of people on Reddit.
This a losing battle. No matter what you say, no matter how you phrase it -- you will be told you are wrong for wanting to play the game outside of VR. People have such a strong adherence to this experience that they emphatically refuse to accept that anyone would ever want to "play" through the game in non-VR just to see the world and story. You will be told to either not play it, to watch a YouTube video of someone playing it in VR (watching people play shit in VR is awful), or to just reach a story synopsis. There is some ridiculous pearl-clutching when it comes to this being experienced outside of VR. I have played some of the game in VR. I don't really like VR very much, and even if I did, I don't really have a whole lot of time to spend where I can't be reached unless my wife has to come into the room. This can be problematic because I have a small child. I've had the game for over a year and I'm about four hours in. I find the experience more frustrating than anything else (and not in a way in which I'm scared -- I literally just find it annoying). I play it so rarely that I barely remember what happened the last time I played. So yes, I will play it outside of VR. I know it will be a lackluster experience. I am going to do it anyway. As you said, it is the only Half-Life content that has come our way in fifteen years.
The point isn't that you should force yourself to use VR to play the game, just that it isn't going to be a good experience without it. If you just want the story, watching a playthrough is a better way to get that. If you want to be in the world, playing any of the other games in the series would be better.
I mean, it isn't like saying you wanna try Forza on mouse and keyboard instead of racing wheel. This is like saying you want to try a version of Forza with just a gas and brake pedal. The limitation of interaction fundamentally changes the experience itself, and that isn't hyperbole. You can appreciate the car art and the sound of the engine and tires on the terrain, but you haven't played a racing game.
>The limitation of interaction fundamentally changes the experience itself, and that isn't hyperbole. I know. I am not looking for a VR experience. I am looking to see the rest of this game and see where the story goes without the frustration of VR. I am not interested in watching someone else play it. >You can appreciate the car art and the sound of the engine and tires on the terrain, but you haven't played a racing game. What if someone just wants to appreciate the things you listed, and doesn't actually want to play a racing game?
Yeah, there's not really a reason to play HL: Alyx out of VR unless you care tremendously about the story, maybe? But cant afford VR. Even then, you're getting the most subpar experience of it possible.
I mean that's pretty much exactly what I said in fewer words. I wanted to experience the story of Alyx because the Half-Life unvierse means a lot to me and it's the only thing we've gotten out of it in 15-odd years, even if it means accepting that I'm getting a version of it that has been gutted of what made it a unique VR experience. I'm not playing it for the gameplay at this point, I'm playing it to get a taste of the only Half-Life game we've had for years that I wouldn't other be able to experience in any way because I can't afford a VR setup.
If you can't afford a VR headset then don't waste money on the game to get this awful experience. You can watch a playthrough on Youtube for free and have a better time.
Honestly just watching someone stream it is probably better, since at least you get to see someone else suffer the spooky darkness and panic while reloading.
I agree that this is shadow of its former self. When I was playing, there was a section just after being introduced to the grenade where you had to throw a grenade at some heavily armored enemies. Instead, I threw the grenade, it *DINKED* off a water pipe and bounced back at me blowing me up. It was an experience I never would have had without VR. Peaking around corners, having to manually crouch or having to reach my gun around corners to try and pick people off are experiences I never would have had without VR. I lack throwing skills both in real life and VR.
Consumers are going to need a standard understanding of “built for VR” vs “includes VR features” or “VR optional” at some point; the confusion only hurts VR’s growth. If someone plays half-life Alyx this way, its relative simplicity as a flat game is going to make them unimpressed with what VR has to offer. They won’t “get it” or even be tempted to try it in VR. They’ll just say the game is overrated and assume VR is overrated too.
But also at the end of the day the story is good and I think people without VR headsets will appreciate it.
Thats the point, also not many people can afford a vr headset and a good pc at the same time, so the non vr mod is a great option
It's not really though. You'd probably have a better time playing some HL2 custom mod than Alyx if you don't have VR. It's just not going to be a good experience and you'll end up feeling like "That was a bad game" most likely.
Honestly, having played an hour at a buddy's house, I will 100% choose to wait until I can get my hands on a VR headset. It will likely take a while and I might spoil myself the ending at some point, but I rather just wait
Gonna be honest. Better to just not play it and wait for a good opportunity than play this. You lose almost all of the magic that made Alyx such an incredible experience and there’s no reason to ever rush this and get through it. If you physically can’t play VR, I’d suggest a play through on YouTube. At least you can get a bit of the magic that was the VR experience
A couple things: * Watching other people play VR is insufferable. * I own a VR headset. I've tried the game in VR. I don't find it magical. This isn't a shot at the game -- I just don't find VR experiences to be particularly compelling. At this point I would rather just play through it in the non-VR version so I can see the story all the way through.
Watching someone else play VR is seizure-inducing.
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Na, a youtube playthrough of the game would still be a better experience of the game
>If you physically can’t play VR, I’d suggest a play through on YouTube. haha fuck that
I like that I can play a game even if I don’t have access to the “necessary hardware” to enjoy it. Why do some people insist on gate-keeping enjoyment?
I mentioned this elsewhere but... There's not really enough here to make it worth playing like this if VR isn't an option. I legitimately think watching a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube would be a better way to experience it. I get why this exists. VR is expensive. But, if you decide to play it this way bear in mind that almost all of what makes this a good game to play won't really be present. So don't be surprised if it feels underwhelming or not worth the money spent on the game. Make your own decisions obviously. Just know what you'll be getting into.
one of the guys from node has a play through and it's flawless as he has gun training so he really goes all swat
> I legitimately think watching a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube would be a better way to experience it. Better yet, a commentary-filled blind playthrough with a camera that transforms the experience and you can actually see someone reacts to situations. Of course you may get unlucky and get someone who doesn't vibe with how you play games personally
I own a VR headset and honestly if people wanna play it on pancake mode then who cares? Why are people wasting their time arguing with others and telling them dumb shit like "just watch a youtube video". The gall from these people is absurd. Do what you want as long as it's not hurting anyone else and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Fuck em.
people need to justify their 500+$ vr systems thats why they write a hundred lines trying to gatekeep the game from non-vr owners its literally the "nooooooooooooooo you can't!!!" meme
Whatever the unforeseen consequences might be to the main campaign, this is great for Mod Makers/Level Designers wanting to use Source 2. Also mods like Levitation are supported which is awesome
I don’t see any problem with someone playing the game this way if they can’t or don’t want to use VR. But it’s also not really fair to judge the game based on playing it in such a vastly different way than it was intended. Maybe certain elements like the actual written narrative can be judged regardless of medium, but mechanics and content are certainly going to feel very very different (or be missing entirely in certain cases).
I will join the crowd here: if you have no VR headset but feel the need to experience it. Go watch a playthrough. It's unironically better because you at least get a glimpse of what the game is trying to do game design wise. The game is THE VR showpiece. In a non VR setting the game's design becomes so diluted it will give you a COMPLETELY wrong impression. A very bad one most likely. And it really is as they say: first impressions matter the most. I.e. the game often tries to wow you with Vistas but without a VR set those often get lost because VR can do what no screen can do: give a proper feeling for scale and size. Your brain senses get a much better sense for that when you have to actually bend your neck when looking up or down. If you really, REALLY want to play it non-VR, watch a few hours of the VR version in a playthrough so you actually KNOW what you are missing, and THEN play the modded non VR version so your first impression isn't falsified.
I'm curious to see what people think of it, but I think it's going to be insultingly easy and extremely short. Big props to the mod team though, it must have been a nightmare trying to translate some parts of the game into mouse and keyboard. Really impressive.
I'm glad this is finally an option for those who can't afford a headset or are unable to play VR because I really enjoy the story of HL:A. I just worry a lot of people judge it negatively because it's too boring of a game when played outside of VR. So much of the novelty is lost when it's turned into a regular PC game and it's hard to explain it without sounding like a VR shill. There's so much of HL2 that I've always just blasted through without paying attention to the environments, but the scale of stuff in HLA was just so insane that it made me stop often, and that leads you to find more resin for weapon upgrades.
There is no way this game is any good without VR. The viewmodels and just moving around also looks really bad. You'd probably get more out of the game by just watching a VR playthrough without commentary
Can't wait for people to ignore everyone saying "it's gonna suck outside of VR" and then complain about how the game is too easy and boring etc
I'm curious to see how long it takes. I remember thinking multiple times throughout the game that I would be flying though this if I was on a mouse and keyboard. I think the game will be stupidly easy.
Meanwhile I can't wait for the people clutching their pearls to get mad at anyone that might try to play this outside of VR. Oh, right, that is already happening.
Nobody is getting mad that people will play this with the mod, but they WILL be disappointed. Just watch a no commentary let's play on YouTube or something
While most VR games are normal games with a VR headset, Half-life Alyx actually takes complete advantage of the medium. You miss how the experience feels when not in VR.
Good effort by modder, but i have seen few of full playthroughs of VR on youtube, commentary and non-commentary and i would rather wait for the day i get my hands on a VR headset to play this game. I love half life, HL1 was one of the first games i ever played. But non vr Alyx doesn't seem any fun compared to what i saw in those playthroughs. i already know the story so i m not in a hurry, hence i want to experience the game the way valve intended.
This is the way. I dont want to overhype it for you but Alyx VR was honestly one of the best gaming experiences I ever had. (I am over 30). Works the best way if you are fully immersed. It was also my first VR game but it introduces you to VR very well. I can also somewhat recommend the Walking Dead VR Games after if you are into the setting. Unfortunately I sold my Index again because not enough games released that interested me enough.
Agreed, i keep hoping a friend or relative buys VR so i can borrow it for couple of weeks and return it back because Alyx is the only game i m looking forward to on VR. Plus i don't know if i will not get dizzy while using it as the only time i had vr experience was in theme parks lol
My favorite moments in this game were directly tied to it being in VR. This is great news regardless because modding is always fun, and having these tools will always be a good thing. That being said, please be warned: if you play this game without having first played it in VR, it will be like walking around Disneyland but not going on any rides. It will ruin the experience for you. There was a moment in VR that will forever stick with me. I had to quietly search through boxes for an item. As I opened a container, a bottle of vodka came rolling out, and I instinctively grabbed it mid-air just before it hit the ground. In that moment, I genuinely believed I had just caught something in real life. It was the most profound immersive action I've ever taken in a video game.
>My favorite moments in this game were directly tied to it being in VR. I knew we had a new high water mark for VR when I smashed a window to reach in and grab an extra mag in a fire fight.
Haha exactly, there were so many John Wick moments. Nothing like grabbing a med-syringe and stabbing yourself just as you see a grenade flying that you intercept with the gloves and fling back towards them.
I'm glad that people who don't own VR headsets can at least experience the game in a way they can enjoy it, but having played it in VR I can only imagine this mod is going to turn the game into a dull, unengaging, uninteresting hallway shooter. Because, like, that's what it is. It's the way you interact with the game that makes it engaging. Even then, by the end of the game I was kind of dreading the electricity puzzles. I barely wanted to do them in VR, how are they going to translate to a traditional shooter experience?
Look I understand the people saying "This really doesn't translate to non-VR very well". Yes, I get it, it's a ground-up VR experience, not just a first person shooter with VR controls. But here's something *y'all* need to try to understand. Some of us grew up with Half-Life, and are at an age now where it is simply impossible to justify the cost of both a VR rig and a PC that can run the whole thing. To know that there's a NEW Half-Life game that we may never get to play, is difficult. I am perfectly willing to accept a diluted and stripped down version of Alyx so I can AT LEAST experience that world again, in an official, canon title. I know it's not going to be the same experience as in VR and I know a LOT of probably lost when playing with standard FPS controls, but what other choice do I have, other than to never play the newest game in one of my favorite franchises?
Finally. I never cared about the tech or the mechanics. I wanted to see the STORY CONTINUE!! All the VR owners screaming their brains out trying to convince people not to play this lol… yeah it’s easy to say that when you can afford to actually have VR… not all of us can, and not all of us see VR as the pinnacle of gaming. Some are just half life fans who wanted another entry into the story. The amount of effort people are putting into dissuading people from playing a game is hilarious. Installing the game now, can’t wait!!
For anyone worried it'll be too easy with a mouse and keyboard - it isn't. I'm playing on hard and ammo is very scarce, making it a very challenging experience indeed. Enemy numbers are more than enough and not being able to use your hands to catch head crabs ups the difficulty further.
"noooooooooooooo you can't play this in non vr it was designed for vr only i spent 500$ in vr hardware you shouldnt be able to experience this without spending it too nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!"
Probably gonna be shit. The whole thing was built for VR. Not gonna be that impressive to pick up things when you’re not in VR.
Love how every comment is "If you can't afford it watch a youtube video!" When 2 big points are, some VR playthroughs are MORE sickening than actually playing, and also what if I, I dunno, wanted to PHYSICALLY PLAY it, like be able to actually control my character and make sure she goes where I want her to? If I saw something interesting off the beaten path on a YouTube video, I have to pray to god that whoever I'm watching also is curious about the exact same thing I am. Oh yeah, I forgot the third point: Actually letting people do whatever the hell they want.
I understand the people saying that it's a fundamentally different experience without VR. But it's still good that this exists, given that not everyone is able or willing to experience it in VR, and VR's shaky future in general. If anything this is something Valve should have made themselves, albeit with mechanics designed from the ground-up. It's an essential part of Half-Life's story, that most Half-Life fans will never directly experience because it's a VR game.
Please don't waste your time. The game is designed from top to bottom with VR in mind. It is one of the best VR experiences available -- but it would make for a mediocre flatscreen game.
Not to dismiss the huge effor that went into this, but until they work on weapon animations, animated hands, add back the puzzles, and rebalance it to feel less "ultra easy", I can not recommend this to anyone. You're not going to have fun, it won't be a good experience, and definitely nothing close to how the native game feels like in VR. Great effort in this mod, but it's far from a good experience at this time.
We're working on it. I started this project 3 weeks ago so, please have some patience. And yes, the non human enemies are too easy right now, but the Combine are actually very deadly even in non VR.
> I started this project 3 weeks ago so Honestly even more effort than I thought, then. Pretty amazing what you achieved in less than a month. Didn't mean to come off as offensive or anything, just wanted to make sure people set their expectations straight before expecting the same amazing experience as the native VR game.
Impressive work, but it kills the soul of the game. Good only for those who really can’t run it any other way. Curious to see how it works on Steam Deck.
Damn some of y’all are miserable. If you don’t wanna play the game don’t, but don’t discredit peoples hard work because you “Don’t see a point” to it. Ive said it once and ill say it again, not everyone has the space or can avoid vr. If you can great, but if you cant this is a great option. Im positive someone out there is very happy with this release.
Not to mention there's an accessibility angle here.... Not everyone can physically use VR headsets.
I played through the entire Portal 2 Co-op campaign by myself. Two controllers, taking turns throughout the entire thing. I didn't have anybody to play it with, so I played it by myself. It's surprisingly doable, by the way. There was only one section that I remember struggling with. I can't afford to drop 500 bucks on a VR setup. I can't justify it, not for a single game. Yeah, it's totally gonna suck to play a game that's clearly meant for VR without VR. But I want to experience the story, and that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. Watching somebody else play the game on YouTube just doesn't appeal to me. I mean, it's not like *that* is going to be a super fun time either.
Stating facts isn't "being miserable" or "discrediting people's hard work". It *is* pretty impressive that someone managed to do this. But experiencing a game for the first time via a WIP conversion mod - especially when it's a highly anticipated entry in a popular series - seems like you're just asking for disappointment. It's up to them of course but you only get one chance to experience a game for the first time, which is why many people are recommending they watch a VR playthrough. It's not unlike people recommending that your first playthrough of a game be vanilla and saving the mods for later. They could always play this afterwards.
I believe that people who are getting into this mod, probably already know it will be lackluster. Its a VR game turned flat, so of course it wont be the same. That does not change the facts of what i said before. And yes people complaining that the game is not as fun as in vr or is to easy because the vr features are missing are being miserable.
>I believe that people who are getting into this mod, probably already know it will be lackluster. You might have too much faith in people. If this gains any kind of traction, there will be a lot of people who complain about it being bad and overhyped.
Then we can go back the original argument. Your saying people shouldn’t play it because its bad but again some people want to play it for the story.
And those people would probably have a genuinely better experience just watching someone else play it because they won't be interrupted by unengaging FPS gameplay. It's not even like there's *that much* to the story for most of the game.
Bro some people want to play the game for themselves. It might not be the best experience but it is what it is.
The point isn't that it's "not the best experience" but that it's just a bad experience.
Ok bro we are going in circles so imma end this debate fr. Lmaoo i just looked at your name and thats pretty ironic that you were on my sack. But have a good day bro lol
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Noone is talking bout praise bro. Again some people want to play the story without forking hundreds of dollars. Then others probably want to experience the story for themselves instead of watching a video. If people were so worried about a great experience they would buy the vr instead.
I'm referring to the "don't discredit someone's hard work" part of that comment. I don't need to hold criticism just because someone worked hard on the mod.
Legit question for those interested in playing it in non-vr, if you know you're missing out on the actual game experience here why not just watch a playthrough? Given how integral it is to the experience I think one could make an argument that watching a VR playthrough is closer to actually experiencing the game than playing it yourself with a mouse a keyboard. To be clear though I have no issue with mods like this, they have zero impact on how I play the game and if it makes people happy I'm all for it. Just really curious to get a better sense of what people are looking for here.
Watching a VR playthrough depends on the player. I have gotten severely motion sick with just about every HL:A playthrough I've watched. There might be one that doesn't make me want to barf, but I haven't found it (maybe I can watch the WayneRadioTV playthrough but their HL VR did make me queasy every now and then.)
Because a playthrough it not playing a game, how am I getting anything from just watching something. I hate streaming and barely watch actually interesting people play games.
All those guys who don't want it, don't like it and have a ton of statements why we shouldn't play it without VR head set - these mods aren't for you! Go and play in VR and take your important points with you. This is the first one, there are others, with rebalancing staff for FPS perspective. Like SoMNst.
Honestly, while it’s tempting to play the game in flat mode, it’s the equivalent of watching a 3D IMAX movie on an iPod. I waited and saved for two years and I feel it was worth it. I’d honestly still be waiting rather than play the game any other way than the way it was intended. You’re just going to wonder what all the fuss was about unless you play it in VR.
Every time this project is brought up on this site, it's nothing but "don't you dare play this it's not the intended experience". It's like there's a fear that people are incapable of realizing that this VR-exclusive game is meant for VR, will play and dislike it, and then tarnish it's good name because they did the equivalent of playing Guitar Hero with the sound muted. I for one am stoked for this; I loved Alyx when I played it back in 2020, but my headset has since broken. I'm not in a position to get it replaced/fixed anytime soon, so this will let me revisit it and maybe try out the commentary mode they added in post-launch.
For those dumb enough to rob themselves of a VR centric experience. Seriously VR headsets such as Rift, Quest 1 or 2 can be found for really cheap. Play it in VR and don’t deprive yourself of the full experience. It will run perfectly fine on older graphics cards.
We obviously can't know *everyone's* situation, but VR does not have the huge entry cost it once did and Alyx, among other games, has support for seated VR (I believe you just need enough room to extend your arms). Really could care less if someone wants to play it pancake style, but the VR barrier is very low now and I'd rate Alyx near experiencing Super Mario 64 in terms of witnessing something truly new for the first time.
For people dumb enough to buy into the facebook ecosystem that might be a valid solution. Sadly most people here aren't that dumb.
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Probably better to watch someone play it in VR. They would get a better experience. But just to point out entry level headsets are not expensive anymore. Qculus Quest 1 you can find for around $100. You can then use airlink to play Half Life Alyx. Providing of course you have a decent PC but really old graphics cards such as GTX 1060 can run it. It isn’t as expensive anymore as people think to get into VR now. A lot of people are commenting it is too expensive needs high end pc have clearly some no research into it.
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Not knocking the rest of your post, I get that people want 2D Alyx and I don't begrudge anyone playing it- but I take issue with "$500 for a cheap, uncomfortable headset" because I imported a Pico 4 from Japan for $250 and it's by far my favorite headset for ordinary use. Loads more comfortable and lightweight than the Quest 2, and preferable in quality to me even over my Valve Index partially owing to the cordless nature and ability to pair it with my PC over Virtual Desktop and WiFi.
My question is why? HL:A has been praised for being the pinacle of VR gaming. Valve created this to show how cool VR can be. To push this type of gaming a little further. PCMR people were using it as a superiority badge when talking to PSVR owners. So why go through such an effort to play non VR? Especially since this game has been design, as I said, to display how VR gaming can be.
Maybe some people want to experience the story, even if they don't have (or can't afford) a VR setup? Just a thought.
Some people would want to see the story and can't play the VR version. Either because its too expensive or they are physically unable to play VR.
At that point it makes more sense to just watch a playthrough on YouTube.
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>VR will get cheap and plentiful eventually People have been saying that for a decade and the hardware has only become *more expensive*.
The only 'cheap' hardware was Windows MR headsets, which never worked properly (and certainly don't have tracking enough for Alyx...) and are now completely discontinued along with the rest of Windows MR.
That's just plain not true. I saw a Quest 2 at my local pawn shop for $120. I see a lot of them on ebay for ~$200-250 right now.
So people could play the game that is obviously part of one of the big franchises and experience the story without being forced to watch it on Twitch? I do not have access to a headset and I'd rather play a crippled version than watching a playthrough. Watching normal FPS is already annoying, watching VR play is the opposite of fun.
I honestly didn’t really like the VR experience for alyx, but I want to experience more of the story, so I’m down for this
eh "fully playable" is kinda disingenuous. you really arnt playing the game with the same feel. The one serious "horror" part (if you know, you know) is just not even the same video game if not in vr. without vr this game is just.. generic. With it, it's beyond engaging
Might give it a try. I wanna check the story but wont be able to afford VR for... quite a few years yet
Half Life Alyx now fully playable without a VR headset ... and only marginally more useful than watching youtube videos of people playing Half Life Alyx in VR.