Half-Life: Alyx - The Digital Foundry Tech Review - A Game-Changer for VR?
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- čas přidán 25. 03. 2020
- The review you've been waiting for. Armed with his Oculus Rift S, John Linneman takes on Half-Life: Alyx - a hugely important game for virtual reality... and a simply brilliant Half-Life game in its own right. Check out what makes this game so special right here.
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Well, I'm 32 years now. I've been playing video games since I was 5. There are many "magic moments" in videogames, which I fondly remember. Even though I'm in VR for several years now, I think the HL Alyx opening scene will be the biggest magic moment for a very long time. I've never been so overwhelmed by a videogame before. I just stood and stared for a very long time, just couldn't believe my eyes.
Same dude, finished it yesterday and I felt like I was back in 2007 when I played through EP2, gaming moment of the decade for me right here.
Nice i would love to try it with a Good vr set.
Really? While I agree that Alyx is a fantastic game and one of the best video games ever created - there are many other AAA Vr games that are very similar in quality (maybe not as good but close enough).
Games like:
- resident evil 7
- Asgard’s wrath
- astro bot rescue mission
- blood and truth
- lone echo
@@coolertuep you are shitting me right?
But my biggest moment was Mario 64!!!
I like the fact that Valve announced Alyx last year and delivered it with no delays at all. It's uncommon these days.
It's because they went valvetime on the game before they released the trailer.
Especially with the epidemic going on
it was delayed like 10+ years
@@generalfeeessh7764 Then that's not a delay silly.
Bossix84 They announced the game when it was finished and within 1 year of polish. They simply left themselves another 1 year of polish. They have no deadlines for development, given how much money they rack up.
I've put in about 11 hours so far and it's unlike anything else I've experienced. It has literally felt like I've been in a sci-fi movie.
Jealous 😪
With more games like this, we'll become these ungodly soldiers, dodging bullets, using cover and being masters at hand to hand combat.
You must not have played Lone Echo.
@@carlhogan8933 I dont know why Lone Echo is slept on so much! Such an amazing immersive experience. I think its multiplayer got more widespread attention and overshadowed the campaign. :/
@Darrow Au Andromedus Deep bro. Deep.
“when you look into the eyes of these characters it really makes you feel like spiderman”
It really makes you *FEEL* like Batman
Old references like always
@@platinum2905 old but good. Still make me laugh
@@RJSOW eerly like batman
DF: "I can't wait to see what else the community can come up with."
Community: *draws dick picks all over the glass*
Dickbutt for life
That's the first thing I did HAHAHAHA!!!
I have 0 doubt in my mind they knew that would be the case
"picks"
There's two things to immediately take away from Half-Life: Alyx: 1. Mods are going to be insanely fun with Valve releases the creation tools. The SteamWorkshop is going to have tons of traffic. and 2. It's probably going to take Valve a very long time to release new games with this amount of attention-to-detail. They'll most likely reuse assets, but I'm assuming it might take them a bit longer to really wow us next time.
A bit longer!? If that's the case, I guess it's good I'm in my 30's...might be able to eek out one more game before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
To be fair, it took Valve 4 years to make Half-Life: Alyx. That's a REALLY good turnaround for a proper AAA game, which is usually 5-6 years.
@@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire Yes and they were not only making this game but also learning along the way. So every next HL will be easier to make. My guess, HL2 is next VR release from Valve.
FUTURE10S They also made Artifact and Dota Underorlds in this period of time. Also support Dota 2 and CSGO and Steam. Also developed Index and help with Vive.
They specifically said future HL games won't take 13 years to make anymore.
Hey DF - you guys notice that the "Spectator" footage doesn't match with the actual VR footage? I'm looking over my recordings currently and I swear the game looked way better inside the headset itself, not just in terms of the resolution - but lighting, ambient occlusion, etc.
I think the spectator mode is rendered in 1080p at default anyway.
And some systems have a huge performance drop when recording VR, so they may have dialed back the settings somewhat aggressively to get smooth footage.
Also the "parallax effect" of seeing things in VR may greatly enhance the realism of everything
The animations in this game are on another level. Just look at the depth of animations for something as small as a headcrab.
I want to see Alyx's hands when Richard plays the game. They'll become weapons of mass destruction.
He'll slay them soldiers with those deadly movements.
Welease wichard....
i know there's less physics interaction in Alyx than in Boneworks, but man my arm got trapped everytime somewhere in Bonworks, on walls, boxes items everything, and it is really annoying while in reallife there is nothing your hand should be right in front of you but in the Game there stuck under a crate or near your body. and it was taking me out of immersion.
In alyx there is less of that problm and thus more fun less frustrating
In Boneworks, I just wanted my darn physically simulated body to get out the way.
boneworks did not have the budget behind hl alyx, with more money and time they could have develop a smoother player physic model, half-life alyx played safe, maybe too safe, no jumping, sometimes forced to teleport, no IK between hand and body, you can put your arm through an object and fire while cover in an impossible way, sometimes the hand stuck to some object far from the player arm lenght, and the worst of all no meele weapon, physicality was an after thought on hl alyx, but it was the core of boneworks
It's not only immersion breaking, it really causes discomfort (for me at least) as well. I could be in HL:Alyx 24/7, it just feels *right*. There's a reason why Boneworks recommends playing seated... :S
I think Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners finds a really nice middle ground between the two games, in simulating just your arms.
@@Foxtrop13 Boneworks is an unreliable dizzying jank-fest. Any amateur devs could make a game like Boneworks, but most devs try to have a functional game as their end result. Sure HL:A should let you push or pistol whip an enemy, absolutely. (you can still grab and hit headcrabs jumping at you, with objects or your hands) But one is full game made by real seasoned master developers, and the other is a short overglorified tech demo, and it shows. If they cut a couple of things for polish and function, it was probably the right call. And not hitting or pushing an enemy bothered me all of 2 seconds through my entire playthrough. The most I ever did it with Boneworks was on the same enemies, headcrabs.
They should put that on the store page: 'Boneworks: it's fiddly, but it does work!'
@Alonso Reyes for sure.
Quirky, but wow, lots of freedom to explore and many more rewards for exploring and finding stuff in Boneworks. I'm disappointed in some of the aspects of Alyx that don't borrow more of what Boneworks does get right, but I'm loving HL:Alyx nonetheless. 2 of my favorite games covered so well in this review. DFoundry is great!
I'm watching this just going: Trespasser was made for VR. Just, 22 years too soon.
Gets to 20:00 and remembers why it's important to comment AFTER watching the full video
@@ChrisGower If Trespasser had been successful, we wouldn't have the XBox.
I want a trespasser vr remake now
@@RyanGatts Just make a new Jurassic Park VR game in the same style.
I remember gifting this game to my uncle a long long time ago
I was able to remove headcrabs with my hands in Alyx...
Yeah that totally works. Although I too was ever so slightly disappointed by not being able to throw stuff at enemies and have much of an impact.
me too i wonder if maybe it was an early glitch
You need the Index for "tight grip"
@@Enlightentite huh? Played the game on an Oculus Rift.
Being a Half Life fan since I was about 8 years old (I'm 26 now), playing Half Life Alyx made me very emotional. It's a fantastic game that immerses you in the world like no other game has before it. The end of the game had my mouth open the entire time, and hearing Gman walk around me with the 3d audio gave me chills. Now I just want the new source 2 tools so I can make my own campaign!
Edit: I fully agree with your comparison of Boneworks. Boneworks is indeed more ambitious when it comes to physics, especially when it comes to gameplay. I think Half Life Alyx is a much better game overall but Boneworks did push VR forward in it's own way.
I think‘s ’because the storytelling more important than gameplay for Half-Life:Alyx.Valve's Development awlays storytelling first.
Agree with you re alyx, best hl game fo rme clean. Endign made me very emotional. Boneworks was trash though, as a game, and full on physics, with arms and a body that does not represent you or your movements makes for an extremely horrible experience. I refunded it, bought an index for it, was highly dissapointed. Then came Alyx, and now I am happier than ever with the purchase.
Herbert:now i want more
Boneworks approach is far more lazy. Relying on physics isn't clever and it makes puzzles much easier. That games shit in comparison
This is the first review of this game I've seen that actually gets across why this needed to be a VR game. IGN, Angry Joe, etc all fail at being able to explain this but DIgital FOundary got it exactly right. I'm also going to check out Bonewroks. I had never heard of it.
Shadowskill11 angry joe fails at everything
People who say the game must be "modded out of VR" are completely missing the entire point of the game
yep, it looks like a trash game without the vr stuff in it.
@@GraveUypo it isnt a trash game at all even if it wasnt vr, but its clearly the best experience.
it wouldnt even be playable outside of vr. There's a few gameplay elemenst that are essential to story and gameplay that would not work at all outside of vr.
i would totally buy it, if its not VR
and i would like a half life3 that is not VR
It already is, I read that there is a debug/development version available.
I never played the Half Life games so I am doing it now before getting to Alyx. Just finished Black Mesa last night it was great. On to HL2.
Fantastic games!
Did you like the xen chapter?
HL2 is the real cult masterpiece, you are in for a ride if it's your first time.
Definetely try Half-life Opposing Force! It's also brilliant. Blue Shift and Decay... Eh-meh. Up to you.
@@TheOGjarilo Half Life 2 is inferior to the original in every way. The fandom of the game is a "cult", sure, in all the negative sense of the word.
i hate watching other people play this game because it makes me realize how much resin i missed 😢
Masterpiece, nice touch using Boneworks OST for the background. The track What I am from Bonetones is amazing.
Yes, this is a groundbreaking VR Game. It has things in it that no other VR Game has. Graphics are ground breaking. Must have for any VR Owner.
What things does it have that no other VR game has? All I see is the exact same gimmicks as the launch titles remixed again. Reminded me of a polished version of H3 with a story added.
Shit, you can't even drop your weapon and that has been in games since VR launched.
@@smokecrackhailsatan It's not additional systems that make Alyx unique, it's the depth of the interactivity and the sheer attention to detail and polish necessitated by a AAA release that makes it a watershed moment in vr gaming.
@@smokecrackhailsatan Bringing the gimmicks together under a great story, good gameplay, incredible graphics and performance, in a vr enviroment.
@@smokecrackhailsatan you can grab every thing in this game. But its not just that, it the way its done. Very realistic. For example the way you reload your weapon. Or the grabbing a magazine and putting it in your back pack(really making the motion and movement as if youreally have on a back pack). I saw somebody grab a random helmet, and place it on their head. You have never seen stuff like that in a VR. Maybe you need to watch some gameplay, then you'll understand.
It's not the graphics that make Alyx what it is, it's the attention to detail in mechanics and gameplay. Graphics are nice but it's not what makes this groundbreaking, not even close.
That's very shallow to think. Makes me thing you might not play that many games or understand why some games are what they are.
It looks so incredibly good in vr. And without Ray tracing. There is a fully dynamic lighting when You shoot a gun even
To be fair this was achieved with the tireless work of many artists. They def threw money at this game to get each and every light as ridiculously polished as it is.
It's Source's strength, prerendered radiosity and indirect lighting.
Yep.
Source 2 supports fully baked in RTGI.
It's a weird comparison, but yeah? Most ray-tracing looks can be replicated with countless hours of handcrafted work. The main draw of it is that ray-tracing is almost like "automated lighting". That doesn't mean things without ray-tracing will look like crap. I mean, look an Uncharted 4 for instance.
The confusing thing for many I guess would be how it's marketed (RTX On promotions, for example). It's hard to promote "Hey! We have a new rendering system that helps cut the labor of devs!" so there has to be a "Look how better your games can look!", despite the fact that they technically _can_, just with a whole lot more work.
@@Rocksteady72a Yeah that's a good point but since video games are an artistic medium, perhaps countless hours of handcrafted work will look better aesthetically compared to a ray-traced game which as you said is like automated lighting. From my understanding, Ray-tracing is about accurately simulating physics of light but in video games art style usually trumps realism.
16:54 False. I pulled off headcrabs numerous times during my playthrough.
I don't see them going back to non-VR for Half Life 3.
Well after this I bet Half Life 3 will only come out when we can actually be plugged in to the Matrix.
@@DeanCalaway don't worry, Gabe already said they are doing good progress on that in the IGN interview
And if they make hl3 in vr they will have to make melee a thing!
Gaben was literally talking about brain interfacing in his last interviews
I suppose the next HL will come out on the Valve Matrix or something
There is no good reason not to go VR. It would defeat the point Valve was trying to make releasing Alyx in the first place.
I do agree about HLA's lack of melee mechanics. With Boneworks, every item can be turned into a melee weapon and hitboxes on enemies are comprehensive. HLA is missing that aspect of gameplay that is sorely missing from an otherwise great game. Another aspect is being unable to climb anything outside of ladders in HLA whereas Boneworks allow it and is a big part of the gameplay.
I think the lack of melee is a balance decision. It's to force tense reloads in a pinch
I think the reason for that (plus full body physics) is performance. Boneworks can slow down even on powerful rigs.
Agreed. Great game though!
Boneworks lets you climb on everything to the point you can actually physically climb out of the main menu. It's pretty amazing.
That will be the next step for HL3 - implementing and polishing it so it works just as well as everything else.
I'm really sad for people who can't stomach VR. It sucks to have to miss out on this new medium
One game not to try, Distance VR. I have an iron guy but that game was painful after only like 10 minutes.
@@Skylancer727 That game is riveting, to say the least. But I got used to it, especially after getting rid of the dreadful "eagle eye" thing that blackens your vision when you try to turn. I actually really like it. It really gives you that zero gravity feeling! Like you and your chair are floating through space! If only you weren't getting murdered every second for not pushing the shield button on time.
They have so many game play options to help those people out
feel sorry for the people who cant afford it too lol
@@assvibes3866 It's about $200. YOu likely can't afford a game console or a gaming computer either if thats too much.
Oh my god, the health stations were turned into some sort of bizarre slug french press
I love it
Poor slugs
It always made me a little sad
The times when Gordon Freeman was popping those slugs like they were chicken nuggets in EP2 now seem so _very_ much more disgusting than before.
After the war is over and the combine vanish, slug french press will be the preferred method for an early start at work around City 17. But the tourists will flock to try the divisive crab stew, of course. It's a "you either love it or hate it" type of meal, with all that gamey flavour.
Alot of this artstyle makes me want a VR Dishonored
Yes! Some similar vibes, which I really like.
HL2 City 17 and Dishonored art director is Viktor Antonov.
And Metro
Deus Ex better
Ooooh the abilities would work easily. Blink is just a teleport
Boneworks "amazing physics" give me super motionsickes thanks to the fact they thought it was a good idea to have a ragdoll on your character as well..
I don't get motion sick in Boneworks, but I get sick of my character getting in the way when I want to jump or climb over things.
@@CaveyMoth That too, super annoying.
Boneworks also is very Bad optimized.
Im on a i7 and und 2070 and the Tower Level ran like 20 fps WTF
@@coolertuep Same here, 3700x and 2070 Super yet the game ran like shit
@@coolertuep That level is a CPU killer, Boneworks AI needs to be more efficient.
John, thank you so much for using Bonetones as the background music for this video.
Kind of off topic, but after seeing what can be done in VR with Half Life, I would LOVE a Dishonored game in VR...and an official VR port of Alien: Isolation
We need alien isolation and metro exodus in vr. And mirrors edge
@@HugoStiglitz88
Mirrors Edge in VR would likely require a barf bag built onto the headset.
@@Xiox321 instant motion sickness.
Imagine having DOOM ETERNAL in VR. hahaha
You can play a lot of regular games in VR. Just Google "alien isolation VR" and you should be able to find a tutorial on how to make it work.
This is the best looking game I've ever played, but it has to be experienced in the headset to understand
agreed and I cant believe how blown away I was seeing the city for the first time. Like, Ive been gaming for a while, and got VR since dk2 days (hobby dev here) but this is the first game to make me go WHOA this is BETTER than most graphics even on 2d!
how is the sense of scale compared to just staring at a tv screen?
@@toxicrhythmz3718 Theres actual scale and depth to objects because it generates a stereoscopic image. It's amazing.
@@toxicrhythmz3718 It's hard to convey the sense of scale and depth that you just don't get with Flatscreen games, the best way i can describe it is this: Take an object, say- a beach ball. Now, imagine that with the flick of the wrist, you can make it the size of a golf ball, with another, the size of a car, or the size of a house, or even the size of the empire state building. yeah? now try as hard as you can to "physically" imagine that. Put that resizable beachball next to your computer, your TV, your couch, and compare the sizes as it goes from size X to size Y. go outside (if you can) and place that beach ball next to your house, now make that beachball the size of a giant skyscraper. its that feeling of "holy shit, thats fuckin' big" when looking at large objects that just isn't present in flatscreen games.
Either way, i still think i haven't done it justice. if you get the chance, you need to try it, it's totally crazy just how VR alone can generate such a feeling.
It's so incredibly good looking. I keep pausing and looking around, leaning close to objects. I'm playing really slowly because of that, and I don't mind. I also like how cluttered and dense the environments are. Makes it more believable and makes it more fun to scavenge for ammo and resin.
The way VR changes how we play games is phenomenal it changes everything we become the part of that universe it is really awesome if you haven't tried it you should...
VR is future
@@maikepax9360 its ok bub, you will be able to afford it one day...
@@maikepax9360 You mean completely unrelated things? Good comparisions.
Kinect was shit from the start
FINALLY! I've been waiting for this video. Finally some VR content from DF :-)
Chris yeah they last one they did was wipeout I guess
Would have loved a comparison between god of war and Asgard’s wrath on a technical level.
VR is a completely different experience. You have to try it yourself to understand it. just amazing
i tried PSVR its amazing but its not really make me wannt buy much games from it.. until beatsaber with mod making me crazy about PCVR.. and then this...
glad i bought rift s
it's soooo good.
completly agree! VR is the future of gaming
Totally agree. I started with a PSVR then moved on to a Rift CV1 (which I replaced with a Rift S as I can't afford an Index), and VR has been an incredible game changer for me in the way I play Video Games . Actually being "inside" the game world rather than just playing it on a "flat screen" is utterly mind blowing. Even though I've played and finished my classic favorites like "Skyrim" and "Borderlands 2" on my older PC and consoles, replaying them in VR is an awesome experience. And recent top quality VR games like Asgard's Wrath, Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Boneworks and now Half-Life Alyx really show what an incredible and totally "immersive" VR gaming experience can be like.
It really is something else, and a very nice option to have! People that hate on it clearly just have'nt tried it / can't afford it.. Everyone I know that's actually tried it loved it, or at least thought it was neat..
THough, it CAN lead to some VR sickness in some people. But that very fact shows how powerful VR is, actually fools the brain into feeling motion that is not there.
It’s like that feeling I got when I first put on a headset and played Robo Recall except for on a whole new level. When games are done right like this in VR it’s a mind blowing experience and everything just feels so natural.
I love how the thumbnail answers the title by changing the punctuation
I love how each Half life game, it's a game changer for the industry.
Half life 1: *FPS game with amazing story telling for the time*
Half life 2: *revolutionary physics and interaction system*
Alyx: *amazing use of VR with great controller integration*
That's why Half life 3 is taking long. Valve just hasn't found that "wow" factor or revolutionary feature, to justify the making of Half life 3.
Half Life 4 will be an holographic gaming experience
@@JeanLucasBaum No it will use a brain-computer interface and deliver the experience directly into your brain.
Maybe in half life 3 u can bite your opponents ears like Tyson or something lol
romaliop Releasing in 2048
Good video. But I am really waiting for tech review ))) I remember you talked about volumetric lighting, motion blur effects from HLA trailer and now want to see you to compare what is still there and what they changed after trailer. One interesting thing I have noticed that, in some situations hand shadows appears when you grab some objects, and some times they doesn't. Under some light type, hand shadows even appears when you don't grab anything. Another thing is, the shadows of objects disappear when you grab them but sometimes, when you grab objects even detailed shadows appear on them and casting shadows from even almost very thin lines on them. And another thing, I love how indirect shadows appear when we put our hands or objects close to walls or objects. I think this is same technique as UE4 VLM samples uses. This is baked information which we can enable per object and capsule shadows for skeletal meshes. Overall, I really loved this game and waiting for in depth analyze of this game.
16:15 This is incorrect. You can throw items like bricks and bottles at enemies and stun them.
Avery Hyena Only if you throw them though. Melee in your hands seems to only work with headcrabs.
@@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive Good job, you refuted a point I didn't make.
Actually you can pull headcrabs off your face with your hands. My first instinct was to shake them off (not a good idea). When I grabbed and pulled the headcrab off, I actually got an in-game comment from Russell. 👍
It was more a comparison with Boneworks than a tech review/breakdown? :/
i avoided all hl:a videos until i finished the game a few hours ago. got goosebumps at the game's opening and closing moments. felt so surreal to be playing a new hl again.
Yes, very good call. So baffling how many people are desparate to watch all the HL:A content possible without playing the damn game themselves. . I want to savour every last second of it, it is hands down the best gaming experience.
@@bunkaaa8726 That's because most people know that, with such a high profile series like Half-Life, they will get spoiled long before they get their hands on a headset and capable enough PC so it is better to watch than getting spoiled by randomly reading it on internet.
4:07 that mortal kombat whooopie sound you put out of the blue really sacred the shit outta me.
Watching footage of this game on a flat screen in absolutely no way does the game justice. It's really something you have to experience for yourself. And it's jawdropping. It really feels like you are playing a game from the future.
Microsoft better get the VR support ready for the Xbox Series X, otherwise the PS5 will dominate the VR space in consoles. We were waiting for a true VR game; it´s arrived!
Nintendo: *Sweating Nervously
@Zwenk Wiel Microsoft has no plans what so ever to release VR on the Series X. Around 1% of Steam gamers have a VR headset.
Plystation sold just over 100 million consoles. They also sold just over 5 million PSVR units. Which is about 5% of the player base.
I *love* VR and think it's the best way to play games by a long, long way! But clearly me (and everyone else who loves VR) are the vast minority by a long, long, long way! 5% of gamers have a VR headset (at best). That's really really low, and actually quite insignificant.
Ah yes, sony will be delivering a tethered inside out tracked headset soon. Let's hope for their sake the resolution is just higher than rift s they're basically just ripping off lol
@@SR1Records well, you could’ve made the same argument about almost ever tech at one time or another. Nintendo made that same argument with online gaming all the way back in 1997 when gamers were arguing online gaming was the next big thing. They said that when MS released Halo on Xbox. Nintendo was right - for awhile.
Everybody: I want to play Half Life Alyx.
Phil Spencer: What is VR? Nobody asks about that.
No... pretty much no one cares about this game.
@Fg 98 No one has VR. No one cares about this game.
@@fcukugimmeausername yep. Only the very few people with VR care. The problem with VR is unless you're spending a small fortune, it's kind of crappy. The high entry cost make VR very niche.
Fact is that Phil Spencer had the game and tested it before launch and was very impressed
@@fcukugimmeausername SAD MAD
No one:
Subtitle for every Alyx in every video: *Alex*
The Vive wands work very well for continuous movement, I was worried at first but my worries faded away the second it felt unobtrusive and fluid.
"The S3 simulator, it stands for Solid Snake Simulation"
"What it actually stands for is Selection for Societal Sanity."
"I had over 600
hours in VR training, should be a piece of cake"
"You enjoy all the killing, that's why"
"Raiden, I found out where the Colonel is,
...
He's inside arsenal gear
...
...
I think it means you've been talking to an AI
...
It was all an illusion, everything I've done so far?"
"It isn't about erasing content, it's about creating Context"
"What is there to believe, what am I fighting for?
That's your problem"
"Rose?"
VR Gaming.
As someone who played and was very hyped for Boneworks, I was very dissapointed in the game. This influenced my hype for VR in general and gave me the idea that VR can never feel "un-clunky". While Boneworks has more realistic and fleshed out physics that applies to every object, player included, I felt that the "realism" of the physics didn't work. People want realism, but games aren't fun with 100% realism. Games and simulators have their spaces and shouldn't be mixed. Alyx might have a bit more restrictive physics model, but it works. It's a good game, and the physics mix with the rest of the game brilliantly. Boneworks was physics and nothing else. And the physics were tiring and nauseating. Having that "wobbliness" with weight didn't work at all, and the fact that everything was physical, including your body and hands, meant that everything was just awkward, as you bring up in the video. Alyx restricts this more, but it makes it actually work within the universe and level design, with a lot more fun.
Alyx feels like a game. Boneworks is an extended tech demo. It does not have a proper story, graphics nor any levels I enjoyed. Alyx however feels like an actual video game, with great graphics, excellent gunplay, balance and level design. The story is awesome as well. This is the first VR game that I have actually enjoyed, and I've owned an Oculus Rift CV1 since 2017 and got the Rift S in 2019.
I completely agree with this. One thing I think was overlooked in this video is the narrative aspect of VR which was very well cared for in Alyx. It was the first time I shed (a few) tears inside a VR headset. You can look at spoilers for this game here on CZcams but it will definitely not be the same.
Boneworks is fun but I couldn't bring myself to finish it yet. Further levels feel like more of the same and there's barely any story. And platforming is kind of annoying, since your body and arms often get tangled in things.
At 8:47 you can also put a barrel over those two moving pegs to hold the platforms in place.
In that Boneworks platform puzzle clip, I had no idea about the crates to stop the platform movement. I just set the closest platform to be juuuuust low enough for me to reach and climb, jumped to the middle platform but by that point me being on the first platform brought it down just under the center platform and the second platform was just over. I then proceeded to run across the second platform and was able to jump-grab the stairs before dipping too low. I think it is brilliant that both are viable methods and I am curious what other things people solved in potentially unintended ways.
really looking forward to this! it's crazy through.... getting VR headache just watching the video.
21:50 ALYX cannot do that, becauss there is no real body.. just hands... it will be wierd to give a shadows to ur hands without ur body and wrist
14:17 Dat combine move though:
"Didn't expect me to be so fast in vr, ya?
10:03 John's reaction is simply priceless!
Really pleased I picked up a rift-s a few months ago, been having a blast with this awesome game, also the excellent boneworks, lone echo, Asgard’s wrath, beat saber, the walking dead. Seems like a good time to get a headset if you’ve got a fairly decent pc.
All great games!
Great choices some great vr highlights there for people saying I'm not buying a headset for just alyx they don't know what great games they missing out on
I hope you will cover more VR games. Check out Asgard's Wrath, for example.
Vive user here:
The touch disks do take a bit of getting used to, but they still work really well and I haven't had any issues with them.
Getting a 1st gen vive was a great low cost option to get am awesome vr experience for me!
18:42 You can actually cross immediately if you jump.
Seeing John rummaging through a garbage bin and inspecting every piece of trash is something I thought I’d never see in a Tech video
The most satisfying review. Enjoyed every second of it.
Loved yalls take on the swapping of the video file! :)
13:28 Oh my God, dude! You played the exact same song I did when I first came across that piano. That's funny. lol
What an amazing review, thank you so much for this, this game is a must have for any vr user, I think is not as hardcore as boneworks and TWD SS and that's not a bad think, I think it's a lot easier to let someone who does not have VR play Alyx than it is to play Boneworks, and the graphics on this game are incredible.
The graphics on half-life Alyx look so good... I’m Playing with a Ryzen 3700X - RTX 2080 and a Oculus rift s headset ....Great game
same but with an i7 + RTX 2080 + Rift S. I'm 6 hours into the game. That complete darkness tunnel had my anus puckering.
@@johnnyblue07 Same, but with 4790k and 970, it works surprisingly well and honestly, besides texture quality theres almost no difference between low and ultra.
@@nbi_ee ohh good to know i am running a ryzen 3700x and a gtx 1060 6gb
Cool graphic and vr but you got floating hand stupid
In The other game show in the video at less it got arm and leg
Alar Juhkov that’s because the game auto adjust settings if you don’t have a powerful enough pc
For those wondering, the Vive wands can be swapped out for the Index Controllers if you own an HTC Vive or Vive Pro, That’s what I did and it’s a fantastic experience very similar to the index.
something that really caught my attention was when the headcrabs jumped at you and missed they flopped around like a ragdoll
This man knows EXACTLY what the community is gonna do with those markers.
It's hard to play any other shooter in vr after playing alyx. Super polished, and super immersive. Seems to set up for an exciting half life 3.
Awesome as always. I'd be interested in DF's view on VR with the next gen of consoles on their way as well as the optimizations that will enable a next gen of VR (VRS, Eye tracking).
I like the idea of playing games in VR differently to how your meant to. I like that option, and setting up those tapes just to knock them over as a nice example of that :)
I hope Half life 3 is also in vr also, also if you want a intense vr experience, play Wipeout omega collection on psvr.
If it is in vr they will have to make melee a thing.
Also
Boneworks has a crowbar and a mele system but Half-Life Alyx doesn't?!?
What kind of world are we living in -_-
Pretty sure they said they didn't add the crowbar because they didn't want people thinking that they were playing as Freeman
@@happily7514 Close. They did try out a crowbar, but players thought they were playing as Freeman for some unholy reason. The crowbar was also hella janky, and would tend to get stuck on things alot. Eventually, they just decided to cut it, likely for the better.
Oh god looking over the balcony at city 17 really took my breath away. I stayed there for a good 20 minutes.
Came for best technical visuals explanation online...stuck around for the best in depth review online!
I like the review but the Boneworks comparison should have been a throwaway anecdote, not half of the video
agree... listening about no1cares boneworks half of the video was boring...
I just got done building a 2070 Super build just for this game
same, but it will also be quite useful for Cyberpunk 2077 later this year.
Headcrabs actually jumping on your head in VR sounds terrifying as hell.
For me drawing on the window was a water shed VR moment, it does not seem like mind in the video but it justr works exactly as you would want it to, it blew me away haha
Going to play this when it launches on PSVR 2 on PS5
TIL dreams machines are a thing
Next thing is for Valve to make a new Portal in VR... just imagine how braintwisting it could be
That would be the most nauseating thing ever. I have an iron stomach but just try Distance and see how long you last.
I can imagine the amount of vomit bags in my room.
@@Skylancer727 First i gotta try VR someday within the next 100 years lol, these mf's are so expensive
You should try out Portal Stories: VR.
@@Skylancer727 I would bet you 1000 dollars that I could handle it. I've never experienced any sort of motion sickness in any VR game ever.
Fun fact, the health/ammo/resin UI overlay on this video is only seen in spectator mode and not in the VR headset.
Man idk that. Thanks for info!
Id like to let you know that at least personally, I found the Vive wands touchpads to be fine for continuous movement, and only had no issues with the controllers in general.
Praying for a PSVR 2 port 🙏🏼
4:07 Was that the Mortal Kombat "Toastyyy" scream?!
the comparisons between games reminded me of the early days in the smartphone race, apple more optimized and confident in its workmanship, android more willing to take risks and push boundaries even if there were a few glitches here and there but both lead us to were we are today. might be the same with VR in the future.
I like that the graphics seems like a natural evolution of the Source “artstyle”.
We need this on PSVR2! 😻
The title of the video should be : Half-Life Alyx vs. Boneworks, gameplay analysis.
I own an Acer OJO 500 WMR and it works flawlessly out of the box. I did not need to do custom bindings or fiddle around with the game's controls to make it work. Valve REALLY made sure that all of the existing headsets works exactly as their intended.
2 years later I finally get to play this. It's amazing.
Finished it last night. 3700X+2080Super+2x16Gb+Valve Index.I bought HL1 in 1999 And it floored me. HL2 was just as amazing bought a few weeks after launch,having said that, Its as good as Half Life 1 and 2,imho. Incredible music,very good graphics,runs well,loved the story and voice acting. THIS is The "Killer Ap" VR needs.Absolutely worth the investment! Dying for more!!
Playing through boneworks cured my motion sickness for almost every other vr game. Just seeing the gameplay in 2d makes me feel sick.
Damn, I was also reminded of Jurassic Park: Trespasser! That game certainly tried something new, even if it didn't turn out all that well.
Now I need to find out what kinda hardware I need to play HL:Alyx...
A good review of two well made games with different approaches, which is a good sign that creators are able to come up with variety rather than churning out cookie-cutter code that depends on VR as a gimmick.
As an example: I've seen several guides to the mentioned platform puzzle in Boneworks that suggest finding some heavy objects placed either side of the ground level bars to keep the high platforms level with each other, but did noone else just slot a single trashcan over the two bars? That seemed logical and it worked, but it's also a good example of the underlying systems flexibility.
Honestly watching this makes me want to buy a VR set up.. seems like the best approach for quality VR is to scale down the game world and scale up the gameplay. Whereas traditional games seem to be doing the opposite these days with massive open worlds with either 'tried and true' or uninspiring gameplay.. Elon Musk was right, the Human to machine I/O is really the biggest bottleneck in modern computing. being confined to a keyboard/mouse or a gamepad is starting to reach it's limits.
13:18
A teacher gave math lessons on those windows.
I've considered giving my students lessons through it as well. It would work so much better than what I had planned originally! (For the record, I'm a tutor, not a teacher, but still)
Great video 👍🏻! From the 8 hours I put into HKA so far I've been having a blast. Sadly I didn't have the stomach for Bone Works but I also commend them for what they have achieved 👍🏻.
Can't wait to see the different graphics a d audio options, mine will only run low settings on my laptop.