Half-Life: Alyx

[lokiss]

The immersion overload kicks in when you first drop in to an underground section, you feel the creeps. Same thing with saints and sinners, it turns classy when your in a dark house and your wandering around by flash light.

Euro Truck as Rav points out is where it's at if you've ever driven a car. You go through the exact same motions when navigating the roads and traffic so naturally that you need to remind yourself your in a game.

The most immersive for me is Subnautica. You can call out many things in the game as being immersive, but when your in the big sub trawling the depths at the helm, you are literally holding your breath trying to be silent.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

The immersion overload kicks in when you first drop in to an underground section, you feel the creeps. Same thing with saints and sinners, it turns classy when your in a dark house and your wandering around by flash light.

I find the dark flashlight areas very immersive too - I wonder if the fact the field of view is now limited more by your flashlight than your HMD helps somewhat

 

[Ravenger]

I find the dark flashlight areas very immersive too - I wonder if the fact the field of view is now limited more by your flashlight than your HMD helps somewhat

I think it's because your torch is on one hand and your gun in the other. You can point your torch in a completely different direction from your gun, unlike 'pancake' games where the torch and gun aiming are linked.

Doom 'Fully possessed' VR has the same mechanic, and the act of separating your torch and gun makes it more immersive by far.

 

[David_VI]

My 4690k did struggle, even on lowest I'd not keep 90fps and even 45 fps had weird stuff going on.

Now on Ryzen 3700x and it's night and day!
I can run on highest settings with most just shy of ultra and it sticks to 90fps, rarely ever dropping.
Was surprised how cpu hungry it is and how my 1070gtx manages!

Worth it

But my god I'm a wuss... I take this game soooo slowly, peek around corners and try to make every shot count. Plenty of times I've panicked and ran away haha

Usually games like this I'd just quit (i hated Ravenholm in hl2!) but I love the atmosphere and world so much so somehow I'm sticking through it.

 

[ci_newman]

My 4690k did struggle, even on lowest I'd not keep 90fps and even 45 fps had weird stuff going on.

Now on Ryzen 3700x and it's night and day!
I can run on highest settings with most just shy of ultra and it sticks to 90fps, rarely ever dropping.
Was surprised how cpu hungry it is and how my 1070gtx manages!

Worth it

But my god I'm a wuss... I take this game soooo slowly, peek around corners and try to make every shot count. Plenty of times I've panicked and ran away haha

Usually games like this I'd just quit (i hated Ravenholm in hl2!) but I love the atmosphere and world so much so somehow I'm sticking through it.

Jeff sorts the men from the boys

 

[David_VI]

Jeff sorts the men from the boys

I keep seeing Jeff mentioned, no idea what it is but from comments I'm dreading seeing that chapter pop up.

Spoiler

I struggled at the part where you have chain link fences with one eay in and out but two routes around the side. Tiny area but headcrabs and zombies in a small space made me run back into a corner and pause it for a few seconds

The picking up of the torch was an area that had more dread than actual fear as you knew something was going to happen but thankfully the reveal of the poison headcrabs wasn't too bad with their fear of the torch light.

I quite liked the part with the barnacles and explosives everywhere. I think realising there can't be many enemies as they may throw the explosives did help.
Only two zombies in there and one is well lit at the end so not too bad.
I'm now at the grenade part with the catwalks

 

[2004typer]

Just started using virtual desktop to play this - had used link up to now.

It runs perfectly - great being wire free.

Spoiler

Just got past the part near the end of the Northern Star with the two lightning dogs - took a couple of goes to get past - key is to keep moving and be ready with the combine rifle as soon as the dog exits a zombie!

 

[melmac]

Just finished this today. The ending was special.

Valve done good!! Possible Game of the year?

 

[DrCrabHands]

Game of the decade for me!

I binged it last night from chapter 6. I couldn't stop playing and just finished it out. Awesome ending. Game just blew me away.

Possibly the best gaming experience I've ever had.

 

[bazzabear]

Will you lot stop it! I'm trying to wait for it to be discounted.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Will you lot stop it! I'm trying to wait for it to be discounted.

Worth the asking price and more, incredible experience which really brings the HL universe to life, they broke the mold...again.

 

[MadMossy]

Will you lot stop it! I'm trying to wait for it to be discounted.

Do it, do it now...... (said in the voice of arny)

 

[bazzabear]

Cheerts. Helping.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Just finished it too, that last chapter was intense!

The bit after the credits has me salivating for more... I wonder if there will be DLC or whether we have to wait for them to make a whole new game.

Fantastic game overall. Took me bang on 12 hours of gameplay, and I loved it all (except some Jeff, **** jeff lol)... atmosphere was great, story was good, gameplay was fun and the puzzles were easy enough not to get stuck but once or twice did leave me scratching my head for a bit. The interactive "hacking" type locks were awesome and really well done for VR. I would have liked some more open ended puzzles where you could boneworks style choose your own path rather than having to do things a particular way - give me a physics playpen and several ways of solving a particular problem and I'd have been even more impressed.

It could have been improved further by giving more hardcore friendly movement options for those that want it like sprint and jump. Despite playing through with free locomotion I ended up using the jump teleport a few times where I would have liked to just be able to sprint.... the AI is also a bit derpy and just look at grenades for example rather than running away or trying to throw them back. I reeeeeeeally would have liked some form of physics based melee (even if it did nothing other than stagger the bigger enemies when you smacked them with a crate or something) - I really wanted to be able to whack the flying robot things out of the air with an object or smoosh a headcrab with a crowbar.

Those little complaints didn't take away from what was by far and away my best VR experience to date though. Awesome Job valve, I look forward to coming back an replaying and a next gen headset to take in all the details I might have missed playing on quest.

 

[David_VI]

I got through the chapter I was dreading because of the comments in this thread and elsewhere. I didn't know what to expect as I haven't looked up footage or details just knew the chapter name.

At one point I just sat down on the floor in defeat... Realising I have to get through this.
Such a wuss but it actually wasn't too bad in general!
Amazing though.

It's given me confidence going forward.

I deliberate so much over weapon upgrades. I avoided the reflex sight on the pistol and only have burst and extended mag. I really like using the iron sights.

Keep wanting to upgrade the shotgun but I never seem to have much ammo for it so doesn't feel worth it

 

[Zeeflyboy]

I deliberate so much over weapon upgrades. I avoided the reflex sight on the pistol and only have burst and extended mag. I really like using the iron sights.

Keep wanting to upgrade the shotgun but I never seem to have much ammo for it so doesn't feel worth it

Maybe it's different on the index, but on quest I found the reflex sight fairly worthless and actually wish I could have gone back to iron sights... lasers on the other hand, those are almost like a cheat mode. A laser for each weapon was one of the first upgrades I did.

I don't know if it's true, but I saw it suggested that the ammo drops are somewhat dynamic and respond to what weapons you are using - I started using the shotgun more and never really ran out apart from during particularly intense sections... The grenade launcher is a very useful upgrade too. Personally I'd go for lasers first, extended mag on the pistol, grenade launcher on the shotgun and then autoloader. I wouldn't bother at all with reflex sights when I play through next time.

Remember to look everywhere for ammo and resin, they are in some sneaky places!

​

 

[Zairs]

Just got passed Jeff, that is an intense level, I'm not one for scary games but that was amazing although well out of my comfort zone

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Playing this for the first time today has changed gaming for me. Forever.

 

[NeilFaz]

Seriously enjoying this. Been playing it more than FF7. Keep wanting to carry on with it as soon as I put it down, but dont wanna burn through it all.

 

[David_VI]

Maybe it's different on the index, but on quest I found the reflex sight fairly worthless and actually wish I could have gone back to iron sights... lasers on the other hand, those are almost like a cheat mode. A laser for each weapon was one of the first upgrades I did.

I don't know if it's true, but I saw it suggested that the ammo drops are somewhat dynamic and respond to what weapons you are using - I started using the shotgun more and never really ran out apart from during particularly intense sections... The grenade launcher is a very useful upgrade too. Personally I'd go for lasers first, extended mag on the pistol, grenade launcher on the shotgun and then autoloader. I wouldn't bother at all with reflex sights when I play through next time.

Remember to look everywhere for ammo and resin, they are in some sneaky places!

​

Stupidly I got the Reflex Sight on the combine weapon. Even when i knew I hated it on the pistol... To be fair it did help with that weapon but isn't really needed when you get the laser.

I got the grenade launcher on the shotgun and use it more often than the primary fire. I did read somewhere the ammo you find is dynamic so I'll try using it more.

Last night I finished Northern Star, went through Jeff and just finished captivity (?).
I looked at the time at one point and thought I should stop but it wasn't till two hours later I jumped out.
It was always, "Ok when I get to a small room that's good for saving and resuming from" but I'd end up exploring and next thing you know I'm doing the puzzle and getting to the next part.

It's amazing how satisfying the most simple things are. Like the double press to switch between burst and normal fire on the pistol.
It's just a button but it feels great ha