I played the final three hours of Half-Life: Alyx in a single session. Before Alyx, I never used VR for more than 30 minutes at a time. I don’t get motion sick but I do get generally tired of VR. Tired of wearing a headset, tired of having to stand and stoop and awkwardly reach around. But I didn’t even think of taking a break during the final chapters of Half-Life: Alyx. I was completely enthralled and unwilling to stop playing.
When I played through the ending (no spoilers here, but trust me, you’ll want to keep your VR headset on through the credits), I reloaded my last autosave and played through the ending a second time. And then I went back to the beginning of the game and started playing again. I didn’t have much doubt Half-Life: Alyx would be a great VR experience – Valve makes its own VR headset and software, after all. But I was sceptical it could also be a great, proper Half-Life game, and I was thrilled to discover it really is.
While it’s sandwiched between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 the repercussions of its story extend well into whatever future there is for the Half-Life series, and its technical accomplishments will leave most other developers, once again, struggling to keep up.
ON A RAIL
Denne historien er fra May 2020-utgaven av PC Gamer.
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Denne historien er fra May 2020-utgaven av PC Gamer.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
A New Dawn - The rise, fall and rise again of PC Gaming in Japan
The so-called 'Paso Kon' market (ie katakana's transliteration of 'Pasonaru Computa') in Japan was originally spearheaded in the 1980s by NEC's PC-8800 and, later, its PC-9800.
MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE
Enter the multiverse of modness.
SLIDES RULE
Redeeming a hated puzzle mechanic with SLIDER
GODS AND MONSTERS
AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: RETOLD modernises a classic RTS with care
PHANTOM BLADE ZERO
Less Sekiro, more Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
STARR-MAKING ROLE
Final Fantasy XVI's BEN STARR talks becoming a meme and dating summons
THIEF GOLD
Learning to forgive myself for knocking out every single guard.
HANDHELD GAMING PCs
In lieu of more powerful processors, handhelds are getting weirder
FAR FAR AWAY
STAR WARS OUTLAWS succeeds at the little things, but not much else shines
FINDING IMMORTALITY
Twenty-five years on, PLANESCAPE: TORMENT is still one of the most talked-about RPGs of all time. This is the story of how it was created as a ‘stay-busy’ project by a small team at Black Isle Studios
