Once the player has made their way through the first few sections they will be met with an introduction to new weapon types, and more diversity in the items to scavenge. While it has FPS elements, they seem to take a secondary priority. The pacing set within Half-Life: Alyx seems to be one that would be suited to almost any playstyle with the exception of those who may go into this looking for a fast-paced first-person shooter. Slowly, it seems to turn a simple A to B objective into something much more expansive. The story has followed the classic Half-Life delivery: it gives you a simple task and then pulls the rug from under you. It is a noticeable and welcome difference from the previous lead in the series, Gordon Freeman. It seems to drag you in with the enjoyable dialogue between the lead protagonist Alyx and the support character Russell. It holds itself well with the early aspects of the story. Though if you want to experience the game as holistically as it could be I would recommend you play through the previous Half-Life 2 title and its subsequent episodic instalments. The story is expectant that you have prior knowledge of what you are looking at, but the gameplay experience is still welcoming to those newly acquainted with gaming or virtual reality. The game does not hold your hand while introducing you to certain aspects of the world or plot. Thus far into the story has revealed that the Half-Life: Alyx’s storyline is as it sounds - a Half-Life storyline.
It is also refreshing to see the linear progression and open environments that the Half-Life series has become well known for is kept within Half-Life: Alyx, and works synergistically with the increased interaction to lead to an enjoyable immersive story experience. It seems the environmental and level design on its own is enough to guide the player forward through each well-crafted encounter, and encourages player exploration throughout the environment. From a bottle fizzing from being shaken to the ability to turn off a useless environmental entity like a TV, Valve truly has given players a level of immersion never before provided. If you choose at this point to explore your surroundings, and truly push the level design to its limits - like I did, rather than playing the actual game - you would be met with a surprise in the scale of detail put into each aspect of the level. It is from that point on that the game seems to truly begin for the player.
It’s a jarring and welcome surprise - one that brings you out of the daze that the opening environment may have put you into. The sights of the alien-occupied metropolis are eventually broken by a towering fifteen-metre-long Strider leg, smashing down directly in front of you. It seems Valve has successfully captured the environmental storytelling of its previous Half-Life titles, returning to the classic decaying Eastern European metropolis littered with brutalist Alien infrastructure - that many other avid gamers may find familiar. The game follows Valve’s traditional theatrical openings, with an astonishing view of City 17 - from the eyes of the game’s newly introduced lead protagonist Alyx Vance.
Ten Minutes Inīeing Valve’s first official foray back into the Half-Life franchise since 2007, it handles itself well compared to its predecessors. We can view it as the culmination of Valve’s virtual reality research and development being poured into one title - showing many that Valve could still have the same passion it once did with game development. Half-Life: Alyx may not have been the ever-desired Half-Life 3, but it certainly finds itself as a welcome addition to the Half-Life series.