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New Half-Life game by Valve

Started by Numbers, November 22, 2019, 12:42:47 PM

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Numbers



Ho-lee shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Granted, it's not Half-Life 3, and it's VR only, but it's still being officially developed and written by Valve, and if it washes the bitter taste of Hunt Down the Freeman out of my mouth, I'll take it.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

ThunderChild

I'm going to skip this one, since the only purpose of this 'game' is, to plug and push VR and especially Valve's VR products. Just as the purpose of Half-Life 2 to plug and push their Steam platform and this is why there has never been a Half-Life 3 or even an Episode 3 to wrap up the City17 storyline. The mission of Steam had been accomplished, the goal has been achieved: Steam as a platform was sold and then it was time for the money to be reeled in. That, and the whole micro-transaction bandwagon resulted that Valve never really needed a Half-Life title anymore, until now . . .
It seems totally incredible to me now that everyone spent that evening as though it were just like any other. From the railway station came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance ...

Numbers

Alyx is now released, and according to Wikipedia, "The game received critical acclaim and has been described as VR's first killer app. Critics praised its graphics, voice acting, writing, sense of nostalgia, and atmosphere."

It goes on to say, "The Valve Index headset, controllers, and base stations all sold out in the United States, Canada, and Europe within a week of the game's announcement, and by mid-January 2020, were sold out in all 31 regions the units were offered. According to Superdata, Valve sold 103,000 Index units in the fourth quarter of 2019 as a result of the Alyx announcements compared to the total 149,000 sold throughout 2019, and was the highest selling VR headset for personal computers during that quarter."

Finally, "Half-Life: Alyx was met with universal acclaim, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewers at publications such as VG247, Tom's Hardware, and Video Games Chronicle have said that the game is VR's 'killer app.'"

It currently has a 92/100 on Metacritic from critics and an 8.9/10 from users.

All in all, despite what ThunderChild might think, Alyx has accomplished exactly what it set out to do--revive interest in a long-dormant IP in a way that was carefully calculated to win over fans and naysayers alike, and make as much money as possible.

Finally, according to one of the designers, "We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it."

I, for one, am looking forward to the inevitable VR spinoff wherein we play as Dog.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.