Half-Life: Alyx - Chapter 11: Point Extraction

Half-Life: Alyx is a 2020 virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter developed and published by Valve. Set between the events of Half-Life (1998) and Half-Life 2 (2004), players control Alyx Vance on a mission to seize a superweapon belonging to the alien Combine. Players use VR to interact with the environment and fight enemies, using “gravity gloves“ to manipulate objects, similarly to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2. Traditional Half-Life elements return, such as physics puzzles, combat, exploration and survival horror elements. The previous Half-Life game, Episode Two, was released in 2007. After several failed attempts to develop further Half-Life projects, Valve began experimenting with VR in the mid-2010s, recognizing the demand for a large-scale VR game. They experimented with prototypes using their various intellectual properties, such as Portal, and found that Half-Life best suited VR. Alyx entered full production using Valve’s new Source 2 engine in 2016, with the largest team in Valve’s history. Alyx was released for Windows on March 23, 2020, with support for most PC-compatible VR headsets. It received acclaim for its graphics, voice acting, narrative, and atmosphere, and was described as VR’s first killer app. Valve released a Linux version in May 2020. Half-Life: Alyx is a virtual reality (VR) game that supports all SteamVR-compatible VR headsets, which include the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest (wired through Oculus Link, or wireless using Virtual Desktop) and all Windows Mixed Reality headsets. As the gameplay was designed around VR, Valve stated there were no plans for a non-VR version. Half-Life: Alyx also supports user mods via the Steam Workshop. Valve’s Robin Walker anticipated that fans would modify the game to allow it to be played without VR equipment, adding that Valve was curious to see how players would react to this version. Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network discovered a pre-release build of the game mistakenly leaked on Steam that included non-VR developer tools, allowing interactions such as picking up objects and firing weapons. However, most of the game’s basic interactions such as pressing buttons or filling Alyx’s backpack could not be completed with the “use“ key. McVicker concluded that unless a modder found a way to completely change how the player’s actions affected the game world, it was impossible to play the entire game with a non-VR control scheme. The game takes place before the return of Gordon Freeman in Half-Life 2. Players control Freeman’s ally Alyx Vance as she and her father Eli Vance fight the Combine, an alien empire that has conquered Earth. Designer David Speyrer said Alyx was not an episodic game or side story, but “the next part of the Half-Life story“, around the same length as Half-Life 2. Players use VR to get supplies, use interfaces, throw objects, and engage in combat. Like the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, the gravity gloves allow players to manipulate gravity. Traditional Half-Life elements such as exploration, puzzles, combat, and story are there. Every weapon can be used one-handed, as Valve wanted players to have a hand free to interact with the world at all times. While the game is primarily a first-person shooter, it adds elements of the survival horror genre, as health and ammo are more scarce, and it includes surprise frightening encounters. As with any first-person shooter, the player has the ability to move Alyx across a level. This can be done with VR room scale support if the player has sufficient space, physically moving around to move Alyx around in-game. Alternatively, the player can opt to use analog sticks on the VR controllers to move Alyx (a method common to most video games), to use a “teleportation“ method where the player points in-game to where they want to move and the game jumps Alyx there, or an intermediate mode where, after selecting the destination point, the game glides Alyx there, smoothing the transition and giving the opportunity for the player to look around during it. In the case of the teleportation option, the game still simulates the movement even though the action appears instantaneous, and Alyx may die if attacked or moved from too great a height. The previous Half-Life game, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, was released in 2007, ending on a cliffhanger. Episode Three was scheduled for 2008, but was delayed as its scope expanded. Valve eventually abandoned episodic development, finding it contrary to their growing ambition with new installments. After several failed attempts to develop further Half-Life projects, Valve decided to complete its new engine, Source 2, before beginning a new game, as developing Half-Life 2 (2004) and the original Source engine simultaneously had created problems.