Half-Life: Alyx ... non-VR version

#1

Has anyone heard if there will ever be a non-VR version of Half-Life: Alyx published?

Reasons why Valve should (add your own too if you can think of any)…

  1. It expands Valve’s market.
  2. It brings down production costs
  3. The cost of the VR gear is PRICEY and not affordable to a lot of brohs like me.
  4. VR only games disenfranchises people with medical issues (seizures, epilepsy, migraines)
#2

The way Alyx plays only functions in VR. There already is a way to hack the HL2 controls (and weapons) into the game and it fucking blows. Creating a version based around normal HL gameplay would require completely rebuilding the entire game. That would be a waste of time and money. So that gets out your first two points, it just wouldn’t be worth it.

Your second two points don’t really stand on their own, they would only contribute to why the first point would be true, if it were true, which it basically isn’t. The price of VR is entirely dependent on how someone is willing to shop and what they’re going for. I splurged a bit on a Samsung odyssey headset (for a good price, $275), but the cheaper windows mixed reality headsets work perfectly fine for the game, like the Acer AH101-D8EY or the Lenovo explorer. You can find those for under 150 some places, and I wanna make clear that that still isn’t a small amount of money if you’re working class in this country. I don’t want to be one of those youtubers who say “oh come on the Vive is ONLY 600 DOLLARS you SLACKER” because class consciousness is important, but good used gear shows up for cheap all the time on ebay, craigslist, mercari and offerup. Enough work and time spent on these efforts can land you a good deal. We’ve got all the time in the world right now, after all.

Finally, the idea of VR being ableist isn’t a new one, and it’s not necessarily an incorrect one, but to a degree, all screen-based entertainment is like this. Think about how many games and devices come with epilepsy warnings. That level of prevalence is going to prevent people from playing far more games than just Alyx, including the rest of the Half-Life series. While accessibility to the disabled is important and never a bad thing to consider,

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#3

My thoughts can be summed up in two words which written about 2000 years ago., “Jesus wept.” John 11:35.

Oh well, Maybe I will get lucky and hit the lotto. I suspect the game’s true purpose was to increase the VR headset sales. They are so inextricably tied together, it seems to be a reasonable conclusion.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.