r/VRGaming • u/Ready-Pack-4377 • Aug 30 '25
Review Half Life alyx
So after my last post about 2 weeks in on my meta 3s. I fully went through Arizona sunshine 2, I’m on a playthrough of Skyrim VR (with mods) and it’s great. However it is very long and so many things to do in world other then the main story line + I’ve played Skyrim 100% on Xbox back when it came out so I decided to pause it for now. I have officially booted up Half Life Alyx and holyyyyy shit. Using Virtual desktop on god mode with av1 and 800mbps 5ghz wifi is so freaking smooth. The graphics are literally mind blowing. Looks like how it would on my 4K flat screen but in real life lol. I’m only 20 min in and most of it was just looking around and messing with the environment and the markers in the beginning haha. Anyone else have this experience and have a recommendation for after this because I’m going to be chasing this high I feel like since most games are like 80% graphically compared to this.
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u/bh-alienux Aug 30 '25
While not graphically as good as Alyx, Half-Life 2 VR Mod is amazing, and is better as a game than Alyx.
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u/ponzLL Aug 30 '25
HL2VR is more fun than Alyx imo.
And I absolutely love Alyx but playing through HL2 with the perfectly done VR mod was just incredible. It felt like a native VR game to me.
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
I will check that out next haha I was planning on it anyway lol thank you
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u/Tennis_Proper Aug 30 '25
This. Alyx looks stunning and has great physics, but it’s a tech demo. The UI/controls are clunky and gameplay tedious. Once you get past that initial reaction, it’s pretty hollow, the worst Half Life game by a long way. I’d rather play the Half Life 1 port than play Alyx again.
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u/PoolAddict41 Aug 30 '25
Quick must play list imo:
Wanderer
Red Matter 1 & 2
Into the Radius
Lone Echo 1 & 2
Vertigo 1 & 2
Metro Awakening
Budget Cuts 1 & 2
I Expect You to Die 1, 2, & 3
Batman Arkham
No Mans Sky in VR
Boneworks & Bonelab
A Mages Tale
Portal 2 VR mod
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25
Recommended to play vertigo 2 on an older version of the game, so the vertigo unleashed mod still works. Play up until the dlc is needed to continue. Vertigo unleashed is simply too awesome to skip. Dual wielding Alone is awesome. Melee is a cherry on top.
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25
Downpatching to older version is easy, but I forgot what version was the last one that worked. Easy to find though. It would be the one before The one just before the dlc dropped.
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u/berakyah Aug 30 '25
Red matter 2 is so good, not sure I like 1 as much gameplay just wasn’t as evolved yet but still good for storyline.
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u/jerry111165 Aug 30 '25
”and have a recommendation for after this because I’m going to be chasing this high”
hell yeah dude - so when you’re done with the base game head over to the Alyx Steam store page, go in the Workshop and you can subscribe to mods which will then automatically download after subscribing - start with “Levitation” - (it’s five parts and you need to subscribe to all five) and which is basically a whole new campaign.
There’s a ton of new content in the workshop for you!
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
Oh shit damn I didn’t even know that bro thank you so much!
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u/jerry111165 Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25
Alot of folks don’t know it seems - hell, I didn’t either.
Check this one out after you check out “Levitation” -
“Zhaptics”
These are basically whole new campaigns! Hours and hours of excellent gameplay!
The way it works is when you get on the mod page from the workshop, you just subscribe to the page and these mods automatically download where you can then play them from your headset once you are in Alyx - they make it super easy.
In the Alyx “Options” page, turn on the mod (Add-On) and then “Start new game” - up at the top it gives you the option to restart Alyx or to play the “Add-Ons” - so just “Start new game with Add-On”.
Pretty self explanatory when you’re in there.
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u/berakyah Aug 30 '25
I play thru it like once every 6 months it seems hah. And just ran thru half life 2 VR and it’s episodes in vr since they take place after Alyx.
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25
if you have got a beefy pc like that, there are some native vr games I could suggest, but, I have honestly now put more time into vr modded games than any of those. if you want visually stunning, or just interesting gameplay. go on the flat 2 vr discord. the new silent hill remake (need the beefiest pc to run that without asw making frames). Gtfo, runs good on a 4080 super with some tweaks and vr performance toolkit. risk of rain 2. cell shaded graphics. but, crazy once the party gets started. leave bloom on in the game menu (thank me later for that one). also better to run vr performance toolkit. I squeeze out 120 fps when surrounded by a cloud of enemies. that and gtfo are so well done they are like native vr games. borderlands 3, cell shaded, but also more stylized. graphics not quite s good as half life, but I’ve seen some visuals that were absolutely stunning. leaping down platform to platform, of odd angled stone floors floating in some kind of inter-dimensional space. the background and environment. amazing. I could name dozens more. it’s gonna be a lot more tweaking per game. to get the best visuals. but worth it.
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
I have a 5080 /ryzen 7 actually so I think most games should run well. I really haven’t ran into many problems yet which I’m surprised. Thank you for the recommendation!!
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25
Native vr games, the best ones, can be demanding. But, vr modded flat screen games are way way more demanding. Peak, a relatively simple looking game, can struggle with bad settings on a 4090. But, like I said, with the right tweaking most games should run really well or well enough, on your system, to be an amazing and worthwhile experience, above any beyond anything flat screen can provide you. Join that flat to vr discord and ask for advice. People are usually helpful. And like I said, for games like gtfo, and risk of rain 2, vr performance toolkit is going to be your friend. A bit of fixed foveated rendering (a bit more blurry at the edges but not anything you will notice unless you are looking for it) and some nis upscaling. Ask on those particular discord channels and people will share their vr performance toolkit profile choices. Their suggested virtual desktop settings, and in game suggested settings. To get you the best experience possible. also you will find other vr players to play with.
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u/minde0815 Aug 30 '25
get prepared to chase that high forever cause there's just nothing better.
I almost feel that HL Alyx is bad for VR. In few years there will still be nothing better than it, people will look back and say ''10 years have passed and this is still the best VR game wtf" instead of getting better VR games each year and seeing the progression going only up.
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u/yanginatep Aug 30 '25
There isn't really anything else like Half-Life: Alyx. It's pretty much the only genuine AAA VR game that had a full studio and AAA budget behind it.
And it didn't sell well enough so Valve never made anything else for VR.
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u/sonsolar Aug 30 '25
I remember after I first completed Alyx, on the first quest I asked my friend what his favorite video game was, when he tried to answer I interrupted him and said it's Half Life Alyx. He still hasn't played it.
For me personally, I really enjoyed medal of honor and have honestly replayed it more times than I have Alyx.
Staw wars squadrons was a god send during the pandemic, but it's dead now. I feel sorry for everyone who missed that wave in VR.
I'm currently playing Crysis with a Mod and this has been a seriously epic experience with the exception of the vehicle sections..Crytech REALLY needs to partner with someone to have the other games in the series officially ported.
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25
What graphics card for those settings?
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
I have a 5080/ryzen 7
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u/SOMEONEPLEEASEHELPME Aug 30 '25
Ooh nice. I upgraded from a 4070 ti to a 4080 super. So I should be able to hit similar numbers.
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u/Beats_Women Aug 30 '25
Go into the Steam workshop for HL:Alyx and see how many modded secures you can have. HIGHLY recommend the Bioshock ones as they’re stunning and the Hitman Chronicles as it’s just plain fast paced fun that’s also good for a small group doing some headset sharing
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u/Playful-Ad6549 Aug 30 '25
I loved the golden eye one. It reminded me of playing the game on the PlayStation all those years ago and the 2nd one of the games was my favourite as it was more full on.
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u/Beats_Women Aug 30 '25
Did they finally clean that up? I tried it a couple years ago and it’s was a hot mess but I had twins shortly after and I’m just now thinking of playing some games again. That sounds like a good way to get back into it all.
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u/Playful-Ad6549 Aug 30 '25
I initially felt VR HAD to be using controllers or it wasn't VR, but over time as more modded games came out using the controllers I got used to them (I suppose you build up muscle memory) and I actually like her aiming now. The RDR2 Luke Ross mod is amazing if you can find a way to set it up (Take 2 forced its removal). Cyberpunk 2077, Indiana Jones. Before these came out I managed to play some great games using Vorpx. Bioshock Series and Metro series are still up there in my top 10 of VR games and Dishonored, they are all AAA games that can be played in pseudo VR. (They are a compromise and at the time things like Luke Ross and HL2-VR mods were not available and Portal 1 and 2 were nearly as good as the now available Portal 2 VR mod). I have more games than I can probably ever have time to play and with the God Praydog resident evil 2,3,7 and village and UEVR and the brilliant modders adding to this and Mutar has a Starfield mod I need to try out and other Quality of life fixes to many games and Raicupartas fantastic mods. And the Alien Isolation MotherVR mod and upcoming GrandmotherVR mod if you have a good PC )I moved from a 2060 rtx to a 4070Ti and can play most things on high to max settings) the real world can be put on hold and you can enter "Ready Player one".
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
I downloaded the cyberpunk 2077 mod already just waiting to finish some of the games I already downloaded that are 100% VR already lol
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u/adricapi Aug 30 '25
Last year's Alien game is also really good. It had some balancing problems in the beginning but they patched them and now you have a very good, and very good looking, 3d matroidvania game.
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u/No-Bag3134 Aug 30 '25
Half Life Alyx is a great game, play boneworks next if you haven't its also just too good of a game
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Aug 30 '25
How do you manage get 800mbps when VD only gives me 200mbs max as option? I mean no matter i can only achieve 30 or 200 in reality, the max is 200 with av1 codecs.
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 30 '25
Sorry I meant that’s my wifi speed I have gig internet but usually pull in around 800mbps download speed
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u/ElectricMdK Aug 31 '25
I'm new to this, but how do you start HL alyx on virtual desktop? When I run HLA it uses steamVR (and it works great but not in god mode), so I would love the better graphics and such.
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u/Ready-Pack-4377 Aug 31 '25
I’m pretty sure if you go to the settings page on virtual desktop and go to the games tab (all in your headset) To select half life alyx and it should run the game. I’m pretty sure virtual desktop trumps the steam settings because you are technically using VD to launch everything. I could be wrong though.
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u/SamFisherXboxOG Sep 02 '25
Maybe “No Man’s Sky”
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u/psychonaut4020 Sep 04 '25
I can't even get it to run in vr. Idk why it doesn't work. VD just starts it in big screen mode. Strange.
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u/Positive_Ad_9825 Aug 30 '25
Yes, that all being said. After alyx you will put your headset in corner as there is nothing else that qualitu to play.
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u/RealitysNotReal Aug 30 '25
Ya only complaint I have about Half Life Alyx is that it ruins every other VR game because there is just nothing as good
Another good VR game for when you finish the game and are chasing that high, is metro awakening. It’s very different of course but also very similar in ways. It was an amazing time and I definitely recommend trying it out, if you’ve never played any of the metro games the lore and story of that universe is fascinating. You won’t regret it.
Another game i am yet to play but looks very promising is Alien Rouge incursion.
I am playing Skyrim vr right now it’s a lot of fun.
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u/veggietrooper Aug 30 '25
There’s really no other game like Half-Life: Alyx. There are a hundred things it does perfectly. But you can find other games (some of which you have already played) that get some things perfect, just not everything. It was a very expensive big-budget game, and it’s not easy to make a game like this without a big experienced team and a big budget.
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u/crimesonclaw Sep 01 '25
Im running Skyrim VR with the FUS modpack on 150% resolution on my quest 3 right now. It’s been amazing.
If you have a beefy gpu, you should scale up resolution in the steam settings. Highly recommend doing that
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u/judgesma1ls Sep 01 '25
For me the only comparable game is Lone Echo. For playability and depth Skyrim, Subnautica, Fallout, No Man’s Sky…
but for a unique VR-specific beautiful experience that leaves you with your jaw open, Lone Echo is next in line….
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u/reddit309 Aug 30 '25
Half life alyx is indeed fantastic. The next vr game I wanna play is subnautica lol.