Its been a big few days for Valve and Half-Life: Alyx. SteamVR users that own an Index have new environments coming their way, along with free DLC for their game that is being downloaded on the 23rd of March. On the actual game side of things, we have 10 (!) Full minutes of gameplay that has been released in anticipation of the upcoming Half-Life: Alyx VR title.
Between Valve releasing new trailers and IGN finally getting their hands on a copy of the game, there has been no shortage of gameplay for us to consume.
We will be breaking down everything we have learned about this gameplay and what it means for the game going forward. This is an exciting time for virtual reality lovers and HLA fans, so let’s jump right in and dissect this gameplay!
The Gloves
From this IGN gameplay, we get a hefty amount of dialogue between Russel and Alyx. In here, we learn what special capabilities our virtual hands and gloves are going to get. In all of the screenshots and footage we have seen so far, we have understood that Valve was going to give our gloves some extra abilities. The gloves are referred to as ‘The Russels’ in the video.
The footage notes show that they display your ammo situation, the health of Alyx, and many more helpful displays you’ll want to see in your ritual game. Because this seems like an intro to the gloves, we can assume this scene is going to take place somewhat early in the game, after a chapter of proving you could be worthy of such gloves.
The Weaponry
In the fourth minute of the IGN gameplay, Alyx comes across ‘The Combine Fabricator’. This is where the character is introduced into the idea of being able to upgrade her pistol. She has the chance to upgrade this weapon, and all of the others that she will be coming across. It is noted that the gloves don’t ever get a chance to upgrade.
The four different upgrades available for the pistol are the Reflex Sight, Bullet Reservoir, Burst Fire, and the Laser Sight. In the video, IGN goes with the Reflex Sight, something that is going to point out the where the weak points of the enemies are. You can see it in action halfway through the 6th minute of the video.
Resin (Currency)
Throughout all of the videos that have been released, we have seen a good amount of Resin. It comes in stacks of five and can be used to purchase upgraded weapons at the Combine Fabricator. When Alyx comes across it inside of the virtual environments, you see it go into the inventory. Once it is there, you can check how much you have and make the right payments towards the weapon that you want to rock with.
Hard Hats and Other Wearables
Although it was easy to miss, at the start of the second minute you see Alyx put a hard hat on. Half a minute later, the hard hat saves you from the barnacle attack. Not only will hard hats be critical in passing levels, but we can expect to see similar wearables help you throughout all of the chapters in this game.
The 3 Headed Movement
One of the biggest selling points of this game is the three different movement options. In the sixth minute from IGN, they pull up the menu and quickly change from teleporting movements to the continuous movement options. It was already something that we were going to see, but it is nice to see that they are going to allow the changing of options very quickly.
Custom UI and Settings
IGN messes around inside of the settings a bit in their video, and that is something that is always fun to look at when the game hasn’t been released yet. There is an ‘Interface’ option for users to control what they see and where they want to see it. The difficulty setting can also be controlled very quickly throughout the levels. There is also a Photo Mode for those trying to show off their coolest scenes inside of the game.
