After owning this game for years, starting it once before and stopping after like 3 chapters, and basically killing my laptop, I finally beat this game. Also, that laptop thing wasn’t a joke. My laptop was like 5 years old by this point and was a decent machine that could basically run anything except the really high-end stuff, but I think this game might have burned out 2 laptop chargers and overheated the laptop more than once. I ended up just buying a new laptop.
This game was quite the experience to say the least and I’m certain I won’t forget it anytime soon. Making it a VR game instead of a normal PC game was interesting and I initially wasn’t a fan of it, but it gave me an excuse to try an actual VR game instead of something like Beat Saber. From what I’ve heard and seen from other VR games, this seems to be the best one on the market, and I feel like I don’t even need to play anything else to know that. The fact that it is VR makes it so much more immersive, for better or for worse.
First of all, I think the gravity gloves help this game feel a lot better than it would if they weren’t included. One drawback to VR is that you can’t always move around too much wherever you’re playing the game, and while there is still plenty of moving around in the game, the concept of pulling small items to your hands instead of having to walk over and actually pick them up was a huge quality-of-life feature.
Second, the VR immersion was almost too good at some points in the game. I am a weenie who can’t even play a FNAF game without feeling like a kid who just noticed their closet is cracked open in the middle of the night. I do not play horror games and don’t enjoy really any horror or scary media at all. The fact that I got through Ravenholm in HL2 was a miracle, but this game liked to really push me at some points. Whenever the area was super dark and the flashlight activated, I instantly broke into a sweat, knowing that there will most likely be several zombies and head crabs to deal with. And I’m sure I don’t need to mention that one chapter that I won’t spoil but you know which one I’m referring to if you’ve played it. This game is not for the faint-of-heart.
The combat was interesting and quite different than anything I’ve played before. While this is indeed a shooter game, the VR once again makes it feel unique. The fact that you can’t just line up a crosshair in the middle of the screen with an enemy and kill them easily from any distance was a huge adjustment for me. You actually had to aim the guns as if you were aiming a real gun, making the combat a lot harder at mid-to-long range. While there are several gun upgrades designed to make it easier to aim and fight, it is still not as easy as you would expect it to be. Speaking of guns and combat, I felt like I was stressing about ammo for like the entire game. I wasn’t going around just spamming my guns and wasting ammo when I didn’t need to, but I still felt like the game gave you just enough ammo and just the right rate to make you want to cherish every single bullet you had. Since there was no melee or other ammo-less equivalent in this game, I was always nervous of running out of shots and not knowing what to do at that point. I never fully ran out of ammo, but there was one point where I emptied 2 of the 3 guns before finding more ammo for them all. I could count on one hand the amount of times in this game where I felt like I had a good supply of ammo, only for it to be half used within the next 5 minutes in some big fight.
As for the story, I liked it. It all felt like a natural progression from each story beat to the next and fit comfortably within the Half Life world. I was invested during most if not all of the game and was eager to see what happened next. The buildup to the end was really well-done and made me super excited to see how it ended, even though I already knew the ending. I looked up the ending for myself over a year ago just to see what happens and I really wish I didn’t since I think my mind would have been blown if I saw it all fresh. As for how it connects with the story in the rest of the games, I’m a bit confused. This is a prequel to HL2, but the ending of this game seems to muddle with the ending of Episode 2, as well as Episode 1 and HL2 if you think about it a certain way. Maybe I just need to watch an explanation on Youtube or something, but I’m just a bit confused on how it all fits together. It’s also funny how Valve saw people asking for HL3 for YEARS and YEARS since Episode 2 was such a huge cliffhanger, and instead made a prequel that answers literally no questions and just makes you ask more. I’m still holding out hope for HL3…
A very fun game that I quite enjoyed and used as an excuse to seriously try out some real VR stuff. While VR might not really be for me, I’m glad I tried it and actually finished the game. When HL3 eventually comes out (cope), I ask that it be a regular PC game.
This game was quite the experience to say the least and I’m certain I won’t forget it anytime soon. Making it a VR game instead of a normal PC game was interesting and I initially wasn’t a fan of it, but it gave me an excuse to try an actual VR game instead of something like Beat Saber. From what I’ve heard and seen from other VR games, this seems to be the best one on the market, and I feel like I don’t even need to play anything else to know that. The fact that it is VR makes it so much more immersive, for better or for worse.
First of all, I think the gravity gloves help this game feel a lot better than it would if they weren’t included. One drawback to VR is that you can’t always move around too much wherever you’re playing the game, and while there is still plenty of moving around in the game, the concept of pulling small items to your hands instead of having to walk over and actually pick them up was a huge quality-of-life feature.
Second, the VR immersion was almost too good at some points in the game. I am a weenie who can’t even play a FNAF game without feeling like a kid who just noticed their closet is cracked open in the middle of the night. I do not play horror games and don’t enjoy really any horror or scary media at all. The fact that I got through Ravenholm in HL2 was a miracle, but this game liked to really push me at some points. Whenever the area was super dark and the flashlight activated, I instantly broke into a sweat, knowing that there will most likely be several zombies and head crabs to deal with. And I’m sure I don’t need to mention that one chapter that I won’t spoil but you know which one I’m referring to if you’ve played it. This game is not for the faint-of-heart.
The combat was interesting and quite different than anything I’ve played before. While this is indeed a shooter game, the VR once again makes it feel unique. The fact that you can’t just line up a crosshair in the middle of the screen with an enemy and kill them easily from any distance was a huge adjustment for me. You actually had to aim the guns as if you were aiming a real gun, making the combat a lot harder at mid-to-long range. While there are several gun upgrades designed to make it easier to aim and fight, it is still not as easy as you would expect it to be. Speaking of guns and combat, I felt like I was stressing about ammo for like the entire game. I wasn’t going around just spamming my guns and wasting ammo when I didn’t need to, but I still felt like the game gave you just enough ammo and just the right rate to make you want to cherish every single bullet you had. Since there was no melee or other ammo-less equivalent in this game, I was always nervous of running out of shots and not knowing what to do at that point. I never fully ran out of ammo, but there was one point where I emptied 2 of the 3 guns before finding more ammo for them all. I could count on one hand the amount of times in this game where I felt like I had a good supply of ammo, only for it to be half used within the next 5 minutes in some big fight.
As for the story, I liked it. It all felt like a natural progression from each story beat to the next and fit comfortably within the Half Life world. I was invested during most if not all of the game and was eager to see what happened next. The buildup to the end was really well-done and made me super excited to see how it ended, even though I already knew the ending. I looked up the ending for myself over a year ago just to see what happens and I really wish I didn’t since I think my mind would have been blown if I saw it all fresh. As for how it connects with the story in the rest of the games, I’m a bit confused. This is a prequel to HL2, but the ending of this game seems to muddle with the ending of Episode 2, as well as Episode 1 and HL2 if you think about it a certain way. Maybe I just need to watch an explanation on Youtube or something, but I’m just a bit confused on how it all fits together. It’s also funny how Valve saw people asking for HL3 for YEARS and YEARS since Episode 2 was such a huge cliffhanger, and instead made a prequel that answers literally no questions and just makes you ask more. I’m still holding out hope for HL3…
A very fun game that I quite enjoyed and used as an excuse to seriously try out some real VR stuff. While VR might not really be for me, I’m glad I tried it and actually finished the game. When HL3 eventually comes out (cope), I ask that it be a regular PC game.