Gamespot Game of the Year: Half Life Alyx

Something else I'd love to add. To my understanding, Alyx is one of the very few big games this year that no one tried to attack for any particular reason. Claiming it pushed an agenda of any form, etc. All of that is BS 99% of the time anyway, but it was nice to see a game come out, and it's like that particular crowd just didn't react.

I wouldn't be surprised if SOMETHING is still out there because those people LOVE attention. But I didn't see or hear of anything, so that means something.
 
MiguelItUp said:
Something else I'd love to add. To my understanding, Alyx is one of the very few big games this year that no one tried to attack for any particular reason. Claiming it pushed an agenda of any form, etc. All of that is BS 99% of the time anyway, but it was nice to see a game come out, and it's like that particular crowd just didn't react.

I wouldn't be surprised if SOMETHING is still out there because those people LOVE attention. But I didn't see or hear of anything, so that means something.
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At worst it was some nonsense like: "dur-hur Valve is holding this game hostage just to sell their VR headset", while in reality, even the game's official page clearly states that "you can play on Oculus, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality", practically giving the "competition" free advertising.

Or the crazies who were begging for Valve to downport it to flatscreen complaining they can't afford a VR headset. I wonder how many of those same people spent hundreds/thousands of dollars on the new consoles and PC equipment.
 
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Deserved fucking hell.
Idiot games media..

srsly alyx was as good as a jump as mario 64 was from 2D gaming to 3D

deserved
 
JayK47 said:
So game of the year goes to a game that hardly anybody can play. I guess I will take your word for it.
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Why should platform matter? If Breath of the Wild had stayed only a Wii U game, should it not have been GOTY because few people bought Wii U?

The best game is the best game. And GameSpot thought Half Life Alyx was the best game. It seems like a fine choice to me, even if my vote goes to Ghost of Tsushima.
 
I received a Samsung VR headset for free when I bought my laptop 2 years ago and I never opened it. I figured I would keep it for porn.

Can I play it with that?
 
MatrixReloaded101 said:
I just want a regular Half-life game f%ck Valve and their $999 VR cash grab

Ghost of Tsushima is my game of the year, we can agree to disagree
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wrong so wrong

GHOST brings nothing new to the table.
it's a generic open world game the market is flooded with.
BUT it actually has an ok sword system. That i will give you.. 7.9 max imo
 
Gods&Monsters said:
I received a Samsung VR headset for free when I bought my laptop 2 years ago and I never opened it. I figured I would keep it for porn.

Can I play it with that?
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Depends, is it a headset for your PC, with controllers and all? It should say it's compatible with Windows Mixed Reality, if so yes you can play Alyx with that. If it's just one of those Samsung Gear VR plastic cases that you stick your phone in it you're SOL.
 
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MatrixReloaded101 said:
I just want a regular Half-life game f%ck Valve and their $999 VR cash grab

Ghost of Tsushima is my game of the year, we can agree to disagree
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Name: MatrixReloaded101.
Hates: VR.
Status: Hypocritical; says a game that clearly made Valve less money is a cash grab; demands Valve actually makes a cash grab game instead.
 
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Wonko_C said:
Depends, is it a headset for your PC, with controllers and all? It should say Windows Mixed Reality, if so yes you can play Alyx with that. If it's just one of those Samsung Gear VR that you stick your phone in it you're SOL.
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Yes it's a windows mixed reality headset but I'm not sure if it comes with a controller. I'll check this weekend. Maybe I missed out on great games because I never bothered to look at it lol

Thanks!
 
Finished it last week, it's a fantastic game and really sets the bar for VR gaming going forward. There are a number of situations in the game that are simply incredible and really change how games are played. As they mentioned in the video, dropping a clip in a dark room is scary as shit and not really replicated in flat gaming.
I can't think of any game this gen that really pushes gaming forward, sure there have been some fantastic games but none that really offer so many new experiences like Alyx.

Suggesting that only games that lots of people have played can only be the metric to determine "game of the year" is stupid. Game of the year should really be around fully fleshed out titles that push gaming farther in any direction than they've gone before. Graphics, sound, control, experience, story, what have you.
 
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Martinski43 said:
I guess the few dozen or so who has VR will only know. :messenger_face_steam:
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To my surprise, the game sold 2 million units. Way way more than I imagined.

uploadvr.com

Half-Life: Alyx Surpasses 2 Million Owners On Steam, Steam Spy Suggests

Valve’s flagship VR game Half-Life: Alyx has surpassed 2 million owners on Steam, according to SteamSpy. Previously, the game was marked in the 1 million – 2 million owners bracket on the platform, but recently changed over to the 2 million – 5 million bracket. These aren’t official numbers from
uploadvr.com uploadvr.com
 
What's funny is everyone seems to have a story about dropping a mag and how intense that feels...and that's not even something the game is scripted to do. It just happens because you're stressed out and human and drop shit in those conditions, and it's only something you get in VR. That kind of emergent gameplay shared across users which isn't faked or scripted at all is awesome. Alyx is awesome. Now I want to go jump back in
 
Spukc said:
wrong so wrong

GHOST brings nothing new to the table.
it's a generic open world game the market is flooded with.
BUT it actually has an ok sword system. That i will give you.. 7.9 max imo
Click to expand...
I LOVED Ghost quite a bit TBH. But it's true, aside from the setting and a few small things, it really is no different.

I personally wouldn't mind GoT being GOTY at a lot of outlets, but man, Alyx was both a risk and brought a number of cool innovative things. Definitely more worthy IMO.
 
MiguelItUp said:
Something else I'd love to add. To my understanding, Alyx is one of the very few big games this year that no one tried to attack for any particular reason. Claiming it pushed an agenda of any form, etc. All of that is BS 99% of the time anyway, but it was nice to see a game come out, and it's like that particular crowd just didn't react.

I wouldn't be surprised if SOMETHING is still out there because those people LOVE attention. But I didn't see or hear of anything, so that means something.
Click to expand...
😂 No one hurt your feelings by having an opinion.

Spukc said:
wrong so wrong



GHOST brings nothing new to the table.

it's a generic open world game the market is flooded with.

BUT it actually has an ok sword system. That i will give you.. 7.9 max imo
Click to expand...

It has very strong visuals, which is probably what people react to the most
 
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There is a boss battle in alyx. That pretty much beats any boss from any game.
That alone is worth GOTY imo
 
oagboghi2 said:
It has very strong visuals, which is probably what people react to the most
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This is it. The gameplay in Ghost was not revolutionary like Alyx but the visuals are so strong that it will stay with me forever. That and the unique art direction put it in my top favorite. This could change as time goes on but currently I still think about it often.
 
Wonko_C said:
You do know that you don't need a $1000 Valve Index to play this game, and can use ANY headset? The Oculus Quest 2 is even potentially cheaper than upgrading your PC monitor, so even if Valve decides to not make any more VR games , you can still play what the rest of the industry makes. Same thing with the Index itself, even if Valve abandons it you can still play VR games from all other game devs in existence.


No. A game should stand on its own and external factors such as "popularity" or "impact" have no business in what makes a game GOTY: Gameplay, innovation, and technical merits are what makes a good game. Not how many people played it. Half-Life: Alyx just happened to beat every other game released this year where it counts.



Well I can't play it, LOL. My PC is 11 years old and I can't afford a new one, nor a VR headset. But I can't also afford a PS5/XSX/NSW right now so... :messenger_grinning_sweat:
(Seriously, though out of all the new consoles, the Oculus Quest 2 is the only one that gets me excited about it, and it's the more affordable of them all! PS5 and the others look like snorefests to me, just the same thing but prettier? I'll stick with my indies, retro and VR games, thanks.)
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True, but it's best experienced on Valve's headset, no?
 
Royal-Slime said:
True, but it's best experienced on Valve's headset, no?
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Same way a 4K game is best on a 4K TV but you get the same experience on a 1080p TV. According to many who have tested it on several headsets, there is a difference, just not a $700 difference over the Rift S/Quest 2 for example.
 
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The same site that people here were panning for reviewing CP2077 low, are now hailing this as a great choice.....

Nobody was even discussing this game a week after it released.
 
Bryank75 said:
The same site that people here were panning for reviewing CP2077 low, are now hailing this as a great choice.....

Nobody was even discussing this game a week after it released.
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Notice this. MANY games aren't getting recognized months to years after release because the journoz aren't capable or even hired to do their jobs. There's a lapse.
 
i played it. and i agree with the choice. but I'm not sure why people who didn't play the game would ever agree to this. You have to experience it to appreciate it. So a bold move, Gamespot
 
oagboghi2 said:
😂 No one hurt your feelings by having an opinion.
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....Nope, never do. I encourage opinions every time. But it was still nice that nothing like that existed with Alyx. I mean, not seeing comments like, "Ghost of Tsushima is cultural appropriation", "TLOU2/Hades is pushing agendas", "CP:2077 is transphobic", etc. is always nice, lol.
 
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MatrixReloaded101 said:
How can this be game of the year when such a limited amount of people played it? Most people don't even have the setup to play this game.

When I think of game of the year, I think of a game that received both critical praise from the media outlets and players which is Ghost of Tsushima imo.

Gamespot tries so hard to be "different" and it's very annoying at times.
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Picking a Valve game for GOTY, hardly cause for concern
 
Great choice. Definitely the freshest experience I've had this year. Excited to play through it again on new and improved hardware. I need to get an Index, because fuck logging in with Facebook on my Oculus.
 
DanEON said:
Agreed.
Best game of the year by far and one of the best games of all time.
Playing it in my Valve Index VR was one of the best gaming experience I ever had.
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Honestly going back to regular shooters is so flat after experiencing Alyx.
 
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It is now steams best rated VR game of all time surpassing Beat Saber in 9 months. If you wanted to create a killer app for a niche market you couldn't ask for better results.

It is also the best rated Half Life game.

www.roadtovr.com

'Half-Life: Alyx' Has Become Steam's Best & Most Rated VR Game Less Than a Year After Launch

If there was any question, it has now been answered—Half-Life: Alyx has cemented its “universal acclaim”, becoming both the best and most rated VR-only game on Steam, less than a year after release, after recently passing Beat Saber’s record review count. While it quickly became not just the...
www.roadtovr.com www.roadtovr.com
 
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TexMex said:
Why do you think this is a great choice for Game of the Year when you haven't played it?
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I get what you mean.

I have seen some indepth videos on game explaining how it works. Looks very interesting. Based on that.

Sure actually playing it would be a different thing altogether.
 
Incredible first time experience... Almost no replayability. It's an amazing vr game but a poor game by normal standards.
I think it's my goty too
 
I'm so hyped for Christmas. Got my used rift cv1 this week (Christmas present), set it up but won't let myself download half life until Christmas Eve. I'm playing beat saber early though lol.

This thread is perfect timing though reading it is making the slog of next week even harder lol.

For those that have a pc but think it's too expensive to get into VR, then you can now get a used rift for about £150.


Rex_DX said:
Would anyone be on-board with the making of a VR, GAF Community? I noticed we don't have one and thought I might give it a shot.

Are there even enough VR-players on this board to drive discussion?
Click to expand...

I'd be in for sure. As someone new to VR then it would be helpful and fun for me to chop it up with other VR users.
 
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