When it comes to VR, players can truly feel immersed in the video game world. From looking around the area to interacting with characters, it’s a big step away from the traditional console gameplay. As a result, fans of the Half-Life franchise were likely eager to step into the game world with the release of Half-Life: Alyx. Fortunately, for those that were not interested in too much of a frightening experience with the game were in luck as developers purposely developed to keep the game from featuring jump scares.
Speaking to Gamespot, developers Dario Casali and Kerry Davis talked about the early development process of Half-Life: Alyx. Apparently, the game was quite scary at the start with the likes of fast-moving zombies and headcrabs. These enemies may be common for past Half-Life video games, but being in VR it can become a bit too overwhelming. There were testers that wouldn’t put the headset on if they saw certain characters were in the build.
“I was very respectful in not trying to push it too far because I didn’t want to lose a certain segment of people who might not have been able to continue.”
Dario Casali
This is when Valve went back and worked the game to allow fans of the Half-Life experience a game that is not only true to the franchise but something that doesn’t bring in anxiety. That’s when the game decided to cut certain enemies and even made sure that there were big gaps between certain events. Rather than throwing a gun your way and having you fight off an enemy, you’ll find yourself getting a weapon long before having to use it against an opponent.
There’s even an easy mode attached to help those that may see feel a bit intimidated with the game but would still like to go through the campaign. What do you think of the game so far and does it meet up with your expectations?
