Half-Life: Alyx
What to Know
Average Score
- March 23, 2020
- Valve Corporation
- Shooter, Adventure, Puzzle
- Editors' Choice, Nom: Game of the Year + Best Adventure Game (2020)
Critics Consensus
- March 23, 2020
- Shooter, Adventure, Puzzle
- Editors' Choice, Nom: Game of the Year + Best Adventure Game (2020)
Critics Consensus
# Reviews: 60
Half-Life: Alyx combines old friends, new enemies, and an exciting story to set the gold standard for all future VR titles. A tremendous experience and an incredible technical achievement.
Rate and Review
Awards & Recognition
Critic Reviews for Half-Life: Alyx
Critic Reviews
Score Distribution
60
Reviews
Platinum
32% of scored reviews fell within the range of 86 to 92 / 100
Ranges
Half-Life: Alyx has set a new bar for VR in interactivity, detail, and level design, showing what can happen when a world-class developer goes all-in on the new frontier of technology.
With old friends, new enemies, and an exciting story, revisiting City 17 in VR is a thrill in Half-Life: Alyx.
Half-Life: Alyx reaches some astoundingly high heights while also managing to be both too ambitious and too conservative for its own good.
Dan Stapleton (IGN)
10/10 - (Read Review)
Half-Life: Alyx has set a new bar for VR in interactivity, detail, and level design, showing what can happen when a world-class developer goes all-in on the new frontier of technology.
Christopher Livingston (PC Gamer)
92/100 - (Read Review)
With old friends, new enemies, and an exciting story, revisiting City 17 in VR is a thrill in Half-Life: Alyx.
Nathan Grayson (Kotaku)
Recommended - (Read Review)
Half-Life: Alyx reaches some astoundingly high heights while also managing to be both too ambitious and too conservative for its own good.
Outlet | Author | Score | Date | Quote | Read |
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3DNews | Александр Бабулин | 8 / 10 | 04-04-2020 | Simply the best VR-game for now. But nothing more than that. | Read review |
ACG | Jeremy Penter | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | Video Review | Read review |
Ars Technica | Sam Machkovech | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | The masses may not rush out to buy a VR set to play Half-Life: Alyx. But anyone who loves video games should look at this game as a next logical step in the possibilities of dramatic, interactive storytelling. Bravo, Valve. Bravo. | Read review |
Attack of the Fanboy | Brandon Adams | 5 / 5 stars | 03-25-2020 | All future VR games will look to Half Life: Alyx as the gold standard hereon, and thanks to its absolute excellence in design and presentation we are all the better for it. Virtual reality will never be the same, nor will Half Life after Alyx’s jaw-dropping conclusion. | Read review |
AusGamers | Steve Farrelly | 6 / 10 | 04-01-2020 | The Read review |
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CGMagazine | Clement Goh | 10 / 10 | 03-25-2020 | Genre-bending and hauntingly mesmerizing, Half-Life Alyx brings the series as it should have always been experienced while doing the impossible: surpassing Half Life 2. | Read review |
Checkpoint Gaming | Bree Swaine | 9 / 10 | 03-26-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is the perfect example of the best Virtual Reality can be. After years of what felt like nothing more than tech demos or ports, this game has arrived to show everyone how it’s done. | Read review |
COGconnected | Paul Sullivan | 97 / 100 | 04-07-2020 | It’s the best VR game yet, and maybe, just maybe, the best in the Half Life franchise. | Read review |
Daily Star | Jason Coles | 5 / 5 stars | 03-29-2020 | It’s equal parts enchanting and terrifying, and it’s sure to be one of the turning points in VR for many of us. | Read review |
Destructoid | Chris Carter, Brett Makedonski | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is an accomplishment no matter which way you spin it. | Read review |
DualShockers | Ryan Meitzler | 10 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Through the lens of VR, Half-Life: Alyx is an amazing experience that blends action and storytelling with a profound level of immersion. | Read review |
Easy Allies | Ben Moore | 5 / 5 stars | 04-08-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is a masterful marriage of technology, design, and storytelling. | Read review |
Eurogamer | Christian Donlan | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | City 17 provides the setting for a VR adventure filled with brilliant detailing. | Read review |
Everyeye.it | Giuseppe Arace | 9.3 / 10 | 03-25-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is the new benchmark for future VR products. More generally, it is a magnificent game, the worthy heir of an immortal saga: an adventure that has nothing to envy to those episodes that have contributed to mark the history of gaming. | Read review |
Expansive | Jay Jones | Recommended | 03-28-2020 | Put in plain terms, if Beat Saber put VR on the map, then Half Life Alyx is the reason you chart a course. It’s everything VR has needed and the return to a classic franchise we’ve been waiting for. | Read review |
Game Debate | Chad Norton | 8 / 10 | 04-03-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is a tremendous VR experience that should absolutely set the standard of quality for all VR games to come. But the lack of replayability value, and the scale factor of enjoyment dependent on your hardware and room size, holds Alyx back from being a truly astonishing game. Is it worth it alone to buy a headset for? I’m not sure, that depends on how big of a Half-Life fan you are. But I can say that there are tonnes of other VR games available that are worth buying a headset for already, and Half-Life Alyx will still be a significant entry in that list of games. | Read review |
Game Informer | Leo Vader | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | The dense campaign never lets up with surprising reveals, new enemies, and witty dialogue to carry you through the exciting journey | Read review |
Gameblog | VRSinge | 10 / 10 | 03-28-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is truly the new standard bearer for virtual reality. This is a major, not to say revolutionary, title, as was Half-Life and Half-Life 2 in their time. For more than 10 hours of play, we live the horrifying, supernatural and science fiction adventures of Alyx, as if we were there. A Masterpiece ! | Read review |
Gamefa | Amirmehdi Namjoo | 10 / 10 | 03-27-2020 | Before the release of Half-Life: Alyx, series’ fans were worried that it might not live up to the expectations. But now, we can say Half-Life: Alyx is a great Half-Life game and a perfect VR experience too. Level Design, VR interactions, story-telling, art design, and all other aspects of the game are at a very high-quality level. Every gamer that has access to VR headsets must play this masterpiece. | Read review |
GameMAG | GameMAG | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | If you were worried about the quality, you can calmly exhale | Read review |
Gamersky | 不倒翁蜀黍 | 9.5 / 10 | 03-29-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx has shown the great potential of VR and set a very high standard for the whole industry. It’s definitely a must-buy game for VR gamers. | Read review |
GamesBeat | Mike Minotti | 80 / 100 | 03-23-2020 | But judged on its merits as a VR game, it excels. If you’re looking for something to wow you with what the technology can do, this will get that job done. | Read review |
GameSkinny | Gabriel Moss | 10 / 10 | 04-02-2020 | While the “VR-only” part may alienate many current PC gamers, it’s a triumph that a VR title as excellent as Alyx exists at all. | Read review |
GameSpot | Michael Higham | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is a tremendous VR experience that captures and elevates what makes the series special. | Read review |
GamesRadar+ | Rachel Weber | 4.5 / 5 stars | 03-23-2020 | Not just a Half-Life game, but an invitation to live in its world. | Read review |
Gaming Nexus | John Yan | 9.5 / 10 | 04-06-2020 | I had such an incredible time going back into the Half-Life universe, and in VR. It’s | Read review |
GamingBolt | Rashid Sayed | 9 / 10 | 03-24-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is a triumph for VR games and sets the benchmark for other developers to follow suit. | Read review |
GBAtemp | Tom Bond | 9 / 10 | 03-27-2020 | If you were waiting for that one “killer game” before you wanted to dip into the VR scene, this is it. If you already have a PC VR headset, you absolutely must own this game. Half-Life: Alyx is easily one of the best VR games I’ve ever played, easily beating out my previous favorite Beat Saber, and every Half-Life fan should experience the game in one way or another. | Read review |
God is a Geek | Adam Cook | 9.5 / 10 | 04-03-2020 | An incredible, best-in-class achievement that could only be done in VR, with excellent voice acting, sublime visuals and audio and, yes, a truly Half-Life story. | Read review |
GRYOnline.pl | Szymon Liebert | 9.5 / 10 | 03-27-2020 | With Half-Life: Alyx, Valve has proved once again that they are the best. After a few underwhelming projects like Artifact or Dota Underlords, the developers went back to their roots and created a superb single-player game. Alyx has a great storyline with fun characters and offers unique gameplay utilizing a technology capable of delivering a new experience. This VR title is a true revelation. | Read review |
Guardian | Rick Lane | 5 / 5 stars | 03-25-2020 | The classic shooter series gains a thrilling new perspective, thanks to VR tech that works symbiotically with the narrative | Read review |
Hardcore Gamer | James Cunningham | 4.5 / 5 stars | 04-15-2020 | Alyx is a trooper throughout the entire adventure, and while she can get freaked out by the places she needs to go, she never stops moving forward. | Read review |
Hobby Consolas | Alejandro Alcolea Huertos | 95 / 100 | 04-15-2020 | Half Life Alyx is the game that VR needed. The story is good, technically it’s delicious piece of cake and the gameplay is Half Life at its best. We need a powerful PC and the VR helmet, but it’s worth it. | Read review |
IGN | Dan Stapleton | 10 / 10 | 03-24-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx has set a new bar for VR in interactivity, detail, and level design, showing what can happen when a world-class developer goes all-in on the new frontier of technology. | Read review |
IGN Italy | Fabio Bortolotti | 9.3 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is an incredible demonstration of what can be done with virtual reality. Nobody, so far, has put the amount of resources and research that Valve did. This might not be the killer application VR needs, but it’s an excellent game, worthy of the main series of Half-Life. | Read review |
IGN Spain | IGN Spain | 9.5 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is the new bar for Virtual Reality. Valve has made a game so realistic, immersive and detailed that we can consider it a main iteration of Half-Life. Only its story, something fair in what it contributes to the saga make it not have a perfect score. | Read review |
INDIANTVCZ | Patrik Strnad | 10 / 10 | 03-30-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is one of the pinnacles of what VR has to offer right now. Every aspect of the game is carefully crafted to be comfortable and fun for both newcomers and VR elitists. | Read review |
Kotaku | Nathan Grayson | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx reaches some astoundingly high heights while also managing to be both too ambitious and too conservative for its own good. | Read review |
Metro GameCentral | Metro GameCentral | 8 / 10 | 03-24-2020 | An incredible technical achievement but one that is surprisingly short of genuinely new ideas, and often struggles to get the balance right between VR showpiece and satisfying gameplay experience. | Read review |
PC Gamer | Christopher Livingston | 92 / 100 | 03-23-2020 | With old friends, new enemies, and an exciting story, revisiting City 17 in VR is a thrill in Half-Life: Alyx. | Read review |
PC Invasion | PC Invasion | 9 / 10 | 03-24-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx sets a new high standard for VR games, both in technical terms and gameplay itself. Visually impressive and customizable for accessibility, Alyx’s 20-hour campaign strikes an enjoyable balance between action, horror, puzzle-solving, and humor. VR gamers shouldn’t miss this one. | Read review |
PCGamesN | Dustin Bailey | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Confidently serves as both a vindication for the magic VR can bring to gaming, and a satisfying new entry in the beloved Half-Life series.Dustin Bailey | Read review |
Polygon | Ben Kuchera | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | Valve has succeeded at just about every goal it must have had for this project. The only thing left is whether hardcore fans will be willing to buy, and use, a virtual reality headset in order to learn what happens next in the world of Half-Life. | Read review |
Press Start | Brodie Gibbons | 9.5 / 10 | 03-29-2020 | I’d declare Half-Life: Alyx the new age of the first-person shooter, if the uptake of virtual reality had been a little more promising so far. It is a cut above everything I’ve ever played within a headset and it’s a brave, risky step for a long-dormant series to take. It takes a special team to withhold for thirteen years and deliver on an impossible hype and yet Half-Life: Alyx was worth every one of those 4,548 days. | Read review |
pressakey.com | Tobias Heinen | Recommended | 04-14-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is not just a prequel. We are dealing with a tangible, independent entry into the franchise. It’s a shame that not every fan can experience this story for themselves, because Valve did such an incredible job in the final that I couldn’t stop being amazed. I don’t want to give too much away either, because this, this is something big. End Episode Two big, to stay in the familiar terminology. | Read review |
Rock, Paper, Shotgun | Graham Smith | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | I hope I don’t have to wait for brain-computer interfaces to exist before the series returns again, because despite a handful of complaints, I still think Valve make the best first-person shooters around. | Read review |
SECTOR.sk | Peter Dragula | 9.5 / 10 | 03-30-2020 | Return to City 17 in VR is grandiose. Half Life is still alive and now it looks even more like real. | Read review |
Shacknews | Asif Khan | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Valve has showcased a clear way for developers to create a high quality AAA experience built for VR that still hits all the marks of a traditional PC game. | Read review |
SpazioGames | Daniele Spelta | 9 / 10 | 03-28-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is a true Half-Life, a real game that lives inside our VR system and expands the dimension made by a videogame. | Read review |
TechRaptor | Himpe Kenny | 8.5 / 10 | 03-28-2020 | Half-life: Alyx falls short on accounts of length and issues with the platform, but manages it strengths well enough to be a game that can push the platform further and set a new standard. | Read review |
Telegraph | Dan Silver | 5 / 5 stars | 03-27-2020 | The hysteria generated by last year’s surprise announcement heralding the return of the genre-defining but long-presumed killed-in-action shooter series Half-Life was quickly tempered by news it would do so exclusively in virtual reality. | Read review |
The Angry Joe Show | Joe Vargas | 9 / 10 | 03-23-2020 | Video Review | Read review |
The Games Machine | Mario Baccigalupi | 9.8 / 10 | 03-28-2020 | Valve selects the best features of VR action games and takes them to another level. Half-Life: Alyx is not innovative in choosing what is needed for the perfect virtual reality experience – between interactivity of the environment, gestural use of firearms or environmental puzzles – but it is in putting together everything in the style of Half-Life. The kind of first person game that made the series famous, and forever changed the action adventure into a “before and after Gordon Freeman”, returns to linear origins without genres contamination, becoming an immersive sim only for what falls within our view, or what we can physically accomplish in a crazy City 17. Masterful. | Read review |
The Outerhaven Productions | Conner B | 4.5 / 5 stars | 03-26-2020 | Prepare for the experience of your life in the best VR game yet from legendary Developers Valve. Valve have taken all their innovative ideas that they’ve kept bottle up for years and finally unleashed them unto the world. | Read review |
Unboxholics | Σάκης Καρπάς | Recommended | 04-26-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is another Half-Life and from this, draw your own conclusions… | Read review |
USgamer | Mathew Olson | 4.5 / 5 stars | 03-23-2020 | Half-Life: Alyx is billed as a VR return to the series, and that’s exactly what it delivers. It does what Half-Life has historically done well, and without the clouding of nostalgia or unhelpful notions of what constitutes “revolutionary” design, it ranks alongside Half-Life 2. | Read review |
VG247 | Kirk McKeand | Recommended | 03-23-2020 | It turns out Valve just needed new tech. It just needed VR. And it’s what I needed, too. | Read review |
WayTooManyGames | Jordan Hawes | 9.5 / 10 | 05-27-2020 | It’s refreshing to have a game that focuses on telling a full fledged story experience on a platform that is mostly stretching its legs with gameplay tech demos. It just so happens that this full fledged story is also a Half-Life game that also lives up to its predecessors and ties in nicely with them. | Read review |
Game Info
Half-Life: Alyx is Valve’s VR return to the Half-Life series. It’s the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance and her father Eli mount an early resistance to the Combine’s brutal occupation of Earth.
RELEASE DATES:
DEVELOPER(S):
- Valve Corporation
PUBLISHER(S):
- Valve Corporation
GENRES:
- Shooter, Adventure, Puzzle
SERIES/FRANCHISE:
- Half-Life
GAME MODES:
- Single player
GAME ENGINE:
- -
DLC:
- -
BUNDLED IN:
- -
DIRECTOR(S):
- -
PRODUCER(S):
- -
DESIGNER(S):
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PROGRAMMER(S):
- -
ARTIST(S):
- -
WRITER(S):
- -
COMPOSER(S):
- -
GAME MODES:
- Single player
GAME ENGINE:
- n/a
DLC:
- n/a
BUNDLED IN:
- n/a
DIRECTOR(S):
- n/a
PRODUCER(S):
- n/a
DESIGNER(S):
- n/a
PROGRAMMER(S):
- n/a
ARTIST(S):
- n/a
WRITER(S):
- n/a
COMPOSER(S):
- n/a
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