Valve Believes Half-Life: Alyx Will be Modded to Play Without VR

It’s a question of when, not if

[-Foxtrot]

If one person can do this as a mod and pull it off it's going to be a giant middle finger against everyone who said it's not possible.

Not to mention if one person could do it then why the hell can't Valve, a highly skilled team of developers.

Again...give people the choice, everyone wins, no one suffers. You can't argue with that.

[Marcello]

If someone does mod it to work pancake, just like with GTA5 modded to work in VR it will have lots of quirks & bugs. It will be playable but far from perfect. Just like running games in emu`s

[-Foxtrot]

I think the point is with the bugs and the like it’s because it’ll be down to one person...one fan mod.

But if this one person could end up pulling it off then for a studio like Valve doing something official...it’ll be a piece of cake.

[MadLad]

Unless you're talking about emulation of fairly recent consoles, or weird ones like the PS3, emulators of today run the vast majority of libraries better than the original hardware.

[Unspoken]

One person is going to create a triple A title? Mmmmk

[nyu1]

@Foxtrot

That doesn't mean much. It might be easy for them to get something working, but what's the point ? It would likely be... meh as a normal game. I mean, look at gameplay and imagine playing it with keyboard and mouse. What's special about it ? Not much. When you remove all that tactile interaction and scale, you've removed so much of the experience.

Maybe a good experience but not worthy of a title being launched by valve.

[Marcello]

Yea your right, i just want to point out that people shouldnt expect a fully working version of this game if done by a modder. Only Valve can indeed do that.

[Dom_Estos]

A middle finger to against everyone who said its not possible? What are you on about? No one said its not possible to play it flat. The difference is, if you'd even tried VR you'd know this, is the control mechanics would be impossible and the game not only would be massively different and downgraded in experience, but completely devoid and missing the point of why it needed to be VR in the first place.

[carcarias]

Yep, I agree with this completely.

I think people who feel they are missing out have got the wrong idea. This isn't a HL game like the others that's somehow being withheld from them behind a VR barrier.

Most of the elements in this game feel great precisely because it's VR. Combat, puzzles, exploration etc,.

Take that away and you've got a subpar game (by today's standards) that people will say is too easy and simple and also one they'll blast through in half the time or less.

I played yesterday and it's fantastic but without VR it would be a hollow shell of what it is.

[-Foxtrot]

"No one said its not possible to play it flat"

Oh come off it, even on here all I've seen defending the exclusive VR is things along the lines of

"It wouldn't work without VR, it can't be done, it was built up with VR, that's it, that's the end of it"

So if someone, just ONE person, manages to get something working, then a massive talented studio like Valve could do something official. Meaning in the end a standard version could be done.

You are acting like the game, the franchise, couldn't exist without VR, like VR is why the series has came back...it's complete bullshit. This game could have released as a standard game WITH VR as an option and it would have done so well in reviews while selling a shit ton

[Neonridr]

@Fox - this isn't like RE7 or something where the VR was an afterthought. The game is designed to be played with using your hands. What does everything just simply get relegated to button presses?

[nyu1]

"Oh come off it, even on here all I've seen defending the exclusive VR along the lines of
"It wouldn't work without VR, it can't be done, it was built up with VR, that's it, that's the end of it" "

I doubt everyone was saying it was technically impossible.
Sure, it can probably technically be done, but it's designed as a VR game. Will it end up being a good game ? Meaning if you take away VR, you're left with what is probably going to be a shit game at worst, and a 'meh' one at best. Obviously, if a game is designed fundamentally around VR, then it wouldn't work very well on pancake. Think about it, the Alyx gameplay you've seen. Imagine it on pancake (non VR). I think it would suck. Maybe the story would be nice, but apart from that... The graphics look nice but not amazing for a normal AAA title. The gameplay would suck by the looks of it. Exploration and puzzles would be meh.

Modders can do it because it's a mod. For Valve to patch together something like that would be creative suicide. The team working on this will only put out a game if they think it's really good. Meaning they'd actually have to design the game as a pancake game.

[rainslacker]

The game was designed around it being a VR experience. If things were put in to use VR tech, then making it a standard flat game will cause those VR type features to not be as much of an experience. Any VR game can be made into a flat game, it doesn't mean that it's going to be the same kind of experience. Some games translate better from one to the other, but other games lose a lot when you take away the VR aspect, or add it in. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood would be a fairly generic on rails shooter on a flat screen for instance. But, the VR aspect made it like you were actually there, giving the game play and experience more weight.

[CrimsonWing69]

I think the whole point of this game is to show people what VR is capable of. Without the VR it loses a lot of the “wow” factor.

[UltraNova]

Exactly. This game was made with the sole purpose of showing VR off, why can't people accept this and let it be...why everything has to be changed and cater to all (remember Dark Souls and Sekiro?). No creative entity can create something with a unique and focused objective/theme etc anymore. People are so f***** entitled its disgusting.

PS: I understand that many including me have been waiting for a new half life game for more than a decade now but still its Valve's IP and they wanted to go this way, ie make a VR HL game. Its their damn property and they can do whatever the hell they want with it.

[carcarias]

Precisely.

Some people seem to think it's a HL game being selfishly withheld from them for no good reason but it needs VR in order to be anything special. That's not a criticism btw, I've played it and think it's brilliant.

[-Foxtrot]

Then why make a Half Life game?

They could have done ANY OTHER GAME, a new franchise or do Counter Strike

I mean have you seen the ending to this? I won't spoil it but it's HUGE and if you know then you'll understand why keeping this from so many people is going to make future Half Life games hard to follow.

[CrimsonWing69]

@-Foxtrot

Isn’t this just a prequel? You’re also forgetting that they’re trying to market this, what better way than to entice people with the Half-Life franchise?

I get you’re upset that you can’t play it, but going on a rant about how it should’ve been another game is pretty absurd. You’d probably still get upset if it was a different game getting the same accolades.

[sprinterboy]

It's not written in stone you know that they have to do a standard version alongside the vr version you know.
Why is it everyone thinks its a must, maybe just maybe its the dev vision and only vr truly pulls it off.

[carcarias]

Well, if they manage it (hope they can), they'll also have to change more than the perspective. It'll need proper gameplay changes too.

I played yesterday for a couple of hours (it's fantastic - amazing attention to detail, incredible atmosphere and intuitive with easy, smooth controls) and enemies, particularly melee types, are very slow. It's understandable since you can't race around like you can with keyboard and mouse.

So yeah, if they make it non-vr and change nothing else, then it'll be like a tutorial or some kind of fps for toddlers.

Having said that, much of the game's appeal will be lost as so many things in it are made specifically due to how VR makes you feel. Things you stand and gaze at, things you marvel at, will simply be things you ignore or glance at briefly before you walk swiftly past.

[harmny]

You have the worst takes on this site. And you know nothing of game development

[TakeTori]

Who said it wasn't possible? I believe what everyone is saying is that it's definitely possible but it won't really be worth the trouble. The game is going to feel overly simplified and slow and boring to play in flatscreen. Half the fun with playing Alyx is using your physical hands to interact with the environment.

Of course Valve could technically "do" it, and they've never denied as such, but it completely defeats the point of the game. Everyone who plays it in flatscreen only is mistakenly gonna say it's a boring game.

[Chard]

You just admitted you've seen the ending? So you no longer need to worry about not being able to follow future games without playing this. Nor does anyone else who wants to know the story without buying/playing VR, since youtube exists.
Complaining that a VR game should be awkwardly converted to traditional controls is a bit sad.

[generic-user-name]

The game's core design was made specifically for vr, the flow, the number of enemies, the puzzles, the challenge, the level design etc

All of that has been tailored for vr, sure you can mod it flat (though not sure how controls would work) , but you're left with a grotesque husk.

You have a choice, you can choose to get a vr headset or not, you're not entitled to every game releasing on your platform and developers should not be asked to alter their creative vision for their games.

[zahdab]

if you make a game to play in VR and it releases as a VR masterpiece you've done your job.
If someone mods it to play wit ha rockband guitar ... even though it's playable its 6/10 time instead of a 10/10. they presented their game as per their vision ... just cause it can be played in a different manner doesnt mean its the way they envisioned it.

[MusashiBlack]

The game will suck without vr

[Dom_Estos]

Probably not. But it would be massively different, and, well, very underwhelming. Basically, it would be just like HL2 in 2020 but somewhat inferior due to it missing design concepts specifically made for traditional gaming. Thing is HL2, when modded for VR, elevates that game. Gamers that want to cry and moan, and throw the toys out of the pram because this is in VR, just don't understand or realise that VR as a medium has a magnitude of potential that far outstrips that of traditional gaming concepts by far.

[mixelon]

A game where you have full control of your hands and head movement and they’re essential to the gameplay is going to suuuuuck without vr.

The experience you get will not be the same and they were right not to gimp their game to behave like others. Can anyone think of an immersive first person game with hand control that worked before vr? It’s going to be Jurassic Park: Trespasser all over again.

You could argue you want it to behave/play like other HL games, and forego the hand/head controls but that’s not what this game is.. A mod will make the campaign playable, minus what makes it great.

[carcarias]

"A mod will make the campaign playable, minus what makes it great."

Perfect way to sum it up in one sentence.

Some people seem to think VR is just/only a perspective change that puts you in the world, but the truth is that the entire feel of the experience and gameplay is built around it - from gunplay to puzzles to exploration to interaction, pretty much everything.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

For those who want a non-VR version: https://twitter.com/Dominic...

[IRetrouk]

It was made for vr, leave it alone ffs🤣

[intenscia]

It appears someone has already started working on this: https://www.moddb.com/mods/...

[BioShockGX]

Thanks for the link. Will keep checking every few weeks.

[S2Killinit]

I want it in VR, how it was meant to be played by the developer and their original vision. I applaud them because the original too, was a technical advancement because of that physics engine, and now they are trying to do the same with this one.

Besides, anyone who has played a proper FPS in VR will tell you, VR is the future Of FPS.

[carcarias]

I think this Alyx developer from the actual article sums it up here.

"As a result, what I’m confident will happen is that when people get that butchered version, and they’ll have lost all the things that we’ll have got from moving to VR, they will then understand very clearly why we made that choice. There’s a part of me that’s eager for people to be able to have that experience and realise, ‘oh, now I get it. Now I see everything we lost in that transition back to non-VR and I understand why they did it."

[-Gespenst-]

If we're leaving the non-VR version to a lone modder, we're probably not going to see an actually good effort for a very long time, if at all. Valve should really do this themselves. Like, I get that the VR stuff is a big part of the game, but I honestly wouldn't mind playing another classic Half-Life game - it doesn't have to be cutting edge for me to buy it.

[jackmamma]

Basically they are hoping someone does it for them for free so they don't have to put resources into it

[Anomander]

This game is so dependent on head movement and looking for ways around things that I couldn't imagine playing it flat and having the same experience. Having it flat would alter the game so much and it would barely be a middle of the road type game. It's perfect for VR and can see how it was designed straight up for VR.

[BioShockGX]

Waiting for our hero

[AK91]

Highly Unlikely

[specialguest]

It's been mentioned by several people already, but the game would fundamentally be a different experience. For example, picking up objects and tossing it with keyboard/mouse while playing it on your monitor is nothing special. In VR even the simplest task like that is a significant part of the experience. Sure modders could turn it to a non-VR game. However, you will not get the same experience without VR

[Casepb]

The game was never meant to be played without VR, it wouldn't be very fun at all without it.