ALYX IN WONDERLAND

I played the final three hours of Half-Life: Alyx in a single session. Before Alyx, I never used VR for more than 30 minutes at a time. I don’t get motion sick, but I do get generally tired of VR. Tired of wearing a headset, tired of having to stand and stoop and awkwardly reach around. But I didn’t even think of taking a break during the final chapters of Half-Life: Alyx. I was completely enthralled and unwilling to stop playing.

When I played through the ending (no spoilers here, but trust me, you’ll want to keep your VR headset on through the credits), I reloaded my last autosave, and played through the ending a second time. And then I went back to the beginning of the game and started playing again. I didn’t have much doubt would be a great VR experience—Valve makes its own VR headset and software, after all. But I was game, and I was thrilled to discover it really is.