Half-Life: Alyx Review

The gravity gloves are the design breakthrough. Flicking a resin canister off a shelf and catching it out of the air solves the reach problem that had kept virtual reality games stuck in wave shooters, and it feels so natural that returning to a thumbstick afterwards is a downgrade. Everything else follows from that. Reloading means ejecting a magazine, groping at your shoulder, and slotting a new one home while a Combine soldier closes, which converts a menu action into panic.

The headcrab encounters understand that fear in this medium comes from proximity and blocked sightlines, not jump scares, and the Jeff sequence in the distillery is the finest stealth level Valve has built since Ravenholm. Source 2 renders City 17's grime with a material fidelity that holds up inches from your face. The ending swings hard and lands. It remains locked behind expensive hardware, which is the only real argument against it.