Tyler McVicker - Half-Life: Alyx was a failed experiment

"You were supposed to bring consistency to VR, NOT destroy it!"

Man Tyler you gotta play lone echo 1 and 2, it's the closest thing to alyx out there and it died in spite of it.

I think vr is doomed to be a permanent gimmick, like how mobile gaming had it's highlights, and yet...

Nobody has the money fire hose of steam

Lowering it from S because of its effect on VR being little to none is fucking stupid I’m gonna be honest

still enjoying the constant steam deck support

I agree with him, except for difficulty, because Valve games never was for be hard, that's the problem with mods, they want to be very high challenge but it's always focused on showing tech (being a benchmark) and tell a story more than being hardcore.

EDIT: Also, I think Tyler is trying to say, Valve must to make exclusive game like sony did with PS1, because otherwise, I don't understand how Valve can help another companies really.

Another fake title. Seems like this is a template on how to make certain videos, make a title and claim you are criticising something, open up by something that seems critical at the start, but then rapidly start claiming how it's basically the best thing in existence and start a whole long rant about how awesome it is. I swear to god, some of these streamers may as well be AI at this point, they are predictable like something generated by an AI based off a template.

Man that Steam Deck comment aged horribly lmao

To be honest even this video in general hasn’t aged well since Valve recently confirmed they have a new VR headset in development

he's right...VR gaming didn't explode the way they thought it would... frankly, to most gamers, it's just an interesting side-attraction, not something they "need" to buy

I don't like the term of a "failed" experiment as there is no such thing as "failure" in experiments either way you gain new info

'They don't pay attention to the rest of the industry - because they don't have to' Correct! It's not Valve's job to babysit the entire industry every step of the way; Valve has always been an innovative and creative company, and Alyx was their first foray into VR, which they chose to make a love letter to Half Life fans, not only continuing the series so longingly awaited for, but also showing people just how much potential VR has and what can be done with it. It's not their job to share every finding they have because at the end of the day, that's what makes them stand out from the rest; the quality.

That Steam Deck comment hasn't aged well

11 months later the steam deck is becoming a really great device thats constantly improving

This is so fucking stupid. He says that it's the final good VR game. The game came out, 2 YEARS ago. How the fuck would Valve have another game ready? How the fuck would there be VR games that have already fucking caught up? I mean I started hearing people complain that Half Life Alyx was it a year ago, ONE YEAR after the game came out. As if, it only takes a year or two to make a game, plus with all the covid shit that started RIGHT as Alyx shipped, delaying the fuck out of whatever they had in store. Tyler is so full of shit.

I do not disagree with what you’re saying but I couldn’t disagree more with the sentiment. In today’s gaming climate, I don’t think you should be dissuading developers to not make the best possible product because it would push the industry too far ahead. It does fall on third-party developers to try to match that and if they can’t they just can’t and maybe that says some thing about VR as a whole.

Valve did absolutely nothing new with VR interactions for this game. In fact it plays like something from 2016 - 17. Only difference is the budget for the fancy graphics and glorified cutscenes. Which should be the status quo anyways since this is a triple A studio we're talking about.

Damn this guy seemed so interested and excited and optimistic about valve right before Alyx came out and now that he got everything he wanted he's back to being bitter, I think this guy should move on from Valve, cover some other company if this one upsets him so much.

hmm, I wonder how he knows all these things if he has no industry contacts, or I guess the contacts he has are just industry adjacent.

wow valve was ahead of other developers? thats never happened before

This is the same dude who cried at the ending

im sure there will be more good vr games in the future, just maybe not as big as alyx anytime soon

This is a good edit.

Tyler is a shizo

100% agree with your conclusions. I also think HLA is a great VR game, but it's also very flawed. I was shocked when I found out that Valve's plan was to make it teleport only and thank God they added full locomotion. However, you can still tell it was baked in afterwards, which makes movement not as smooth and polished as it should have been or as integral part of the game as it could have been.

Be like Valve,
*Valve enters the chat
*Valve uploaded HLVR.exe
*Valve has left the chat
The rest of the developers in the chat: "Oh, not again..."

Valve it's literally me XD

I came here expecting Tyler to say something stupid, but instead he just told the truth, which is still stupid so I win

HL:A deserves to be S+ tier

That guy used excuse about doors opening in VR when Amnesia developers did that years ago on flat screen, gg dev and people defending that, also i absolutely agree with Valve making a game too easy

I see he is still butthurt at Valve.

This is a dumb take from a person who doesn’t really understand how Valve operates.

They made a VR game that will most likely not be topped for a long time, yes. But that isn’t a bad thing, or even Valves fault. It’s not Valves responsibility to alert developers on their feats.

They create. That’s their job.

Just sit back and enjoy the greatness.

Once again, Tyler is right.

When I talk with my friends about your videos we refer to you as "Little Tyler", but then it dawned to us - you are not little any more. Not for a long time... :)

punished tyler

"other passionate gamers that i've talked about half-life alyx"

he's right

so what you're saying is that valve is the father who gave you a million dollars, but then left for milk and never came back

Valve drops like games like Eminem drops mics.

So hear me out, crazy idea.. what if the issue lies with the VR platform fundamentally and not with Valve? 🤔

he is calling the index

I didn't think a company could have ADHD.

I just don't understand these people who focus solely on Valve releasing games.

Alyx isn't a "failed experiment" just because Valve didn't turn around and release a dozen dlcs, it was a successful experiment because It completely changed what people thought was possible in vr.

I would be content with Valve never releasing another game ever again, because in the time they've spent not releasing games they've been pushing PC gaming as a whole forward.

Sure we may never see half-life 3, but the fact that Valve destroyed the distinction between "online multi-player" and "local multi-player only" is kinda worth it. And that's just one of the features they've created, for free, that benefits all games.

But yeah, the dude who can't even figure out how to comb his hair isn't getting enough dopamine hits, so clearly Valve has failed.

Considering that valve has confirmed they will never make half life 3 more than once the game feels like pointless baiting to me

Money corrupts people. Valve is an overly cautious company, and they do not keep their word, so they stopped saying words. I don't think people realized how gimped Source SDK 2013 is on purpose, Valve doesn't want the community to succeed. You can't help woke people, they love their floating point values and that's what makes them play the "game".

He's nailed it

3 years more like 13 years

or even longer

or just never

I mean he is right, Valve can't focus on a thing unless its Dota 2 or CS GO
Case 1: Artifact
Case 2: Dota Underlords
Case 3: VR

My biggest fear is that half life alyx is the last great vr game, I could see the vr industry exploding soon or just fizzling out. Not only that, but I’m worried that we may not get another half life. I’d give it 5 years MINIMUM before we even hear about another half life, but probably closer to 10

Ya know that remark that Tyler said about the steam deck resonates with me a little too much, maybe I shouldn't get one like I was planning...