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Half-Life: Alyx gameplay videos showcase VR locomotion options

Valve has posted a collection of Half-Life: Alyx videos showing off continuous, shift, and teleport VR movement options in the game.

TJ Denzer

March 2, 2020 12:15 PM

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As we approach the launch of Half-Life: Alyx, many are likely curious about not only how the game looks in motion, but how it controls. To that end, Valve has delivered a collection of gameplay videos showcasing VR movement options in Half-Life: Alyx. There are three videos, each showing off a different scene in the game, and featuring either teleport, shift, or continuous movement.

Valve posted the collection of Half-Life: Alyx gameplay videos via a developer blog update on the game’s Steam page and on Valve’s YouTube on March 2, 2020. In each video, we get a different look at Alyx Vance taking on a different challenge in the game. What’s cool about it is that we get to see exactly how the game controls via three different means of locomotion. The teleport video shows a control mechanism in which players move from stationary place to place instantaneously.

Next, The continuous style has the player walking around like normal and can be seen below.

Finally, the shift video shows movement like the teleport, except with players experiencing a sudden rush to the spot they choose to move.

This demonstration of various controls coincides with Valve’s promise to make the game accessible to various players. That will extend to disabled players as well, such as adding the means to play the game one-handed or while seated, but VR motion sickness is still a very real thing for many of us. It’s cool to see Half-Life: Alyx features functionality that will allow us to play based on our comfort levels with VR locomotion. It’s also just a great look at some all-new segments of gameplay, including combat with Combine soldiers and interaction with the franchise’s infamous zombifying headcrabs.

With Half-Life: Alyx coming on March 23, 2020, perhaps the most prominent VR addition to the 2020 gaming calendar, these recent videos do a great job of showing us exactly what we’re in for when we strap on the headset and enter Alyx’s world.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.