Recent reviews by 1/2 Bit

I honestly like this better than the original, the concept works so well in vr

YARR!

It may sound pathetic and fanboyish, but I cried multiple times playing, solely because it's been so long not just since the last half life game, but also since the last single player game from valve.

9 years ago, Portal 2 got me into pc gaming after trying a demo of it at an arcade, and from there I went sorta backwards through valve's catalog, seeing the improvements in storytelling and immersion with each game had me excited for whatever they had coming next. Half life rumors were already a meme at that point so I didn't expect that, but I was excited for anything.

At this point, I wasn't expecting the same magic I felt playing portal 2, figured it had been too long and valve probably changed too much. To my surprise however, that magic was not only there, but improved, and the thought that I once again feel excited for whatever comes next, honestly hurts a little.

That said, overall I couldn't be happier to see valve return and do what they've always done best in a format (VR) that feels perfectly made for their brand of storytelling. And experiencing the half life universe from this truly first person perspective has been nothing short of a dream come true.

tldr: if you missed valve, they're back, and in vr.

I played this with a WMR headset (specifically the Dell Visor) and with that setup I can't recommend this game.

While I notice a lot of reviews here praising how the player model responds to the physics in the game, I found this to be the biggest source of nausea, simply due to your in game body not always doing what your real body is. I get that they want you to feel the weight of heavy objects, but I feel that's negated by you still having inhuman grip strength on those objects, so you can just grab and walk (with a joystick) to limply drag it wherever, plus with the game's story taking place in vr I can't help but think "why was this necessary?" as it just feels like a vomit inducing annoyance.

Oh, and the saving thing others have mentioned, I might've kept playing if taking more frequent breaks was an option (some would argue it's a necessity in vr) but there's no saving and no pausing. Each time you play you must start at the beginning of a level, and must get to the end of that level in one sitting, and each of these levels are roughly an hour or more of gameplay.

After working my way through 2 levels (not counting the fairly long tutorial) and feeling physically unable to continue without vomiting, I requested a refund.

I may repurchase in the future if saving and/or pausing gets added, or if I get a better headset (anyone got $500?) as my gripes with the physics might be fixed with better motion tracking, but until then I can not stomach playing anymore.

Soda Sim 2019

I miss the workshop for this game, I used to be blown away by the creation the community made with this game.

What happened? They decided to put most new content moving forward behind dlc.

At first not a big deal, $10.99 for the rest of the game is whatever. But then they did it again, and again, and again, and again.

We are now at 5 expansions, $10.99 each, for a total of $54.95, on top of the $44.99 for the game itself.

And ofc you can't get the discounted bundle if you own the game, so those who purchased the game and dlc seperate are paying a grand total of $99.94 for the complete game.

I gotta say, when I think about what I was expecting a couple years ago compared to what it is now, I'm sort've impressed with how much I got scammed.

Well played Frontier, still not buying the dlc I literally can't afford rn, but I hope you enjoyed my $44.99

Yeah it's only an hour, but it's an amazing hour that was worth the $10 I spent on it

And yes, it made me feel like I was Batman

And yes, I screamed like a child putting on the batsuit

Shut.

This game feels so "Nintendo" that it actually feels a little odd to be playing on a pc without an emulator, and I mean that in all the best ways

Games have made me cry, but this one made me go to bed and bawl my eyes out.
I would say why but I don't wanna spoil it.

11/10

One of my favorite games.
Right off the bat, the downside of this game is the story, not so much the main plot, the the fact that it gives you an interesting premise and then throws that away to have you go save your sister. That part of it could have been better.
However, the gameplay is were it shines. The parkour system is fluent, and once you get the hang of it, can pull off some amazing moments. It's honestly hard to describe with words (and I'm getting lazy) but I love it,
Can't wait for the sequel!