Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx screenshot 1Half-Life: Alyx screenshot 2
ActionAdventureVRFPSStory RichHorrorFemale Protagonist

181 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 370

Peak in the last 7 days: 553

Half-Life: Alyx Steam store

Game description

Half-Life: Alyx is Valve’s VR return to the Half-Life series. It’s the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity’s only chance for survival.

Basic info

DeveloperValve
PublisherValve
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckUnsupported
Release dateMar 23, 2020
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10
ProcessorCore i5-7500 / Ryzen 5 1600
Memory12 GB
GraphicsGTX 1060 / RX 580 - 6GB VRAM
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 410 reviews from the past 1 year

96.1/ 100
Top 1%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (98%)

Metacritic: 93 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

Players praise Half-Life: Alyx as an exceptional VR experience. Its 106,098 Steam reviews put it at 96.1, ranked 3rd of 1447 overall.

👍 Strengths

Visuals & Sound ranks 4th of 1249 and comes up in 51% of analyzed reviews. 134 reviews praise the visual detail, the most upvoted down to a piano where every key works, and 97 describe an atmosphere made immersive by obsessive polish. Story & World ranks 29th of 1096: players call the ending emotionally powerful because they perform it physically in VR. 92 reviews love it, the most upvoted calling it a league of its own in VR, and others praise the controls as phenomenal.

👎 Where it falls short

The main complaint is aiming. 18 reviews say shooting is inaccurate until the laser sight arrives, with shots landing away from where players point. 14 find exploring repetitive, checking empty drawers and cabinets, 14 call the campaign short despite thorough exploration, and a smaller group reports clipping, freezing and stutter.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“attention to detail is absurd, every key on piano works” · 134 reviews
“atmosphere truly immersive, obsessive polish” · 97 reviews
“in its own league, exceptional VR experience” · 92 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +3.33 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “phenomenal good gameplay and controls” · 23 reviews
Negative “shooting accuracy low before laser sight, aiming place and hitting place completely different” · 18 reviews

Progression 2% · Difficulty 10% · Onboarding 7% · Freedom 11% · Strategy 8%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 59% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

World +4.42 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “atmosphere truly immersive, obsessive polish” · 97 reviews
Negative “motion sickness and terrifying zombies cause nightmares” · 4 reviews

Story 32% · Characters 6%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 19% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +1.42 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “ton of content packed into 10 hours of gameplay” · 1 review
Negative “short campaign at only 20 hours despite thorough exploration” · 14 reviews

Variety 7% · Replayability 4%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 51% of reviews · Top 1% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +4.70 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “attention to detail is absurd, every key on piano works” · 134 reviews
Negative “OLED headsets display too dark, horror effect unintended” · 1 review

Audio 9%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 1% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +4.00 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 5% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.05 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “VR game worth buying at 50 yuan, excellent value” · 2 reviews
Negative “game still at full price after six years” · 4 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 1% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 22% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Performance +0.32 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Positive “최적화가 정말 좋음” · 1 review
Negative “severe freezing and stuttering issues that prolonged playthrough” · 11 reviews

Stability 6% · Developer support 4%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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