The direction of the design was heading in another direction and they preferred to choose to create a denser and more explorable world.
Half-Life 2 and its additional episodes featured vehicles, something that has not continued in Half-Life: Alyx, a title that we rated FreeGameTips as 10. The difference is that the new installment has been designed with virtual reality in mind , so Valve has had to build a gameplay that fits in with the saga and also works as a video game. In an interview with VG24 / 7, designer Robin Walker has given his explanation in this regard and has acknowledged that they were not prepared to offer that possibility, since they focused on other aspects of design.
"It is not because we thought it would not work in virtual reality," says Walker. "We didn't get to a point where we spent a significant amount of time thinking about vehicles." According to Walker, one reason is that they felt that players were looking for denser worlds, where they would move more slowly, in order to explore. Therefore, they chose to design a more detailed world.
The challenges of adding vehicles in Half-Life 2
Nor was it easy to design the vehicles for Half-Life 2. In the words of the developer, they had to create their own visual language so that the players realized where they had to take the car and start exploring.
With or without vehicles, Valve's new production marks the return of one of the most successful franchises in video game history. The company sees it as a new path, which if it works, will open the doors to unpublished deliveries.
Half-Life: Alyx is available exclusively for Steam VR. All the virtual reality glasses compatible with this platform are used to enjoy this new adventure within the universe of the Valve classic. Although modders are already working on keyboard and mouse adaptations, the company has always pointed out that the experience will not be the same with classic gameplay.
