This game is highly engaging and you feel like you are in Alyx's world. It is difficult but not too difficult even for a 67 year old gamer like me :)

Bought VR INDEX for retirement. Son built me a gaming computer. Took 8 months for a graphics card. (decent price). All lit up! First game was Half Life. Can't play anything else. I was spoiled to other games without a doubt. I'm a newbie to all this. But the graphics, sounds, gunfights, humor, etc...., was exhilarating. I will often just stay in an area and check out the detailing for 10-15 minutes. Relax. Then KILL again!

Honestly - if you are just getting into VR, I'd recommend waiting a bit with this game and to start with other VR games. Why? Because this is not only the best VR game on the market right now, it is years ahead of every other game. Playing this as your first VR game will make every other game feel like a letdown.

10/10 would wait 15 years again.


EDIT: Well, this is getting more eyes than expected and that sounded bad.

In a nut-shell, I really love this game, here's my experience, spoiler free so far:

The first 10 seconds were breathtaking, literally. I've been playing VR since 2018, a lot of games, and while the first moments of it were amazing, the feeling of presence went down a bit as I went along, playing more games. But this, this is something else. The attention to detail is amazing.

Performance is fantastic, I don't really know how they manage to pull that quality and achieve steady 90 fps. That's a technical achievement for sure.

As for world interaction / controls, they are the best they can possible be. I've played Boneworks and having physics everywhere is kinda interesting, but just as a concept. Going up a ladder in Boneworks or climbing was awful. The rest was good.
HL:A merges the best of two worlds. There's physical interactions for moments where they are needed, but they won't get in your way at all. And I really love that, because is just a frigging game, not a simulation. For example, going up a ladder here, is simple. Opening a door too. It won't get smashed in your face, only features necessary collisions. Also I really love how they went all in and gave physic properties to some enemies. That increases immersion by tons!

The hacking puzzles, I had my expectations low, but oh boy, I was really wrong. They are quite fun to do, they are challenging but not tiresome. They provide random patterns so the challenge always stay fresh.

The sounds are amazing, I had to take my helmet because I thought a rat came into my room. Then I thought it was a faulty hard disk. Nope. It was the game. I believe the sound experiments they did with CS:GO carried over here and it really shows. Character voices were a bit loud tho.

The Half-Life winks are amazing. And for someone who played them all, spent 10 years making a HL mod and basically kickstart a game dev career, it was tear inducing.

My only complain is the ammo system. While I love the Tresspasser reference ("Two mags left!") I really wish I could store back some pistol ammo. I thought that was going to bit a bit more arcade-y, but it's okay, it really helps to build up some tension.

I was going to try the game for a bit, ended up playing like 5 hours straight. Couldn't really put it down.

The upgrade system is a nice addition. Also for the different enemy types.

It's an evolved Half-Life in every way, and is what I expected and much much more.

Now, I will get a bit sad for other companies, because they set the bar incredibly high.

AAA VR games will be like this, or better, and can't say how really happy that makes me.

Go and play it right now and be part of history as this is the VR break trough everybody expected.

Valve made me spend almost 400 dollars to play this game and the worst part is that its worth every penny

Half life Alyx is the best reintroduction into the Half Life universe possible. Even though Valve says this isn't HL3; this most certainly is. I played with a Oculus CV1 comfortably. Even on low fidelity settings, the game looked beautiful. 13 years was definitely worth waiting for this masterpiece. Unfortunately, My Father, who introduced me to the half life series, passed in 2016 to brain cancer and never got to see such an amazing title and what the future of gaming will be. I love you dad.

Valve casually releases the best VR game and disappears again.

I can barely form words after the ending of this game. I will never spoil it for people who have not gotten there yet, so I wont go further into it.
This game is a literal masterpiece. From the visuals, to the music, to the story that leaves you questioning everything, Valve has managed to create a VR title set in the Half-Life universe, that rivals all other Half-Life titles.

Valve, Half-Life and their other titles saved me from a very dark time 13 years ago. And every Valve title that comes out I give my full attention. This game brought back the feelings of mystery, wonder, and concern on how my favorite characters were going to end up. Even with the knowledge of future events, as this is a prequel, it left you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The story was brilliantly written, and no one could have for seen where it was going. A pivotal roll in Half-Life's overall story and a must play for any fan of the franchise.

The graphics were absolutely stunning, and the Source Engine has been changed for the better. Comparing Source with Source 2 is like Source Gold with Source. Stunning difference! Physics are still wonky from time to time, but this made me appreciate it even more. Just like old times!

Valve seems to already be on top of patches, so I'll leave the little bugs alone as they have been updating it pretty often over the last few days.
I have some issues with how it functions for lower end headsets, like the Samsung Plus, as grenade throwing can be a bit wonky with the controllers going outside the camera's zone. But I don't really think this Valve related per-say, though the amount of times you need to USE grenades could be a bit lower. But all in all, for a lower end Windows headset like mine, I don't have many grips. Controls worked flawlessly and all responded correctly. I used continuous motion but I did find myself using the Teleport to get to places quicker. So a nice medium mix between the two was my sweet spot. Lots of options to mess around with, especially if you get motion sick.

I must point out the VAST amount of options you have available. Valve thought of a lot of people with this title to appeal to as many as they could. From Colorblind options to Light Sensitivity for people who suffer from Epilepsy. You can even play with one hand. Teleport, Smooth Motion, and Hybrids are BOTH options. So people who like either one, or both, can use what they are comfortable with. Valve just added Smooth Turning and they also have snap turning if it makes you motion sick. Play around with it, you'll find your sweet spot.

All in all, for any Half-Life and Valve fan, this is a MUST! If you don't have a VR to play it, go grab a cheaper one and experience it for yourself. You DON'T NEED an Index to play this game! If you're sure VR is not your thing, go watch a play through on YouTube and support Valve to keep encouraging them to make more games like Half-Life, Portal and Left 4 Dead. They seem to have their spark back, and by the gods the STILL have what it takes to make masterpiece games.

This final message, though I know they will never see it, is a Thank you to Valve. Thank you for making this game. Thank you for taking me back to a time where I discovered this series. And thank you for continuing to influence my life with all the things you have done for us! Please keep making games, and Thank you so much!

This is the best vr game I know of.
This is an actual game.
This is what vr is supposed to be.

About 3 hours in, I need to take a break. Here are my initial thoughts in easily-digestible point-by-point form:

• The game's tech outperformed even my pretty significant expectations. It's by far the best looking (and sounding) VR game I've played. Crucially, the image quality is fantastic, with absolutely no visible aliasing outside of very extreme cases of fine specular detail. And despite all that it maintains a pretty solid 144 (!!) FPS. Sure, I have a fast PC, but it's still a highly competent showing from the engine.
  
• The grabbity gloves are an absolutely amazing mechanic. The first 2 times I tried to use them it was a bit awkward, and my reaction was a slightly disappointed "hmm, that's it?". The third time it felt better. The fourth time it felt absolutely amazing. And from that point on I just grabbed and threw stuff around everywhere without even thinking about it. This is an extremely polished mechanism of interaction.
  
• The attention to detail is great. From startling the cat from the first balcony, over the extremely cool looking puzzles to the interactions with NPCs, to the major scenes, all of it looks like it had a lot of care put into it.
  
• Even Valve doesn't have access to magic. While the physics are better (more stable and more conducive to smooth gameplay) than anything else I've played, it's still not too hard to make things explode.
  
• Headcrabs. ♥♥♥♥ those.

Overall, I can already confidently say that everyone who has access to a VR system should absolutely play this game.