In celebration of the game\u2019s enduring relevance, we\u2019re republishing our Inside XR Design episode which explores the details that have cemented it as one of VR\u2019s seminal titles.<\/p>\n
You can find the complete video below, or continue reading for an adapted text version.<\/p>\n
Intro<\/p>\n
Now listen, I know you\u2019ve almost certainly heard of Half-Life: Alyx (2020), it\u2019s one of the best VR games made to date. And there\u2019s tons of reasons why it\u2019s so well regarded. It\u2019s got great graphics, fun puzzles, memorable set-pieces, an interesting story\u2026 and on and on. We all know this already.<\/p>\n
But the scope of Alyx allows the game to go above and beyond what we usually see in VR with some awesome immersive details that really make it shine. Today I want to examine a bunch of those little details\u2014and even if you\u2019re an absolute master of the game, I hope you\u2019ll find at least one thing you didn\u2019t already know about.<\/p>\n
Inertia Physics<\/p>\n
First is the really smart way that Alyx handles inertia physics. Lots of VR games use inertia to give players the feeling that objects have different weights. This makes moving a small and light object feel totally different than a large and heavy object, but it usually comes with a sacrifice which is making larger objects much more challenging to throw because the player has to account for the inertia sway as they throw the object.<\/p>\n
Alyx makes a tiny little tweak to this formula by ignoring the inertia sway only\u00a0in its throwing calculation. That means if you\u2019re trying to accurately throw a large object, you can just swing your arm and release in a way that feels natural and you\u2019ll get an accurate throw even if you didn\u2019t consider the object\u2019s inertia.<\/p>\n
This gives the game the best of both worlds\u2014an inertia system to convey weight but without sacrificing the usability of throwing.<\/p>\n
I love this kind of attention to detail because it makes the experience better without players realizing anything is happening.<\/p>\n
Sound Design<\/p>\n
Note: Make sure to unmute clips in this section<\/p>\n
When it comes to sound design, Alyx is really up there not just in terms of quality, but in detail too. One of my absolute favorite details in this game is that almost every object has a completely unique sound when being shaken. And this reads especially well because it\u2019s spatial audio, so you\u2019ll hear it most from the ear that\u2019s closest to the shaken object:<\/p>\n
This is something that no flatscreen game needs because only in VR do players have the ability to pick up practically anything in the game.<\/p>\n
I can just imagine the sound design team looking at the game\u2019s extensive list of props and realizing they need to come up with what a VHS tape or a\u2026 TV sounds like when shaken.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a ton of work for this little detail that most people won\u2019t notice, but it really helps keep players immersed when they pick up, say, a box of matches and hear the exact sound they would expect to hear if they shook it in real life.<\/p>\n
Gravity Gloves In-depth<\/p>\n
Ok so everyone knows the Gravity Gloves in Alyx are a diegetic way to give players a force pull capability so it\u2019s easier to grab objects at a distance. And practically everyone I\u2019ve talked to agrees they work exceptionally well. They\u2019re not only helpful, but fun and satisfying to use.<\/p>\n
But what exactly makes the gravity gloves perhaps the single best force-pull implementation seen in VR to date? Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n
In most VR games, force-pull mechanics have two stages:<\/p>\n
The first, which we\u2019ll call \u2018selection\u2019, is pointing at an object and seeing it highlighted.
\nThe second, which we\u2019ll call \u2018confirmation\u2019, is pressing the grab button which pulls the object to your hand.<\/p>\n
Half-Life: Alyx adds a third stage to this formula which is the key to why it works so well:<\/p>\n
First is \u2018selection\u2019, where the object glows so you know what is being targeted.
\nThe second\u2014let\u2019s call it lock-on\u2019\u2014involves pulling the trigger to confirm your selection. Once you do, the selection is locked-on; even if you move your hand now the selection won\u2019t change to any other object.<\/p>\n
The final stage, \u2018confirmation\u2019, requires not a button press but a pulling gesture to finally initiate the force pull.<\/p>\n
Adding that extra lock-on stage to the process significantly improves reliability because it ensures that both the player and the game are on the same page before the object is pulled.<\/p>\n
And it should be noted that each of these stages has distinct sounds which make it even clearer to the player what\u2019s being selected so they know that everything is going according to their intentions.<\/p>\n
The use of a pulling gesture makes the whole thing more immersive by making it feel like the game world is responding to your physical actions, rather than the press of a button.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a little bit of magic to the exact speed and trajectory the objects follow, like how the trajectory can shift in real-time to reach the player\u2019s hand. Those parameters are carefully tuned to feel satisfying without feeling like the object just automatically attaches to your hand every time.<\/p>\n
This strikes me as something that an animator may even have weighed in on to say, \u201chow do we get that to feel just right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Working Wearables<\/p>\n
It\u2019s natural for players in VR to try to put a hat on their head when they find one, but did you know that wearing a hat protects you from barnacles? And yes, that\u2019s the official name for those horrible creatures that stick to the ceiling.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just hats you can wear. The game is surprisingly good about letting players wear anything that\u2019s even vaguely hat-shaped. Like cones or even pots.<\/p>\n
I figure this is something that Valve added after watching more than a few playtesters attempt to wear those objects on their head during development.<\/p>\n
Speaking of wearing props, you can also wear gas masks. And the game takes this one step further\u2026 the gas masks actually work. One part of the game requires you to hold your hand up to cover you mouth to avoid breathing spores which make you cough and give away your position.<\/p>\n
If you wear a gas mask you are equally protected, but you also get the use of both hands which gives the gas mask an advantage over covering your mouth with your hand.<\/p>\n
The game never explicitly tells you that the gas mask will also protect you from the spores, it just lets players figure it out on their own\u2014sort of like a functional easter egg.<\/p>\n
Spectator View<\/p>\n
Next up is a feature that\u2019s easy to forget about unless you\u2019ve spent a lot of time watching other people play Half-Life: Alyx\u2026 the game has an optional spectator interface which shows up only on the computer monitor. The interface gives viewers the exact same information that the actual player has while in the game: like, which weapons they have unlocked or equipped and how much health and resin they have. The interface even shows what items are stowed in the player\u2019s \u2018hand-pockets\u2019.<\/p>\n
Multi-modal Menu<\/p>\n While we\u2019re looking at the menus here, it\u2019s also worth noting that the game menu is primarily designed for laser pointer interaction, but it also works like a touchscreen.<\/p>\n While this seems maybe trivial today, let\u2019s remember that Alyx was released almost four years ago(!). The foresight to offer both modalities means that no matter if the player\u2019s first instinct is to touch the menu or use the laser, both choices are equally correct.<\/p>\n Guiding Your Eye<\/p>\n All key items in Alyx have subtle lights on them to draw your attention. This is basic game design stuff, but I have to say that Alyx\u2019s approach is much less immersion breaking than many VR games where key objects are highlighted in a glaringly obvious yellow mesh.<\/p>\n For the pistol magazine, the game makes it clear even at a distance how many bullets are in the magazine\u2026 in fact, it does this in two different ways.<\/p>\n First, every bullet has a small light on it which lets you see from the side of the magazine roughly how full it is.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SPECTATOR-INTERFACE-PHOTO_1.58-640x360.jpg\")
<\/a>And Valve went further than just adding an interface for spectators, they also added built-in camera smoothing, zoom levels, and even a selector to pick which eye the camera will look through.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SPECTATOR-OPTIONS-PPHOTO_1.61-640x360.jpg\")
<\/a>The last one might seem like a minor detail, but because people are either left or right-eye dominant, being able to choose your dominant eye means the spectator will correctly see what you\u2019re aiming at when you\u2019re aiming down the scope of a gun.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BULLET-LIGHTS-IN-MAG-PHOTO_1.86-640x360.jpg\")
<\/a>And then on the bottom of the magazine there\u2019s a radial indicator that depletes as the ammo runs down.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/RADIAL-INDICATOR-PHOTO_1.85-640x360.jpg\")
<\/a>Because this is all done with light, if the magazine is half full, it will be half as bright\u2014making it easy for players to tell just how \u2018valuable\u2019 the magazine is with just a glance, even at a distance. Completely empty magazines emit no light so you don\u2019t mistake them for something useful. Many players learn this affordance quickly, even without thinking much about it.<\/p>\n