I've been calling this. It's almost like how a new Nintendo system always comes with the latest Mario.
I actually think it's a good idea because at this point for the new half life to live up to expectations it has to be truly groundbreaking and VR is the next generation of computing.
But yeah.. RIP my bank account. I've been waiting for a reason to make a VR build and this will likely be it.
I just don't see it being anything other than a disappointment. There are things that work in VR, and things that don't. Beat Saber works because it is an experience specifically designed for VR. It's simple both in concept and the mechanics it uses, and it just feels like a natural progression of rhythm games like osu or Guitar Hero. Stuff like War Thunder also works, because there is no character movement, it's just a first person simulation game where the VR adds to the immersion.
Half Life is an FPS game, they don't work in VR at all. There is no part of VR that adds to an FPS game, and I don't think that's going to be the case for the foreseeable future. So either it's going to feel like an FPS that was badly ported to VR, or it's going to be similar to one of the many VR "experiences" there are floating around on Steam, just with a Half Life skin slapped on it.
I would assume it's going to be the latter, because of the budget. Valve knows exactly how small the VR market is, and I can't see them pouring tons of money into some kind of groundbreaking VR experience if they know they will never get it back.
Being immersed in a gaming environment could benefit the experience. Pavlov the VR port of CSGO looks interesting for instance. The movement still looks buggy, that would have to be fixed for sure. I would hope Valve is releasing a whole new Source Engine for Alyx as well.
Controls and movement is my biggest concern. If that is not done smoothly how the game looks isn't going to matter.
Years of waiting for a half life game and they use it to push vr.