10
kiki
1y

After all those years, I finally understood what makes Half-Life 2 so immersive.

From the very beginning, as the game teaches you things about itself, you discover that every model is made with you in mind. The barrel is just tall enough to jump on it, but not taller. The big crate's size is calculated precisely for you to jump onto it from a small crate. Ladders are comfortable for you to climb on. Everything in this game world designed around you, the human.

…except for combine constructions.

They're awkward to walk around. You keep lowkey clipping into them. Half-transparent armor fence looks like you can jump over it, but you can't. It's just a bit taller than that, on purpose. Combine towers are hard to climb onto. You keep bumping into things. Once you locate the ladder and climb all the way up, you bump your head into the ceiling. You don't have much room for movement on top. Combine walls have an inconclusive, uncomfortable physics model that is very annoying to interact with. If you run into it and jump, you clip into it just enough to stop your movement instantly.

This hammers in the message — combines aren't human. Their constructions aren't meant for humans. This was my biggest discovery the last time I played Half-Life 2.

HL2 is a strong contender to be my favorite game of all time.

Comments
  • 0
    this lesser known half-life music sample should be an official soundtrack.

    https://youtube.com/watch/...
  • 9
    this is a real building. rad as fuck
  • 4
    If you want it to be even more immersive, I recommend the HL2 VR Mod.
    It’s amazing!
  • 3
    @Lensflare I've wanted to try this for ages but I can't afford VR 😔
  • 2
    @Lensflare Half Life Alyx was also pretty good in that regard. Had a lot of fun playing it in VR.
  • 2
    @thebiochemic yup, I played it 4 times already. But those are different games really.
    HL Alyx is slowly paced with lots of puzzles and "exploration" and resource management.
    HL2 VR has more action and combat and many more different weapons.
  • 0
    @Lensflare more like a techdemo for source 2.
  • 1
    @max19931 more like the best VR game ever
  • 0
    @Lensflare superhot VR is the best VR game ever
  • 3
    @Lensflare @retoor
    I haven't personally experienced "the best VR Game" yet.
    But i'd say Boneworks is definitely a contender for it (and HL Alyx ofcourse)
  • 1
    Getting back on Topic, HL2 itself is super interesting, as you said @kiki it's a game, where the player was part of all of the design decisions and the whole process in general.

    Despite that, and it being a great game i have only played it like 2 years ago for the first time after a friend of mine told me, that i *have* to play it. On the contrary i have finished Portal 2 a bunch of times now 😅
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