New off-screen Half-Life: Alyx footage gives a closer look at the VR experience Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. New off-screen Half-Life: Alyx footage gives a closer look at the VR experience Enjoy 11 minutes of slightly blurry gameplay. News by Matt Wales Reporter Updated on 20 Dec 2019 21 comments Yesterday, YouTube channel Adam Savage's Tested shared an extensive breakdown of Valve's Half-Life: Alyx, going hands-on to compare the still-in-development game across a variety of VR devices. And, now, the internet has eked out the gameplay from that original 30-minute video and squashed into down into an easily digestible 11 minutes of juicy stuff. Tested's off-screen footage, taken from around three hours of play-through, steers clear of plot details and certain advanced mechanics for obvious spoiler reasons, but it does give a solid look at some of the motion-control-based interactions that players will be able to deploy over the course of Alyx's reported 15-hour run-time. The newly released 11-minute edit (created by YouTuber zck2020) features Half-Life favourites like shambling headcrab zombies and ceiling-dwelling barnacles. On the VR front, though, teleportation and full locomotion movement are showcased, as are a range of natural motion-based interactions, including aiming, reloading, grenade-tossing, door-opening, and more. Players can, handily, summon objects into their outstretched palms from a distance for more creative kills, and at one point we see an explosive canister being snatched up, tossed freely toward a barnacle's dangling appendage, and then detonated as it's hoisted into the air. Other eye-catching (and slightly icky) physics-based interactions include moments where the player grabs a box and smashes it against the ground to access an item inside, manhandles a headcrab corpse limb-by-limb, and places several items in a crate before shifting it around. It's not the sharpest footage, what with being off-screen and all (off-very-small-screen, in some cases), but it's a fascinating look at Valve's next big VR gamble all the same, and gives a solid idea of what the company is striving for in terms of core environmental interaction - even if some of Alyx's more notable mechanics are seemingly still to be revealed. Half-Life: Alyx will be playable across a range of PC VR devices when it launches in March next year, including the Valve Index, Vive, and Oculus Rift. And if you'd like to see more exuberant physics-based interactions in VR, why not check out Eurogamer's Ian Higton having the time of his life in developer Stress Level Zero's recent Boneworks? Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 61 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 11 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Sennheiser's legendary HD 599 open-back headphones are just £70 at Amazon in the Prime Early Access Sale Comfortable with neutral sound and a wide sound stage. Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. 1 Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 61 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store