Valve Spent Over a Year Trying to Get a Crowbar Working in VR for Half-Life: Alyx, but Couldn’t Crack It

[Tsing]

Image: Valve



Half-Life: Alyx is an incredible game, but it’s missing one of the most iconic elements of the franchise – a crowbar. How could Valve forget to include Gordon Freeman’s weapon of choice?



According to designer and programmer Robin Walker, Valve did in fact try to get a crowbar into Half-Life: Alyx because it “unlocked a lot of gameplay,” but the weapon had to be scrapped due to various problems that the team ran into. The first of these involved basic positioning.



“The lack of force feedback meant that players would often hold their crowbar out of their sight, because that’s what you do when you’re holding a real crowbar—you wouldn’t look at it all the time,” Walker said. “But then they’d hook it on stuff. They’d be walking along, and then they’d hook it on a...

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[magoo]

I agree with Valve on this one.
Alyx was recognized by her burst fire pistol, not a Crowbar.
I'm playing through Alyx currently and it's just amazing.
Would I like to pick up a pipe or brick and wack a zombie or Combine, sure.
Bit all in all, if it doesn't work well, don't do it.