Half-Life: Alyx gives you a number of options to make the VR experience fit your specifications and accessibility. This Half-Life: Alyx Accessibility Settings Guide will introduce and acquaint you with all the accessibility settings in Half-Life: Alyx.
Even if you have a beastly PC that can run the game on the highest settings, there are some aspects of the VR experience that can cause some issues which is where you need accessibility options.
Half-Life: Alyx Accessibility Settings
Difficulty Settings
Half-Life: Alyx has four difficulty settings. From the lowest to highest difficulty, these are;
Story > Easy > Normal > Hard
Hand Preference Setting
The game offers between Right and Left-Handed Controls right at the start of the game. this choice refers to the hand that you’ll use the weapon controls with.
Movement Types
Movement Type refers to the animation that occurs when you swiftly move from one place to another. There are four Movement Types that you can chose from according to your ease. The purpose here is to tackle motion-sickness as excessive movement display in the VR can cause discomfort. Choose the option that best suits you. The options are;
- Blink – this is the most comfortable movement type recommended for players just starting off as actual movements can be very disturbing at the start. Blink completely nullifies motion sickness by taking the motion out of the picture completely. You just choose the location you want to go to with the controller and the display just takes you there instantly in a blink; only with a fade in and fade out.
The Blink Movement also allows for rotation in your movement. Meaning you can teleport to a particular point while also rotating in your desired direction simultaneously so you don’t even have to turn your head in the movement. The Quick Turn angle options are in 15 degree increments and up to 90 degrees.
- Shift – very similar to the Blink movement but the animation is a bit different; it zooms you over to your destination. The animation is a bit more rapid and can cause a bit of discomfort.
- Continuous – as the name itself suggests, the movement is full and continuous. This movement type is the most immersive VR experience and it imitates the traditional FPS gaming mechanics. It can however be the most inconvenient for new players and players with motion sensitivity. The player uses joystick to move and move their head for rotation and changing direction.
- Continuous Hand – similar to continuous motion except that you use your hand instead of your head to point in the direction you want to move, meaning you move forward using the joystick still look around without changing direction. This one is a lot more suitable than the continuous motion as you are more in control of your direction.
You can mix up between these movement types by playing around with the settings to create a setting most suitable for yourself.
Accessibility Options
The game also has accessibility options to personalize settings for disabilities and impairments.
Single Controller
Modifies gameplay to change all actions to a use a single controller.
Height Adjust
Crouching and ducking maneuvers are used throughout the game. The player can personalize setting to specify controls. For instance, set controls for shifting between crouching and standing up.
Seated Mode
This setting allows a seated gameplay. The settings are fixed in a way that you do not need to perform a movement that requires you to stand.
Weapon Selection Mechanic
Allows you to personalize how the player will choose between weapons. You can use either of:
Hand to point to the weapon you want to select.
Head to point to the weapon you want to select.
Hybrid to use both methods.
Light Sensitivity
You can turn light sensitivity mode on to reduce the strength and flickering of lights in-game.
Subtitles and Closed Captions
Allows personalization of subtitles and closed captions for dialogues and in-game sound effects. You can adjust the size and width of the text.
