For this game, I played Half-Life: Alyx, developed by Valve Software and available via Steam for Windows and Linux-based virtual reality systems. I believe the game is intended for audiences 17+ (equivalent to an “M” ESRB rating) due to containing blood and intense, realistic violence. I chose to play this game because it challenges traditional notions of femininity. I argue that all playing of Half-Life: Alyx is inherently feminist due to its gameplay and narrative structure, but that the game ultimately fails to support intersectional feminism, primarily due to its financial and physical inaccessibility.
Half-Life: Alyx puts the player in the role and perspective of Alyx Vance, a character first introduced in Valve’s 2004 game Half-Life 2, and one of the best-known female video game characters. In Half-Life 2, Alyx is a non-playable character, and only accompanies the player, who plays as series protagonist Gordon Freeman, throughout the game. To borrow a line of thinking from Shira Chess: in her original appearance, Alyx already narratively deconstructs traditional femininity and roles of female video game characters — she rescues Gordon more than once, for instance, and is an essential ally to Gordon throughout the narrative and gameplay — but she does not achieve the same things structurally. The player still only embodies the male power fantasy character Gordon; Gordon (and the player) is still ultimately responsible for saving Alyx’s life; and perhaps most importantly, Alyx only ever accompanies and assists Gordon (though occasionally unlocking new paths for him) rather than making progress in the game on her own accord.
In Half-Life: Alyx, which is set before Half-Life 2, the player embodies Alyx herself, and in a more immersive way than they ever embodied Gordon: virtual reality. The player doesn’t just see through Alyx as they did Gordon, but rather, they are Alyx. Their hands, head, and body movements are exactly Alyx’s. By forcing the player to interact the world through Alyx’s eyes (and hands), the gameplay structurally centers her experience in an inescapable way. Alyx does not just tell players that Alyx is a strong, capable, and smart female character, which would likely be received as “preachy”. Instead, it creates space for the player themself to feel strong, capable, and smart, and ties those feelings towards the self inextricably to feelings towards Alyx via the VR mechanics.
The narration Alyx provides throughout the game, which would otherwise be typical expository self-talk, takes on a new purpose as well, providing for moments of structurally feminist reflection between action and puzzle sequences. Additionally, Alyx provides for an opportunity to retell a story, changing and reinterpreting what was previously the climax of earlier games; the ending moments of Alyx directly re-write much of the story of Half-Life 2 and its sequels Episode One and Episode Two, and in particular the final moments of Episode Two. In this way, Alyx exists outside linear time, and forces us to think about narrative time in “intimate and magical ways”, as Chess puts it.
We see an event, a flashback to the past in our real future, but the future for the game’s present.
Unfortunately, though VR is a triumph for Alyx‘s feminism in many ways, it is also a great downfall of the same. Virtual reality is inherently financially and physically inaccessible, and was even moreso at the time of Alyx‘s release (2020) than it is today.
Financially, virtual reality today is far more accessible to the consumer than it has ever been, with standalone headsets like the Quest series being purchasable for around $100 (if you can find a good deal). Unfortunately, Alyx is not accessible on such standalone systems due to its processing power needs, and requires a beefy computer (likely $700 at minimum today) to play in addition to a headset. Unlike many VR games, Alyx has no “flat” mode (other than those provided by unofficial mods). This financial burden was even greater in 2020, as the components often recommended to play the game smoothly were far newer (and therefore pricier) then than they are now. Valve’s Index headset, which Alyx was in some ways designed around, cost $999 at the time as well, making Alyx a minimum investment of around $1800 to play. As Chess puts it, “if a person cannot afford an iPhone, recommending lists of games they should play…is dismissive of the lived realities of their life”, and the same is true here. Alyx is simply not accessible to the countless people who cannot afford to drop $1800 on a video game, and this again privileges western, white, wealthy feminism.
Physically, many VR games are inaccessible, and Alyx is no exception. Though there are some accessibility options, the game lacks manty of the features needed to be truly accessible to disabled players, including those with limited arm, hand, and head mobility, difficulties holding or using VR controllers, those who need to use alternative controllers, those with severe motion sickness, and many more types of players. Alyx, which lacks a “flat” mode and the accessibility affordances such a mode could allow for, privileges the feminism of the able-bodied, and excludes many players.
Hands up!…if you can.
It is my hope that future games will be able to take advantage of the narrative and structural ties to feminism that Alyx embodies, while improving on its shortcomings by making the game itself more accessible to broader and more inclusive audiences.
