Отзывы

• mawerick_mc

  Jan 28, 2023

  Interesting insights on how Valve works and how gradually a masterpiece like HL:Alyx came to be. The experience is mostly based on reading, although you have a neat recreation of the office from 360° panoramas (stitched together also in a 3d mesh). Some art, renders, short videos and 3D models from the game. Overall is worth a read if you are invested in the Half-Life universe.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 31, 2023

  The interactive storybook goes very in-depth in the inner workings of Valve, their timeline, VR development and development of the game, all at once. Much longer than the Portal 2 equivalent, it features Geoff Keighley's detailed explanation of many events that occurred, accompanied with images, videos, 3D model showcases and a few interactive segments. As a bonus, you get to observe a 3D scan of Valve's new offices that don't only add to the previous 3D scans, but demonstrate the state during the development of the game. Nothing was redacted!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  If you want to understand better how Valve operates and what it took to create Half Life Alyx then buy without any hesitation. Great quality and content!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  A highly illuminating, richly detailed and absolutely fascinating look at the development of Half-Life: Alyx, with a few detailed chapters focusing briefly on other cancelled projects at Valve (both hardware and game/software). DO NOT go into this expecting a full reveal of the cancelled Episode 3 or HL3, because understandably Valve did not discuss too much of this - the core of the Final Hours of Alyx story is the struggle to ship the actual Alyx game and the many pieces of cut content and iterations the team went through. The unused story is incredibly interesting! As a software app, Final Hours of Alyx is interactive, impeccably well-designed, gorgeous and with excellent use of sound and graphics, with rich 3D elements from inside Alyx itself. I wasn't expecting any of this - it's not just a barebones PDF reader, this is a full-blown Unity app with a lot of work put into it. A "must-read" for any Half-Life or Valve fan.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  3 minutes into it: "It's starting to look better than it has in a while, so that's promising," responds Michael Coupland, an 11-year veteran of Valve who admits he hasn't yet shipped a game at Valve because his projects keep getting canceled" This is gonna be good.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  I got jumpscared reading a fucking book. 10/10
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  Half-Life: Alyx's tumultuous gestation stewed for years in a pot of pressing questions and terrifying uncertainty. What gaming's own Geoff Keighley seeks to illuminate with this latest edition of "Final Hours" is the eye of this decade-long storm -- where Valve's star-studded roster of world-class talent sought to end the company's drought of serious gaming output, or as Valve's own Robin Walker put it, to find their way out of "the wilderness." The result is a 20,000-plus word long-form article about HL:A that reads like it was lifted from a magazine; without the limitations of a maximum word count, however, Geoff is free to explore just about anything and everything about Valve from 2010 to 2020. The level of access he is bestowed here is unprecedented. Source 2's troubled development, the creation of the Vive and its evolution into the Index, exclusive gameplay clips of unfinished Valve projects -- all of that and more give the reader tremendous insight into not just Half-Life: Alyx itself, but how Valve's company culture grew over the course of the decade. Franchise veterans like Dario Casali and David Speyrer are backed with impressions from relatively new employees like animator Jay Benson – who, Geoff reports, flunked out of University and got his start by animating Team Fortress 2’s Sniper dancing to C+C Music Factory’s 90s dance music monument “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).” What's more, Geoff leverages the unique digital distribution medium of "Final Hours" to its fullest by peppering his findings with particularly special featurettes, like connect-the-circuit puzzles straight out of Alyx's gameplay to unlock concept art, or (my personal favorite) a rudimentary audio sequencer where the reader can arrange their own headcrab sounds with layers of foley recordings. Such elements break up the reading segments with a layer of interactivity that keeps the reader engaged with illuminating content no website or printed article could hope to achieve. The strength of digital journalism is on full display here; it leaves other outlets in the dust. The only downside to Geoff Keighley’s “Final Hours” series is that there are so few installments, but the sheer length and polish in this particular one demonstrates just why they might be so few and far between. Like the Half-Life games themselves, Geoff is all about quality over quantity for this particular series. It’s a gripping ride from beginning to end to follow Valve as they see their way out of the storm to create VR’s masterwork. Fans of Gordon and Gabe alike, take note: “Final Hours” is simply essential reading.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  Incredible! Hint: I will not speak anything about the details / informations. (Spoiler free!) First, i thought that this is a "movie". Just bought it and started it. Wow! A interactive software. About this software: Thats a well made "ebook". A interactive ebook. It have so many interactive 3D animations, videos, mini games (Alyx games!) and a soundboard. This got so many background infos which aren't public before (Half Life, Valve internal stuff, how they work and much more!). Really nice to read and a MUST HAVE for every Half Life fan! It's not just a "movie" or a "ebook". It's a whole new level of that. Thank you for this! 10/10
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  A lot of information that was left to speculation for so, so long about Valve is now public. I'm kinda speechless right now... never though the day would come. If you told me 2 years ago that Valve was developing a new Half-Life game, I would have laughed at you. Now we know everything that has happened at Valve since that cliffhanger in 2007. Please give this a read if you played any of the games / at least watched Half Life Alyx or something.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2020

  An engrossing 4 hour long interactive e-book, detailing the trials and tribulations of Valve's return to the legendary Half-Life franchise. A must buy for HL fans and anyone interested in the inner workings of game development. Important: DO NOT read this if you have NOT beaten HL: Alyx. There are MAJOR SPOILERS within.