Taylor Bauer
Taylor BauerTyler McVicker, the creator of the Valve News Network, is reporting that Left 4 Dead is coming back with a VR experience. Given Valve’s push for its VR peripheral, this would make a lot of sense. It’d also, like the new Half-Life announcement, be enough to get people to try the hardware. Left 4 Dead is one of the more popular IPs, despite only having two games out.
When Valve pivoted to software and its Steam store, games slowly began ceasing production and development. Valve is now on record to be working on three games. We know one of them is the Half-Life VR title, but the other two are a mystery. If the Left 4 Dead news is confirmed, that will leave one open spot in the company’s development plan. My money is on the third title being something related to Portal. Given the puzzle series’ popularity and the seemingly seamless transition of its content to VR, it seems likely. I can’t stress enough though that I’m only guessing.
Some fans raise concerns about motion sickness in first-person shooters. Games like Pavlov VR, however, prove that it’s possible to play a shooter and not feel sick. The technology is there, and slowly helping better games to release on VR platforms, but there are a lot of people who still don’t own VR equipment. The goal for Valve is to provide games worth buying the VR equipment. Half-Life already sold a lot of longtime fans. Now Left 4 Dead, a bit more modern title than its sci-fi predecessor, might sway some others who loved the games on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Still, fans are desperate that VR games will lead to proper sequels. I don’t think we’ll see a Half-Life 3 proper. So, VR might be as good as it gets. Why not hope for the best and see what happens? Or, like others, you can criticize the company for not giving the people what they want. Just remember, Valve has very little to gain from releasing titles oozing with hype. Disappointment is almost guaranteed. So, VR is much safer and bolder in terms of pushing the company forward.
