Half-Life: Alyx: VR comfort settings & motion-sickness rating

Short answer: Half-Life: Alyx can be very comfortable — if you use its settings. It is a full smooth-locomotion game, so out of the box it can challenge a sensitive stomach. But it also ships with one of the best comfort menus in VR, and with the right options almost anyone can play it. Start gentle and loosen up as you adapt.

Why Alyx can feel intense by default

Alyx moves you through detailed environments on foot, which means the camera glides forward and turns — exactly the kind of motion that drives VR sickness. Turning is the worst offender: research shows rotational motion triggers sickness at far lower thresholds than moving forward. The good news is that Valve built comfort options specifically to defuse this.

The settings to turn on first

• Movement: start with "Blink" (teleport). Alyx's blink teleport skips the visual travel entirely — the single most effective way to avoid nausea while you find your feet. "Shift" (a quick dash) is a middle ground; "Continuous" (smooth) is the most immersive but the most intense.
• Turning: use snap, not smooth. Set rotation to discrete/snap turns rather than continuous. This alone removes the biggest trigger; our comfort settings guide explains why.
• Comfort vignette on. Enable the FOV-reduction/vignette so the edges darken during movement — strongly evidenced to cut sickness.
• Keep the "tunneling" and adjust speed. Lower continuous-move speed if you progress to smooth movement later.

A sensible progression

Play your first sessions with Blink + snap turn + vignette, 15–20 minutes at a time. As you get comfortable, try Shift movement, then continuous with a strong vignette. Many players who "can't do smooth locomotion" end up there after a week or two of gradual exposure — see how to get your VR legs. Point a fan at your face and stop before you feel sick, not after.

Is Alyx good for beginners?

Yes, with teleport movement — it's actually a fantastic showcase precisely because its comfort options are so thorough. Just don't start on continuous locomotion if you're prone to nausea. For the broader toolkit of what works versus what's overhyped, read how to stop VR motion sickness, and compare it with other titles on our VR game comfort ratings.

Not sure which movement mode suits you? Run the comfort & severity check for a recommendation based on your own sensitivity.