I am absolutely stunned and elated at the same time. I just got finished playing the game and I couldn't help but gush about how impressed I was to my girlfriend... to whom it most likely was terribly confusing. I was able to connect certain events from previous games and got excited about the way it all seemed to fit together, and the possibilities in the future. But I'll spare you the 10+ minute 1-sided conversation that I had with my girlfriend about it. On the technical/gameplay side this game is a dream. I expect it runs well on most VR-ready machines and although my computer is older and I had to take breaks to cool my processor down. (It really is that old apparently) I thought they did a fantastic job balancing performance and still having gorgeous visuals. Story-wise it was amazing, as the Half-life series has been up to this point. The characters were fun and memorable, no major hiccups I can remember when it comes to that. Plenty of odd-ball humor sprinkled in with the more serious sections of the narrative. All in all its blended the physics, somewhat, of Boneworks and the finely crafted story Valve is known so well for into a truly enjoyable title for the Half-Life fan. Others may not be as impressed if they have no previous knowledge of the story but hopefully it gets them interested in the games enough to play through them. I myself am off to play through the Original for the first time! Truly a Triple-A title worth its salt. Highly recommended for the Half-Life fan and a tentative purchase for a newcomer, although I would suggest playing through the originals first.