Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

Spoilers ahead, you have been warned

Half-Life: Alyx has very long chapters, especially in the beginning. Long, stressful segments in scary environments where there's never enough downtime to feel a sense of relief. That's why I hosted the chapter called "Jeff". I thought it would be a bit narrative, probably meeting a new resistance fighter who would help my cause, or something.



No one has ever been so wrong about something.

Here's the part where I tell you it ain't nothing else spoilers ahead, and discard the obligatory buffer image so as to distract wandering eyes. By the way, does this guy sound familiar to you?

Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

Chapter 7 Jeff is a total sonuvabitch, some kind of hideous monster created by flora spewing Xen spores. He, uh, doesn't have what we conventionally call a head. He's like a venus flytrap that walks with the temper of a hungry silverback gorilla.

Here's what we're dealing with:

Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

The trick to Jeff (which you'll learn quickly or die to figure out) is that he only reacts to sound. So you throw bottles of vodka to lure it in different directions, allowing you to flee in the opposite direction. Whenever he gets in your way, just throw something across the room and he'll go there like a moth.

However, it is these spores that add a degree of complication. Breathing them in will cause Alyx to cough, which, in turn, will cause her head to rip off. This is why you must hold one of your controllers close to your mouth, effectively preventing Alyx from breathing in the spores. Here's what it looks like:



Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

It can be a pain in the ass. You still have to manage enough actions that you have to mentally keep your hand on your mouth. For example, I'm left-handed, so I prefer to throw bottles with my left hand. However, that means my movement is on my right hand, and I can't really move when it's on my mouth. So I kept my left hand over my mouth, moved, then switched when it was time to throw something to distract Jeff.


There is an easier way. The vodka distillery has half-mask respirators that will do this job for you. This is what they look like:

Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

Put one of these gas masks on your face and you don't have to cover your mouth anymore. It makes everything so much easier now that you can devote your full attention to navigating around Jeff. You must be warned that they eventually disappear, although it takes some time. If that happens, just take a new one from the carcass of a poor soul who no longer needs theirs.


Jeff is definitely one of the most tense and memorable encounters in Half-Life: Alyx. Overcoming it requires a lot of caution, precision and courage. But, if you use the resources available in the environment, you can eliminate a surefire way that Jeff is likely to get you.

Half-Life Alyx guide: essential advice for dealing with Jeff

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