If you didn't backflip while juggling in Half-Life: Alyx, did you really play it at all?

I was gearing up for a second playthrough of Half-Life: Alyx this weekend. I really wanted to use the physics engine to have a little fun this time around, so I took a peek at some inspirational Let's Plays to see what I could try. Then I uninstalled Alyx and put my headset away. I can't even juggle in the real world, never mind doing it in VR while backflipping. So here's the videos that humbled me.

Warning! Here be spoilers.

Juggling and doing a backflip

I can’t say that I didn’t attempt to juggle the first time around, but I did it so poorly that I gave up after a minute. ChrisQuitsReality has already been covered on RPS, but he's released an improved follow-up to that. I’m still too scared to do half this stuff, even with a nice amount of space in my room, and he goes and does a backflip…

Using a barrel to corral headcrabs

This video by Bed Bananas is full of things. It starts off making you think he’s a gaming god, somehow managing to plow through a Combine assault like Neo and John Wick combined into a single human being (as if that’s possible). But things quickly devolve into panicked chair swinging, creative use of barrels, and a loving and caring relationship with an entirely alive partner.

Tossing keycards like Ricky Jay

I... I think I can do some of these? DefendTheHouse’s trick shots are definitely possible. I don’t think I have the patience to carefully set up suitcase dominoes, but I can huck a keycard for sure.

And to think that my original plan was to carry the gnome all through the game.