It would help, you'll know a bit more and get some references. SO you'd get a better experience imo but it's still really good on its own. You absolutely need to play at least half-life 2 episode 1 and 2 before playing alyx. I'd say if you have a general knowledge of half life, you'll probably be fine. Back in 2020 I rented a VR headset to experience the game Half-Life Alyx. I am a big Half-Life 2 fan and was blown away by the VR experience. In 2023 I hope
There's a VR mod that removes the need for Half-Life Alyx and it's wonderful. Its made by SoMNst and deserves all the credit. Check out more here:

The best way to play Half-Life: Alyx without a PC is to connect your Quest 2 wirelessly to a cloud PC service and use Steam VR on this virtual computer. Plutosphere is a VR-focused cloud PC service that I have successfully used to play Half-Life: Alyx without a PC. This article is going to explain the steps you’ll need to take to play Half

If you just need VR for Half-Life: Alyx and plan to only play on PC, go with the Rift S. However, if you want to dive into some simpler VR games, such as Beat Saber, the Quest 2 with a Link cable BLBg2LC. 475 425 329 137 208 110 160 462 295

can i play half life alyx without vr