I had a pretty good time with Arizona Sunshine 2 and the remake of the original. I have not played the OG version. The inspiration they took from Alyx in the latter two titles is incredibly clear. It's kind of hard to miss. It seems that Alyx is still the benchmark, here.
I'm not quite seeing the angle where the Steam Frame is "basically" $2000, though. In whose money? I paid $1059 for the lower end model, same as everybody else. I have, like, maybe $100 in accessories into it the bulk of which is a big battery.