Image: Valve
Anyone can try out Valve’s VR-exclusive Half-Life game without a headset thanks to this new mod.
Valve’s VR-exclusive game Half-Life Alyx is now playable without a VR headset, thanks to the hard work of a team of modders. GB_2 Development Team recently put out an early access mod that allows anyone with a PC to play the first-person shooter from beginning to end just by using a mouse and keyboard.
There are caveats, of course - you’ll need a decent gaming rig to run the game, and you’ll actually need a copy of the game in your Steam library. What you won’t need is a pricey VR headset, which lowers the barrier of entry quite a bit for most Half-Life fans out there. Some people might find buying a headset too pricey while others might find the very idea of playing VR games nauseating, for example.
This mod is the product of a lot of hard work from GB_2 Development Team, and it’s pretty simple to install in the game as well. The game plays like your standard first-person shooter now, only it’s much easier to take in the environments around you when you’re not thrust into the world in virtual reality. The modders have said that they plan to polish things up before a full release to improve the experience on PC, including better animations and UI changes.
Still, it must be said that much of Half-Life: Alyx’s charm will be lost on players who experience it for the first time without VR. The game relies heavily on hand-based interaction in almost every moment of gameplay, from simple things like reloading weapons to more complicated mechanics like using the Gravity Gloves. A few puzzles rely heavily on VR to keep things interesting, but would be fairly unremarkable without it.
None of this should surprise anyone who chooses to play Half-Life: Alyx without a headset, however. It was made for VR, not for the mouse and keyboard. Valve even saw mods like these coming in 2020, telling Polygon that, “It will clearly demonstrate to people why we did this in VR.” Still, Alyx’s story campaign has major implications for the Half-Life franchise as a whole - so fans might want to give it a shot if they’ve held out on playing it until now.