Classic FPS Half-Life 2is now playable in VR and looks pretty stunning thanks to a fan-made mod.
Half-Life 2: VR Mod is finally released in open beta on Steam, after nearly a decade of development and a lot of fan support. Adding full virtual reality support to Valve’s definitive FPS, it looks like a viable successor to Half-Life: Alyx, not just free.
The mod features full room-scale action with tracked motion controls, so you can freely move around City 17 and collect objects with your hands. All guns have been overhauled to support manual reloading as well as ambidextrous use and optional laser sights. Also, a new radial weapon select menu has been added, along with an over-the-shoulder ammo storage to connect with the VR controls.
Valve Index, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S and HTC Vive including SteamVR Playable on any VR headset supported by As a mod, you need to have Half-Life 2 on Steam to play, but why not have one of the best FPS games ever made?
Get up and shine, Mr. Freeman
Half-Life 2: VR Mod Definitely ambitious. Created by a team of volunteer developers, it looks like it’ll turn the original game into VR wholesale, with many of Half-Life: Alyx’s changes based on the VR design. If the final game plays as smoothly as its trailer suggests, it should feel close to an official VR version of the classic shooter game.
It’s only released in beta though, and the developers say it will take some time before the mod is completely finished. Although it is fully playable from start to finish and has all the gameplay elements, you may run into a few bugs.
According to the developer’s roadmap, weapons need extra polish, new animations and improved handling. The controls also require some tweaking, and the team is exploring teleporting as an alternative to direct controls – but they are wary that the game’s levels weren’t originally designed for such a system. In the future, textures will also be upgraded so the game’s 18-year-old graphics will look less jarring on a VR headset.
The team hopes to release the VR transformations for Episodes 1 and 2 separately at a later date. Maybe Half-Life 2 lets us pick the best VR games ever.
Half-Life 2: VR Mod Steam Browse the mod on the page(opens in new tab). If you want to make things a little harder for yourself, you can always try playing Half-Life 2 in VR using Garry’s Mod.