When Valve released Half-Life: Alyx in 2020, it gave VR players a delicious taste of how the long-awaited Half-Life 3 might play in virtual reality.
Since then, the fans of the series have been craving more Half-Life content, and unofficial add-on campaigns like Gunman Contracts don’t always cut it.
While Half-Life 3 hasn’t been announced yet (and perhaps it never will be), a group of VR enthusiasts called the Source VR Mod Team has been working tirelessly to bring Half-Life 2 to virtual reality.
The mod, called simply Half-Life 2: VR, is currently in closed beta. With most features already implemented, the developers are now focusing on fixing bugs and optimizing the mod for better performance.
“On April 29th 2022, Half-Life 2: VR has entered closed beta-testing. We are now working hard to iron out as many of the kinks and issues that our beta testers will discover to get the game ready for a public release,” writes the Source VR Mod Team.
Once finished, players will be able to enjoy the 2004 first-person shooter in roomscale VR that will provide the freedom to move around without any restrictions and, finally, throw that can in the bossy Combine officer’s face with their own hands.
To make Half-Life 2 feel as immersive as possible, the mod developers have added an intuitive Alyx-inspired weapon selection wheel, and they’re also improving all vehicle sections to minimize issues with motion sickness.
One additional quality-of-life improvement that we want to mention is the ability to turn on the flashlight by tapping your head, which we find delightfully simple and intuitive.
Half-Life 2: VR will be compatible with all SteamVR headsets, and it has so far been successfully tested on Index, Quest, Vive, and Pimax headsets. Eventually, the Source VR Mod Team would also like to bring Half-Life Episode 1 and 2 to VR, but that may take some time to happen.
