Half-Life: Alyx without a VR headset? It’s now possible (2024)
A team of modders has figured out a way to bypass the need for a VR headset to play Half-Life: Alyx, Valve’s PC VR-exclusive game (via PC Gamer). The early access mod, created by GB_2 Development Team, lets you play through the entirety of the enthralling Half-Life 2 prequel with a mouse and keyboard, the input method that many of the franchise’s fans prefer.
You still need a copy of the game on Steam, as well as a relatively powerful gaming desktop or laptop to run it on. But it’s great news for anyone who either can’t stomach VR, can’t play in VR for accessibility reasons, or who simply can’t justify buying a pricey VR headset to play the game on.
I think it’s important to recognize how cool this is before critiquing it. It’s both polished enough to try and easy to install (it’s an easy drag-and-drop file affair). However, given the game’s made-for-VR controls and its tactile, hand-based interactivity, it’s not the one-to-one translation you might be hoping for — and it probably will never be. Yes, that means that the game’s fabulous liquid shaders are still most convincing in VR.
Gif: Polygon via Valve
Valve’s Robin Walker predicted in 2020 that a mod that turns Half-Life: Alyx into a “standard” non-VR version of the game would show up eventually, but that it’d mostly serve to “[...] clearly demonstrate to people why we did this in VR.”
He’s still right, in a sense. Some core components of the VR game, like using Alyx’s gravity gloves to pick up or interact with objects with the satisfying flick of a wrist, as well as the game’s sense of scale and atmosphere, are lost. In the mod’s current state, you won’t be able to get 9 of the game’s 42 Steam achievements, which mostly rely on interacting with objects in the world with your hands.
But still, it’s not bad as you might be dreading. After getting past a flickering main menu (and starting a new game; it won’t work with in-progress saves), the movement and shooting controls work well, and it’s great to see this game’s lush graphics on screens that aren’t an inch away from my eyes. If you only care about seeing the story beats of Half-Life: Alyx, this could be a good way to play (side note: kudos if you managed to remain spoiler-free about the game’s killer, controversial ending).
The mod team is working to implement more tweaks to the interface, the game’s animations, and more to make it feel more like a standard PC FPS, and less like a game tied heavily to its VR roots. Before installing the mod on your PC, the developers suggest reading through its FAQ, which details the controls, the essential launch commands to use in Steam, and provides some troubleshooting.
Let us know in the comments if you plan to give this a shot.
Players use VR to interact with the environment and fight enemies, using "gravity gloves" to snatch objects from a distance, similarly to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2.
You may not be able to buy a full-fledged VR headset, but that doesn't mean you can't experience virtual reality. You can use a cardboard box: Just get yourself a cardboard box, cut out eye holes and make sure it has enough room for your phone or tablet to fit inside comfortably.
Whether you're looking to play Alyx or any other SteamVR games on the Quest, you'll need to download some software to get everything working. On your PC, here's the software you need to install: SteamVR- https://store.steampowered.com/app/330050/Main_SteamVR/ Oculus PC Client- https://www.oculus.com/setup/
Our recommended hardware for playing Half-Life: Alyx
The best GPU: Based on my testing, Alyx is a great experience on an RTX 2070 on high settings. The AMD equivalent, an RX 5700 XT, should perform about just as well. Upgrade pick: If you're going all-out, though, you can't miss with an RTX 2080 Ti.
Alyx manages to survive, being rescued by Vortigaunts, who also frees Gordon from the influence of his "employer," the G-Man; after being teleported away at the foot of the Citadel and briefly revisiting it to postpone the destruction of the Citadel Core, Alyx and Gordon stick together for most of Episode One, finally ...
The daughter of former Black Mesa scientist Eli Vance and Azian Vance, she is 19 years of age at the time of Half-Life: Alyx and 24 years old during the events of Half-Life 2, becoming a prominent figure in the Resistance campaign against the rule of the Combine.
Make sure your primary hard drive has plenty of free space. Try closing other software you have running in the background - even web browsers can sometimes use a surprising amount of system resources. In particular, check if you have other applications open using dedicated GPU memory.
Alyx Vance's voice actor was recast for Half-Life: Alyx because Valve "wanted to go in a different direction." I forgot what original Alex sounds like, it's been about 20 years.
As long as your headset and computer are on the same network, you should be able to connect to your computer via Virtual Desktop, open up Steam VR and run Half Life Alyx or any other SteamVR game you own.
No more Air Link or Virtual Desktop running in the background. You can now officially play genre-defining PC VR games like Half-Life: Alyx and Phasmophobia on a Quest 3 mixed reality headset without any workarounds.
Firstly, you'll need a legitimate copy of Half-Life Alyx purchased through Steam. After that, the mod – aptly named Half-Life Alyx No VR – is extremely simple to install, and even allows you to customise the controls on a Steam Deck.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Gif: Polygon via Valve 