Extremely anticipated: After a decade of growth, a mod is making the whole Half-Life 2 story playable in VR, together with the 2 growth episodes. Whereas nonetheless technically in beta, the mod has obtained frequent updates and plenty of reward. The builders are extensively specializing in consolation options to accommodate varied VR gameplay kinds.
Half-Life 2’s highly-rated VR mod helps Episode Two as of Thursday, making the whole story playable in VR. When including the 2 episodes this spring, the modders launched varied bug fixes and different enhancements.
For many who have not tried it but, the mod allows room-scale VR gameplay with tracked controllers. Regardless of being a mod of an previous non-VR sport, it consists of many options gamers affiliate with made-for-VR titles.
Avid gamers can dual-wield weapons, manually reload with movement controls by reaching over their shoulders, and line their eyes up with the in-game iron sights. The mod additionally helps bHaptics vests, delivering power suggestions throughout gamers’ torsos.
These with VR consolation points or preferring to play sitting down even have choices for a neater expertise, like fast reloading and in-development teleportation-based motion. The most recent patch consists of alternate controls and a non-VR choice for the driving sections (that are vital for Episode Two). Earlier updates added an optionally available third-person driving digicam with a number of consolation choices. The consolation options are all accessible in a first-time setup wizard.
The mod helps each VR headset that SteamVR acknowledges, together with the Valve Index, HTCs headsets, Meta Quest, and others. The builders suggest customers have 10GB of accessible space for storing, 16 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1080 or Radeon RX 5700, and an Eighth-gen Intel or Ryzen 3000 CPU. It is free for anybody who owns Episode Two (household sharing does not rely).
Whereas the present public beta retains Half-Life 2’s authentic 2004 graphics, the modders intend to enhance them after ending work on the consolation options. They do not plan to make it appear to be a contemporary sport, however they need to enhance the textures, lighting, and collision to carry up higher in VR. The modders will use a mix of AI upscaling and guide touch-ups to maintain the brand new artwork property trustworthy to the unique presentation.
Those that need to play the whole Half-Life saga in VR (together with Valve’s made-for-VR Half-Life: Alyx) may attempt one of many a number of VR mods obtainable for the unique 1998 title.