As of past week, a long-held imagination of playing Valve’s landmark 2004 shooter Half-Life 2 successful virtual world has yet travel to fruition. The travel began astir 10 years ago, erstwhile a antheral named Nathan Andrews managed to hack unneurotic a functioning mentation of the all-time classical successful VR. This was earlier immoderate Vives, Indexes, Quests, oregon Oculi. With a primitive Sony HMZ-T1 and specialized motion-tracking gear, Andrews risked a resonance cascade script to splice unneurotic a moving instauration for a afloat Half-Life 2 VR mod. Over the adjacent decade, dozens of volunteers would lend to the off-then-on-again project, each successful hopes of 1 time bashing enemies with a crowbar successful semi-lifelike virtual reality.

And present Half Life 2: VR Mod is acceptable to play, acknowledgment to the hard enactment of the Source VR Mod Team and their free, unfastened beta disposable connected Steam. There’s much enactment to beryllium done for sure—a nationalist roadmap shows what’s to come—but the full main run is already up and running, and beauteous surreal to experience. Sharp corners and all, Half-Life 2: VR Mod is good worthy checking retired close present if you can.

The differences are rather immediate. The G-Man’s opening country grants a full different consciousness of standard since you person progressive extent perception. Images flash and look wrong of him arsenic afloat realized 3D spaces, which you tin really adjacent wrong of and spot with greater extent and dimension. This caller presumption grants much value to the full scene.

As a video crippled graphics acquisition successful VR, it’s ace cool. Your eyes tin way flying debris and exploding barrels with the easiness and velocity of conscionable turning your head. The unit and realistic physics of Half-Life 2 are nary longer conscionable simulations appearing connected a surface successful beforehand of you; they’re happening successful a 3D abstraction you consciousness a consciousness of beingness and magnitude in. It each feels truthful earthy that it’s casual to hide this is the extremity effect of a decennary of hacked tech created by enthusiastic fans.

And portion there’s inactive much enactment to beryllium done connected the weapons, it is simply a thrill to beryllium capable to virtually hold, examine, and combat with these classical video crippled armaments. Smashing the aggressive, flying manhacks with a crowbar successful VR is truthful obscenely amusive that I privation a mini spin-off mod of this alone. And my Fitbit tells maine I’m earning “Zone Minutes” by whacking these things. The 9mm pistol feels amusive to purpose and sprout (and yes, I americium lone aiming with 1 hand). More modern VR games thin to person smoother reload mechanics, truthful this mod’s consciousness a spot clunky sometimes, but the enactment remains conscionable arsenic hectic and fun.

In a mode it feels similar Half-Life 2 was ever expected to beryllium this way. It is precise casual to suffer yourself successful this mod, some arsenic a VR acquisition and a Half-Life one. It easy pushes past the presumption of “tech demo” oregon “mod,” feeling similar it’s shaping up to beryllium a coagulated VR crippled successful its ain right.

The Half-Life 2: VR Mod task is presently being worked connected by users from the Flatscreen to VR Discord server, led by WormSlayer, whose engagement goes backmost to the earliest days of the project. Back then, WormSlayer caught show of Andrews’ aboriginal prototypes and offered his talents, starting with enactment connected the weapon models.

WormSlayer’s statement of the mod’s aboriginal days sounds similar thing you’d request to slap unneurotic to past City 17 itself. The assemblage of tech included a “Sony head-mounted TV, a weapon controller for a console, and a nonrecreational 3D tracking strategy [Andrews] had entree to,” WormSlayer told Kotaku. That headset successful question was the Sony HMZ-T1, which sported “an eye-watering solution of 640x720 per eye, and a 45-degree tract of view,” WormSlayer said. That headset would beryllium near down successful favour of the Oculus DK1, the archetypal hardware the just-incorporated Oculus (now Meta) ever released. You tin spot footage from those aboriginal days successful a 2013 YouTube video.

As specified an aboriginal user VR experiment, the task was destined for immoderate roadbumps arsenic caller tech deed the scene, rapidly aging retired existing standards. “Valve and Oculus some abandoned the thought of treating a VR headset arsenic conscionable different monitor,” WormSlayer said. “This was a dependable thought for galore reasons, but it efficaciously broke VR enactment successful Half-Life 2.”

After that power up, the squad gave up for a while. Andrews retired from the task entirely. Eager VR assemblage members, however, persuaded WormSlayer to reconsider dropping it each together. “[They] were assured they could hack OpenVR enactment into the aged project,” WormSlayer said. And truthful the task sparked to beingness again, making large advancement earlier erstwhile again resuming its slumber arsenic indispensable contributors moved on.

Thankfully, the nascent Half-Life 2: VR Mod would so spot a 2nd resurgence erstwhile the Flatscreen to VR assemblage mustered up a caller team. Now that the nationalist beta is retired and playable, they’re focusing their efforts connected bringing the task to a afloat polished and finalized state.

As playable and amusive arsenic it is close now, Half-Life 2: VR Mod inactive has immoderate issues, chiefly regarding performance. “The aged motor is precise single-threaded and lone supports DirectX 9, truthful adjacent with our hacked-together DXVK implementation, we’ve been warring to deed FPS targets successful immoderate places,” WormSlayer said. While I’ve yet to get to immoderate of the much chaotic scenes of the game’s second half, I’ve recovered show truthful acold to beryllium rather good. Given that there’s nary teleport-style question option, however, this mod mightiness beryllium pugnacious connected the tummy if you’re caller to VR.

Ultimately, the physics and tech of Half-Life 2 are inactive a joyousness to play with 18 years later. VR lone amplifies the physicality of its world, with the quality to virtually prime up and manipulate objects. Half-Life 2: VR Mod is nary Half-Life: Alyx successful presumption of the sheer magnitude of interactable objects, but it fits successful good arsenic a VR-worthy prequel. And with the summation of the crowbar and a head-mounted flashlight, it has much than a fewer features and comforts of its own. Being capable to virtually manipulate objects successful the satellite is simply a refreshing mode to revisit galore of the game’s puzzles.

The astir astonishing happening for me, however, was however this acquisition is affecting my cognition of the game’s characters, particularly the soundless protagonist himself.

Gordon Freeman is simply a quiescent feline adjacent erstwhile he’s frantically destroying shit. But adjacent conscionable being capable to motion astatine an NPC marks a 100% summation successful inter-character interaction. Playing Half-Life 2 and being capable to question astatine Dr. Kleiner arsenic helium shouts with excitement upon seeing you makes maine wonder: Is Gordon Freeman adjacent a waver? Does helium springiness a thumbs up to bespeak helium understands? Does helium shingle oregon motion his caput erstwhile radical speech to him? How person I ne'er thought astir this for each these years?

NPCs besides look astatine you astatine oculus level successful a precise eerie way. This feeling exists successful other, much modern VR games, but it’s astonishing to find it truthful contiguous successful a crippled from 2004. The simplicity of the models, with gentle caput animations and eyes that springiness a hint of property and awareness, conscionable hardly inches the crippled retired of the uncanny vale into thing that starts to consciousness realistic.

I’m not saying nodding, gesturing, and looking radical successful the eyes are the blistery features you database connected the backmost of the container (that’s saved for viciously beating the crap retired of metallic manhacks with a crowbar and seeing this classical crippled successful existent 3D), but it definite does alteration the code of Half-Life 2. One nitpick here: It’s a shame you can’t spot your hands portion piloting the airboat. Not lone did my eyes ne'er permission the G-Man arsenic I blazed past him successful my flight from the Combine, I would’ve loved to look and constituent dormant astatine him, arsenic if to accidental “I spot you motherfucker. I spot you.”

I’m looking guardant to playing done the remainder of Half-Life 2: VR Mod, spotting the unsocial changes the caller format adds and inspires. There’s inactive enactment to beryllium done by WormSlayer and the team, including much improvements to the weapons, tweaks to marque the crippled a spot easier for folks prone to question sickness, and adjacent immoderate AI-upscaled textures to springiness the much aged aspects of the graphics a spot of a facelift. Those changes volition beryllium precise welcome, but for present this archetypal playable mentation makes for a large mode to leap backmost into this classical game. If you similar Half-Life and ain a PCVR headset, you should download this yesterday.