The Half-Life: Alyx intro has been recreated in Far Cry 5, and it looks great

(Image credit: Ubisoft, SaintPerkle)

The intro to Half-Life: Alyx left players staring in amazement at the massive citadel in the distance, at the familiar rooftops of City 17, and at pretty much everything else in sight—it was a beautiful and memorable opening to the first Half-Life game built for VR. 

If you want to relive that intro (or experience it for the first time) without strapping on a headset, might I suggest booting up Far Cry 5? I know, it's not the first game I'd think of when I want to pay a visit to City 17, but someone has recreated the opening of Half-Life: Alyx using Far Cry 5's map tools. And it looks great:

From the items and furniture on the balcony to the looming citadel to the rooftops and avenues below, it all looks fantastic and faithfully recreated by Far Cry 5 map-maker SaintPerkle (and posted here to Reddit). Alyx's surveillance office looks great too—there's even a camera pointed out the window. Sure, there's no strider stomping around the city, but you can't have everything.

Of course, this is a Far Cry 5 map so things get very Far Cry very quickly. There's an enemy on the elevator, and then more popping up in the office and in the hallways, and then on the rooftops—it all becomes a huge bloodbath. If you're interested in trying the map yourself, search for the map named "Far Cry Alyx" or check it out here if you're logged into Far Cry Arcade.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.