Here's Half-Life 2 running in VR, using Half-Life: Alyx's engine

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The VR port demo was made in just under a week.

It was only a matter of time before modders started using Half-Life: Alyx as a basis for a Half-Life 2 VR port. While a Half-Life 2 VR port hit Steam Greenlight back in 2017, and as of last year was still in active development, most people have been using a slightly awkward Garry's Mod workaround to experience the game in VR.

But modder Vect0R appears to have found a relatively efficient approach to porting the game into Source 2—the engine that Half-Life: Alyx uses. While the mod isn't publicly available (it's a "showcase demo") the method used to create it seems relatively straightforward.

"I took the original map file and converted to Source 2 format and added to Half-Life: Alyx," Vect0R writes on YouTube. "In [the] process, I converted assets of Half-Life 2 to Half-Life: Alyx as well."

Vect0R goes on to write that without an SDK (software development kit) for Source 2, the work they can do is fairly limited. Valve reiterated in January that it has no current plans to release the engine's full SDK, so this barrier may endure for some time to come.

Still, Vect0R writes that the above video was started on March 24, which means it took less than a week to port that section of the game into VR. That said, the desire for a non-VR Half-Life: Alyx mod seems to be in greater demand.

Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.