Half Life: Alyx, a mod allows players to play without a VR device

Released on March 23, about 3 weeks ago, Half-Life: Alyx was a real success even before the game was launched since Valve managed to sell 300,000 pre-orders of the game. It seems that the fact that Half-Life: Alyx is exclusively playable in VR did not prevent it from achieving a very successful launch. Obviously, this also leaves without the possibility of playing the game many players who were waiting for a sequel to Half-life 2 and who do not have the necessary equipment.

Valve has also negated the possibility of developing a non-VR mode for Half-Life: Alyx, this is not on their plans. Robin Walker declared that it would be interesting to see the modders take care of it, but also affirmed that playing the game with such a mod would make people understand the choice of Valve of conceiving the game in its current form.
 

But not everyone believes this. Some players seem determined to be able to play Half-Life: Alyx without a VR headset. A player named Tyler McVicker already managed to play the keyboard and the mouse during a live stream on Twitch, but another modder, r57zone, has apparently also worked on the subject and he has published a free downloadable mod that lets you play the game without VR. The mod is available via GitHub, with all the explanations necessary to install it, even a video tutorial. However, the game experience does not seem to be very fluid, and r57zone also warns that this mod can make passages of the game more difficult.

What has been done is a great technical work. Although it doesn't seem to be optimal enough to fully enjoy the game yet, it could perhaps serve as a starting point for other modders who could make it better. The best way to enjoy playing Half-Life: Alyx is still doing it in the way it was designed for, since nothing beats the original gaming experience so far.

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