Now modders are using Half-Life: Alyx to get Half-Life 2 working in VR Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Now modders are using Half-Life: Alyx to get Half-Life 2 working in VR And there's a video of the early results. News by Matt Wales Reporter Updated on 31 Mar 2020 11 comments Last week, the Half-Life community's attempts to translate Valve's new VR extravaganza, Half-Life: Alyx, to the flat screen showed very early promise. And this week, another portion of Half-Life fandom is approaching the problem in something like the opposite direction, attempting to turn the seminal, and distinctly non-VR, Half-Life 2 into a VR game, using Alyx as its foundation. This isn't the first attempt to translate Half-Life 2 into VR, of course - an extensive VR overhaul, promising to deliver "updated effects, textures, models & maps" reemerged in 2017, having started life four years earlier - but this latest effort takes a rather different approach, porting Valve's original game into Alyx's VR-enabled Source 2 engine. One enterprising modder, known as Vect0R (who's also spend time digging up unused Half-Life 2 content and producing a real-time raytracing mod for the game), has made enough progress - converting map files and assets to Source 2's format and adding them to Alyx - to be able to show off a little bit of a VR shooty-bang-bang run around a very old-school City 17. Vect0R calls the end result a "showcase demo", saying there are no plans to share it at present. Even so, it's a impressive start, particularly as the project's been in the works for less than a week, having started the day after Alyx's release on 23rd March. Unfortunately, further progress is somewhat stymied by the fact Valve is yet to share the Source 2 SDK, meaning, as Vector puts it, the "things I was able to do was very limited". And although Valve previously said it would "really like to release [the SDK] at some point", the lack of even a tentative launch date suggests it could be some time before modders have the proper tools required to adequately continue their efforts. As such, there's no telling who'll win the race: Alyx chasing down good old-fashioned 2D or Half-Life 2 getting its new fangled VR on. Regardless, Half-Life aficionados can delight in the fact that Alyx, the first series entry in 16 years, is a superb adventure, as Eurogamer's Christian Donlan explained in his Recommended review. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 11 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store