Half-Life: Alyx No VR Mod Shapes Up Nicely
Playing Half-Life: Alyx without VR goggles around the launch was possible, but the experience left a lot to be desired. However, the modders did not stop working and now the option looks pretty good.
Playing Half-Life: Alyx on a keyboard and mouse will never be a perfect experience - the title was designed with virtual reality in mind, and only when we put VR goggles on our head does it show its full potential. However, not all fans of the series can afford to buy such equipment, so their only salvation are mods. One of them, No VR Mod - the work on which has been going on for about a year - will enable us to experience Alyx on normal monitors, and although its creator, YouTube user SoMNst, will never manage to recreate the full experience of playing in goggles, his work has already brought interesting results.
The above material presents mainly the latest changes: a new view model, added animations, improved camera during shootouts, or visual indication of receiving damage. The creator of the mod also made an effort to make the game's characters move in a believable way, e.g. balanced the speed of our heroine's movement when sneaking and reduced her speed when aiming down. The behavior of enemies has also been changed - zombies run instead of walking and attack us more aggressively, same as headcrabs. Another positive change is the display of gun sights (dots) only when we hide the weapon and use gravity gloves.
No VR Mod is not available yet, as its creator is still working on further improvements. The next ones to be shown are the crafting stations, which supposedly already work, but still need tweaks... kinda like the whole mod. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the best alternatives (next to FakeVR Mod, which enables us to complete the entire game as it is now) for those who will want to explore the story of Alyx Vance on their own without buying additional hardware, but the experience of playing in VR is still a long way away. Especially since the most fun in the new Half-Life is the unique interaction with objects, which, without Oculus Quest 2 or Valve Index, differs little from what we know from other games. Nevertheless, the development of No VR Mod is worth following - on the creator's channel on YouTube or here.
