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Valve thinks Half-Life: Alyx non-VR mods are an inevitability

People are likely working to make a non-VR version of the game viable right now, according to Valve, and they aren't particularly worried.

Brittany Vincent

March 24, 2020 11:20 AM

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Worried you'll never get to try out Half-Life: Alyx because you don't have VR capabilities or the space to play it in?

Worry not, because it is Valve's belief that Half-Life: Alyx will inevitably be modded to be played with regular peripherals outside of virtual reality. In a recent interview with Polygon, Valve's Robin Walker said he was aware that right now, someone is probably working on a way to get the game playable via mouse and keyboard.

"I know it's going to happen," Walker said. But would the team be concerned if it does?

"The answer to this diverges significantly depending on which members of the team you talk to, so this answer is definitely just from me,” Walker said. "There are a set of people on the team that are concerned about that. Personally, I’m not concerned about it at all." The reason being is that for people who have enjoyed the game in VR, it feels like that's the only way it would be as fun.

"It will clearly demonstrate to people why we did this in VR. It will be a very crisp way of seeing all the stuff we got for the move into VR. If people play [a modded version on a standard display] and say this is is just as good, that will teach me a lot. I will realize I’m wrong, and we didn’t get as much as we thought, and I love to know whenever I’m wrong."

So while the team isn't so much encouraging anyone to go out and make this version of the game a reality, they know it's likely on the way. And when it does? No problem.

"I think people will then hopefully have an even greater understanding of why we decided to build the product in VR than they do now."

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!