After years in improvement, and a great deal of ups and downs alongside the best way, the builders of a digital actuality mod for the unique Half-Life 2 have introduced a public beta that’ll be kicking off subsequent month.

Half-Life 2: VR has been in improvement for therefore lengthy that it was initially a part of Steam’s Greenlight program again in 2017, and certainly has been labored on by some concerned within the mission since 2013. The sluggish going has been principally as a consequence of the truth that, not like Alyx, the sport merely wasn’t designed to be performed in VR, and so there are quite a few sections which have been tough if not unimaginable to port to a headset.

Buoyed by “overwhelmingly optimistic suggestions from our personal beta testers” in latest weeks, nevertheless, the builders have steeled themselves and now imagine “that the sport as it’s now can’t solely be totally accomplished from begin to end, but it surely’s additionally very gratifying to take action”.

Because of this they’ve introduced that subsequent month they’ll be holding a public beta showcasing the whole lot that’s up and working up to now. Which, judging by the trailer under—that features car sections—is loads:

By now you’ve in all probability acquired some questions, significantly about motion and autos, which the developer’s FAQ part has solutions for:

What motion choices can be found?

The mod options clean locomotion, the place the path of movement could be configured to both comply with your head or any of the 2 controllers. Turning could be configured to be both clean or in fastened intervals (snap turns).

There’s at present no teleport motion obtainable, and it’s unclear if it can turn into a viable choice sooner or later.

How will you deal with the car sections? I don’t assume I can abdomen them in VR.

Proper now, the car rides do certainly require sturdy VR legs. Nevertheless, there are some consolation choices obtainable that can assist you survive them. A traditional motion vignette is out there and could be activated for the car rides. Whereas using the autos, the borders of your display screen will probably be blackened, lowering your discipline of view and lowering the impression of the movement illness. Moreover, you may select to expertise the car rides from a third particular person digicam perspective. In this mode, the digicam is following the car at a distance and isn’t instantly subjected to the car’s speedy actions and turns, which ought to scale back movement illness dramatically. It does, nevertheless, make controlling the autos a bit extra awkward.

In the long run, we might implement an extra mode the place the car rides are placed on a digital 2D display screen in entrance of the person, so that everybody has an opportunity to get by the car sections within the sport. This mode would in fact be much less immersive than the present ones because it’d take away any 3D impact from the expertise.

That digital 2D display screen choice sounds splendid for anybody who will get queasy! You’ll be able to learn extra concerning the mission, and see which areas they’re nonetheless tackling, at its web site.