Half-Life: Alyx can now be played completely without a VR headset with NoVR mod

Valve’s VR game Half-Life: Alyx can now be completed without using a virtual reality headset. The makers of the NoVR mod for the game report that the entire single-player campaign is now playable with the mod.

The team behind the NoVR mod has released its ‘biggest update yet’, the mod makers report on Twitter. This way, the entire campaign can be completed without a VR headset. The gravity gloves are also now usable and Combine fabricators can be used to upgrade weapons. The makers report that they are now updating ‘the final parts of the game’. The team therefore warns that there may be spoilers in the patch notes of future updates, although the makers ‘try to avoid this as much as possible’.

The NoVR mod for Half-Life: Alyx has been in development for some time. However, the game could not be fully completed with the mod until now. The mod lets users play Half-Life: Alyx with a mouse and keyboard, just like previous games in the series. To play the mod, users must own Half-Life: Alyx on Steam. The NoVR mod is not compatible with save files launched with a VR headset and vice versa.

Valve released Half-Life: Alyx for PCs in 2020 via its Steam platform. It is a prequel set between the events of Half-Life 1 and 2.

The team behind Half-Life: Alyx NoVR shows 45 minutes of gameplay footage, with spoilers.