Someone’s remade long-lost VR horror demo P.T. in VR via a Half-Life: Alyx mod. Because of course they have.
If you don’t know, P.T. is a now-legendary PS4 demo that served as a viral teaser for a new Silent Hill game from Metal Gear Solid creator, Hideo Kojima. The project was infamously scrapped after Kojima fell out with publisher Konami and P.T. was removed from the PlayStation Store.
This mod from AmbientDruth brings the game to Valve’s Source 2 engine, with a surprising degree of authenticity. It’s still early days for Alyx mods, so it uses many of the assets from the original game (including Alyx’s hands and windows with convenient handles on them). Check out a run-through in the video above.
Plus the experience isn’t 1:1 with the original P.T. and is missing some of the games creepiest moments. But AmbientDruth plans to add more to the experience over time, including the flashlight and the even some endings, so expect it to get a whole lot scarier. Even as it stands though, it’s another impressive addition to Alyx’s growing mod scene. We’ve also recently seen a mod that adds lightsabers to the game and a map from Portal 2 ported into it.
This isn’t the only recreation of P.T. we’ve seen, though. The game lives on in fan-remake form; people have ‘ported’ it to Dreams and even made their own full remakes, some with experimental VR support. Perhaps one day Konami will give us the full Silent Hill VR game we deserve. I mean, I won’t play it, no siree, but I’ll be happy for the people that do!
What do you make of this Half-Life: Alyx P.T. mod? Let us know in the comments below!
Looking for the best VR games in 2020? Look no further!
Well, 2020 might not be going the way anyone exactly planned, but one thing’s for sure; there’s already been a lot of great VR games. As we approach the halfway point, it’s time to reflect on some of the best experiences released for headsets so far.
To recognize as many games as possible we’re splitting our current list of best VR games in 2020 into two parts. First is the all-new releases, but we’re also recognizing ports of older games that made successful transitions to other headsets. Also check out our lists for the best 25 games on PSVR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and SteamVR!
Best VR Games 2020: All-New Releases
Half-Life: Alyx
What Is It?: Do we really need to remind you? Valve’s legendary series finally returned in fine form as a prequel to Half-Life 2 in which we play as Alyx Vance.
Our Score: 5/5
What We Said: “But, for the already-initiated and those susceptible to it, Alyx is a triumphant return; a stunningly produced, meticulously refined capping off of the past four years of VR learnings. Its 10+ hours of best-in-class combat, evolving level design and, every so often, moments of truly inventive ideas swiftly establishes it as a new benchmark for the platform.”
OhShape (Quest, PC VR, PSVR coming soon)
What Is It?: Beat Saber meets human Tetris; you have to fit shapes in a wall, avoid obstacles and grab coins to the beat. A nice change of pace from other VR rhythm games.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: ” It’s a smart, straight, no-nonsense rhythm game with an energetic core mechanic and plenty of options to tailor the experience to your liking. There’s a few presentation hiccups and the initial track list could be more inspiring, but these are minor and very fixable issues. If you’re growing tired of slashing or shooting beats in VR, then you should definitely try throwing some shapes here instead.”
What Is It?: Based on the enduring comic book series, Saints & Sinners takes players to zombie-infested New Orleans, where they shoot and stab their way to survival.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Despite its minor issues like relatively boring environments, repetitive mission structure, and human AI that leaves a bit to be desired, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is easily the best zombie game in VR to date. The shooting mechanics feel heavy and impactful and melee is extremely violent in just the right ways. There’s plenty of depth between the survival systems and crafting mechanics and it packs a large and dense adventure unlike anything else out there.”
Paper Beast (PSVR)
What Is It?: Another World creator Eric Chahi makes his VR debut with this sensational VR animal kingdom.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “It is a game not content with just one miracle, be it the authentic, almost documentarian approach to a virtual ecosystem, nor the technical milestones such a feat requires. Even its set of puzzles somehow emerge as a remarkably natural extension of its core themes and systems, creating a cohesive and curiously precious VR game to be preserved and savoured. Though it usually comes with unintended pitfalls, Paper Beast proves playing god can be great from time to time.”
Down The Rabbit Hole (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: An all-new adventure set in Wonderland that takes you on a whirlwind tour of strange places and crazy characters.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Even Down The Rabbit Hole’s sheer existence seems like lunacy. It’s as strange a VR game you’ll find, one that refuses to be pegged down to any one demographic or tick any certain box. There might be a touch of tameness to some of its puzzles and the adventure is over a little too soon, but when the game tips its box of ideas upside down, magic usually falls out. Down The Rabbit Hole is as Mad as a Hatter, and that’s exactly what you’d want it to be.”
The Room VR: A Dark Matter (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: Fireproof Games’ award-winning series delivers a compelling VR-native series of intriguing puzzles.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “The Room VR: A Dark Matter is an exemplary puzzle game that not only serves as a prime example of what makes puzzle games so compelling in the first place, but elevates the genre via VR with supreme interactivity, excellent visuals, and a palpably mysterious atmosphere.”
Lies Beneath (Quest, Rift)
What Is It?: Drifter does Silent Hill in this story-driven first-person shooter that pits you against horrific monsters.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “While Lies Beneath doesn’t pack enough true terror to be considered a new peak for VR horror, it does manage to craft an intriguing story in a stylishly formed world with mostly satisfying combat and palpable tension. It’s exciting to see a developer that was so previously rooted in the fast-paced action shooter category branching out to something more slow-paced, narratively-driven, and visually unique.”
Pixel Ripped 1996 (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: The next in ARVORE’s series of love letters to retro gaming, Pixel Ripped 1995 has players enjoying tributes to classic consoles inside VR.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: Pixel Ripped 1995 is a bigger, bolder, and even more nostalgic walk down memory lane that shifts the focus from the late 80s to the early 90s — perhaps the most iconic and formative decade of the video game industry to date.
Spaceteam VR (Quest, PC VR, PSVR coming soon)
What Is It?: A successful conversion of a frantic mobile party game, Spaceteam has up to six players working together to keep their vessel going.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Inevitably, some of the same-room companionship is lost in the transition from physical to virtual, but not nearly as much as you might think, and thoughtful additions made possible by headsets go a good way to making up for it. Spaceteam VR will break friendships, ruin your vocal cords and raise your blood pressure. That is to say, it’s quite a delight.”
Best VR Games 2020: Ports
Ghost Giant On Quest
What Is It?: A touching story-driven adventure in a gorgeous papercraft world, with fun puzzles and a mature take on a troubling subject.
Our Score: 5/5
What We Said: “Ghost Giant remains a delicate balance of charm and poignancy; an important story told with the right amount of sensitivity, steeped in the power of VR connection and companionship. Solving its puzzles might present the occasional road bump, but you’ll otherwise be swept up by its marvellous world of miracles and the characters that live in it. And, thanks to Quest, that’s easier to do than ever.”
Final Assault On PSVR
What Is It?: VR does the WW2 RTS with fantastic results.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “There’s a fun focus on planning and improvising in Final Assault, making it an engaging, albeit somewhat less involved, entry for the genre even if it wasn’t on a headset, but in virtual reality, the RTS shines as an imaginative chest of colorful toys. Just make sure when you’re planning your attack to call in a supply drop of dramamine.”
Form On PSVR
What Is It?: A sublime piece of VR puzzling with first-class interactions and amazing visuals.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “FORM is a little too short and lacking in challenge for it to be considered a true classic, but it stands tall as a VR puzzler unlike any other. There’s an understanding of this new medium here that few developers have been able to demonstrate. Its atmosphere is dense and engaging and its puzzles capture a strong sense of discovery, resulting in a brilliant blend of gameplay and experience. The flood of VR puzzle games could learn a lot from the foundations that Charm Games has laid here.”
Tetris Effect On Quest
What Is It?: Tetris… in VR. Yes, really.
What We Said: ” Playing Tetris Effect that way is a real prospect with an Oculus Quest — and an utter joy — that would be very hard to achieve with a console or PC tethering you to the house.”
Gorn On PSVR
What Is It?: Free Lives’ gloriously silly battle sim that rips up the rules on VR violence.
What We Said: “All that said, if you’re able to optimize your setup and come in with the right expectations, I’d still say Gorn is an easy recommendation for PSVR fans. No, you’re not getting an epic adventure comparable to the bar-raising The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, but there’s still some of VR’s most entertaining combat on offer here.”
Do you agree these are the best VR games of 2020 so far? Let us know in the comments below!
The release of Half-Life: Alyx (2020) on Steam in late March brought along with it nearly one million additional monthly-connected VR headsets, a record gain in SteamVR users. Valve just released its Steam Hardware Survey for May, and it seems there’s been zero pull-back in connected headsets one month after the usership surge.
In fact, the recorded number of VR headsets has actually gone up by a fraction, going from April’s 1.91% to 1.92% in May.
It wouldn’t have been that strange to see at least some reduction month-over-month since the game’s launch, as people plugged in for Half-Life: Alyx alone and then simply left after the last headcrab was vanquished. The numbers suggest however that new users might just be staying around for more than just HLA, which in our review took us 12 hours to beat.
Image created by Road to VR
The actual makeup of connected VR headsets has changed a bit however over the last month, with many major PC VR headsets such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, and Valve Index losing a fraction of a percentage.
Connected Oculus Quest headsets, which account for 7.46% of the total number of connect headsets now, made a gain of 1.43% in May alone—making for the largest increase among the lot.
This steady growth in Quest users could be attributed both to Facebook’s continual (if not sporadic) restocking of the largely sold out headset combined with the recently revised standard for Oculus Link, which now allows lets Quest users play Steam games by connecting to VR-ready PCs with the stock charging/data cable that comes in the box.
Granted, Valve’s monthly Steam Hardware Survey only tells a part of the story when it comes to its VR users. Those headsets are indeed plugged in, but there’s no telling how active that new userbase truly is; that will likely require a longer time frame to see whether those gains are a new floor for continued growth or a transient spike in users. Considering the wealth of content generated over the past four years though, it’s very likely those users are here to stay.
Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know what has you the most excited in the VR space right now?
Now that we are comfortably on the other side of Half-Life: Alyx, Valve’s marquee multi-year AAA project built from the ground up for VR headsets, it’s important to keep looking forward.
There is a lot to get excited about still coming in 2020 and especially beyond. There are still major releases slated for this year from Facebook for the Oculus Rift platform, like Lone Echo 2, Phantom: Covert Ops, and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. On Quest it seems like something new and exciting happens once or twice a month that we never expected, not to mention anticipated games like Onward, Solaris, and Population One.
Outside of the Facebook sphere we’ve got Dreams and Iron Man VR to look forward to on PSVR and plenty else on the horizon like LOW-FI, After the Fall, and another Walking Dead VR game, among many others.
So, there is a lot to look forward to then. What has you most excited in VR, AR, and otherwise in 2020 and beyond? Let us know down in the comments beow!
Valve released Steam Workshop support for Half-Life: Alyx alongside a beta release of community development tools.
The moment a lot of Half-Life fans have been waiting for is here as the release formally opens up a new era in modding and community VR built around the incredible VR game from Valve which released just a few months ago.
“You can create new levels, models, textures, and animations for Half-Life: Alyx, and using Steam Workshop you can browse and play everything the community has uploaded,” Valve explained in an update. “Want to make your own VR physics sandbox or a giant Rube Goldberg machine? Design a new combat encounter featuring a dozen Combine soldiers at once? What about creating the world’s longest Multitool puzzle, or imagining a whole new district of City 17? Crack open the tools yourself and make it happen!”
There’s a detailed documentation page here and you can browse the Half-Life Alyx Steam Workshop page here to check out popular additions for the game. Valve said it plans to “add to and improve” the tools in the coming weeks while the current release includes “new or updated versions” of:
Hammer, the latest version of the Source 2 level editor.
Material Editor, the tool for creating and tuning materials in Source 2.
ModelDoc, a tool for viewing, editing, and compiling models with animation, collision, and other gameplay attributes.
AnimGraph, our animation tool used to create complicated animation setups with blends and transitions.
Particle Editor, for making new particle effects.
Subrect Editor, for creating smart texture sheets known as “hotspots.”
Source Filmmaker, the Source 2 cinematic renderer and animation tool.
Several sample maps are also included with the release alongside the “entire set of Half-Life: Alyx maps is also included as editable source for reference – this includes a large collection of interactive objects and prefabs.”
The update also adds a native Linux version of the game which uses the Vulkan rendering API.
Approaching two years from the release of Half-Life: Alyx, we’ve compiled a list of the best Half-Life: Alyx mods and how to install them.
Shortly after Alyx launched in March 2020 a modding scene started to emerge adding whole new maps and areas as custom content. What started as a few custom maps cobbled together in unofficial tools has become a much larger selection of content offering new Alyx levels and other custom games. With Steam Workshop support, it’s easy to install and play through Half-Life: Alyx mods.
Here’s our selection of the best custom content for Alyx and how to install it.
How To Install Half-Life: Alyx Mods and Maps
Almost everything on the list can be found in the Steam Workshop. This is an online library where mod and map creators can upload their work and other plays can ‘subscribe’ to that content to have it added to their game and updated as the mod receives patches or new content.
The install process for Alyx mods and maps through Steam Workshop is very simple — all you have to do is click the green ‘Subscribe’ button on a mod or map listing, which will then download and install into your copy of Alyx automatically.
To enable mods, there’s an ‘Add-Ons’ option in the Alyx main menu while in-game. Here, you can turn on and off mods that add new elements or alter the main campaign or simply turn on any custom maps you’ve downloaded.
If you’re playing a mod or add-on for the main campaign, it should take effect automatically after turning on. If not, check the Steam Workshop listing description for any mod-specific instructions.
You can start custom maps by going to start a new game — instead of selecting the main campaign, choose the custom map of your choice. This will take up a save slot in your profile, allowing you to save you progress through the custom map just like the normal game.
Some mods aren’t available on Steam Workshop — we’ve noted those and left links for each one describing how to install those mods specifically.
Best Half-Life: Alyx Custom Mods and Maps
Loco-Motive
One of the more recent releases on this list, Loco-Motive is a super detailed, polished and engaging Half-Life: Alyx map. It should last around 45 minutes and offers similar gameplay to what you became acquainted with in the game’s main campaign. There’s nothing particularly new or groundbreaking about the map, it’s just very good — at times, you would be forgiven for mistaking the custom environments as the same ones from the main Alyx campaign. There’s even a few custom Russell voicelines thanks to a very good Rhys Darby impression that sounds eerily similar to the real thing.
This mod overhauls Alyx’s visuals to turn it into a mobster shooter that is almost unrecognizable from the game it started as. You play as a hired gun sent to rescue a woman from a human trafficking operating which is run out of a nearby bar. Gunman Contracts’ biggest pull is a selection of custom assets, such as the 1920s mobster types replacing Combine soldiers.
The map is not without its faults, but it’s an astonishingly impressive change in visual theme compared to the original game.
This maps moves the focus away from Alyx and instead puts you in the shoes of the enemy — in Goon Squad, you’ll be playing as one of three Combine soldiers tasked with clearing out and escaping a quarantined facility.
While it’s a nice narrative switch-up, the Combine solider aspect doesn’t change too much from a gameplay perspective. Nonetheless, the map feel very high quality and well-designed. If you’ve played through Alyx’s main campaign, you’ll recognize a familiar foe who appears halfway through the map and adds on a new level of complexity to one of Alyx’s most tense gameplay mechanics.
One for Valve fans, ApertureVR brings the iconic Aperture test chambers from the Portal franchise into VR for a set of newly-designed puzzles that let you use Alyx’s gravity gloves to solve puzzles without a Portal gun. There’s four chambers available, all of which use various Aperture cubes and gameplay elements from the Portal series, minus the titular device.
This custom map takes Half-Life: Alyx and turns it into a wave-based shooter. Stuck in an enclosed space with limited weapons and ammo, you’ll have to fight off increasingly large and difficult waves of enemies threatening to overwhelm you. In between waves, you can use money you’ve earned in previous waves to buy ammo and health from vending machines spread about the map. It’s essentially a whole new game mode set in a custom environment.
This mod brings the first level of the classic shooter into VR, complete with Alyx’s established set of mechanics. You’ll still be using the same weapons and fighting the same enemies from the core game, but classic textures and enemy placements remain the same.
This fantastic custom mini campaign, split over two parts, puts you in a completely different environment to most of the Alyx campaign. In Mine Break, you’re underground surrounded by mine carts and ravaged corpses of ex-miners. Headcrab zombies are everywhere, as is dynamite — you’ll have to use the latter to unlock new areas of the map as you progress through.
You can find both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Mine Break on Steam Workshop.
Overcharge
In Overcharge, you’ll explore a residential block that is currently occupied by Combine soldiers. You play as a rebel sent in to stop the Combine from resuming work on their substation. This mod was one of the earlier mods made for Alyx, won 1st place in a Alyx Modding Discord server competition and, at the time of writing, is the most popular and most subscribed Alyx mod available on the Steam Workshop.
This mod takes two levels, Dam and Facility, from the N64 James Bond classic Goldeneye and brings them into VR through Half-Life: Alyx. While the mod still feels unquestionably like Alyx, the layouts do a good job of replicating the feel of the original Goldeneye maps.
1.91% may not sound like a lot. But comparing it to other currently niche items on the Hardware Survey shows PC VR is off to a great start already.
In fact, if the current trend keeps up, within two months we expect more Steam users will use a VR headset than a 4K primary monitor.
In April 2019, Valve reported Steam reaching 90 million monthly active users. If we assume that figure has now grown to roughly 100 million, we can estimate the number of Steam users with a VR headset as roughly 2 million.
VR Headsets On Steam
Using the April Hardware Survey data and the estimate of 100 million Steam active users, we can arrive at what should be a decent estimate for how many of each specific headset are in use.
For newer headsets, this number should be somewhat close to how many were sold. Older headsets are more likely to be in storage or inoperable.
Inside-out tracking has enabled lower-cost headsets and easier setup, accounting for the majority of VR headset growth since May 2019 thanks to the Rift S. However, 6 in 10 headsets on Steam are still tracked with external hardware thanks to the huge numbers of Oculus Rift and HTC Vives still in use.
Because of how these methods work, Quest only started showing up in the Steam Hardware Survey in the March data, at which time it represented 2.89%. That has now increased to 6.03%, the largest percentage growth we’ve seen any specific headset make yet.
While the vast majority of Quest owners clearly still don’t own a gaming PC, social distancing and household isolation may be driving PC sales significantly as consumers spend more time inside alone. Quest stock starting to return could also be a significant contributor to this growth.
There is another possible explanation however. Inexplicitly, the Oculus Rift S dropped from 27% to 22%, formerly being the most popular headset but now losing out to HTC’s original Vive from 2016. It may be possible that Valve corrected an issue that was causing some Quests to be detected as Rift S.
While the Steam Hardware Survey is by far the most reliable indicator of the size and makeup of the PC VR market, there are still multiple ways to interpret the data. We’ll keep a close eye throughout this year to track how PC VR grows.
It seems that every week since release, the standard for Half-Life: Alyx custom content has been kicked up a notch. This week is no exception — we tried out a new custom map by Brad Lynch called Crash Course, which has some awesome scripted events and a higher level of polish than we’ve seen in other community content so far.
So far, there’s been some pretty fantastic Alyx community content — we’ve seen a working crowbar mod, a sandbox map that lets take on Jeff as Gordon Freeman and a whole recreation of the first level of Wolfenstein 3D. However, nothing so far has appeared quite as polished as Crash Course.
The level starts in a well-themed room with a couple of scripted events. I won’t spoil these too much, as they’re the highlights of the map, but they place you as the spectator as Combine soldiers interact with the world around you. There’s only a few of them and while they’re small touches, they really help make the map feel alive more than just a series of well-placed assets.
You’ll also briefly get to use a crowbar and there’s a cool sequence that will see you use a candle to navigate a dark area. If you don’t mind spoilers, we’ve recorded the first ten minutes of the level, embedded below.
I played for more than 20 minutes and still hadn’t made it to the end of the map, but your mileage might depend on the speed and difficulty at which you play. Nonetheless, it’s a good chunk of content with polished environments if you’re looking for a fix of extra Alyx.
What continues to impress is that all of these custom Alyx maps are being made without official support or mapping tools. Valve has promised support and updated authoring tools, but in the meantime the community has found a way to make do to produce these maps.
If you want to try out Crash Course for yourself, you’ll need to know how to download, install and run Half-Life: Alyx custom maps. If you’re unsure on the process, be sure to check out our guide.
There’s been a slew of Half-Life: Alyx mods since the game’s release, and we’ve even seen one that lets you play as Gordon Freeman in a sandbox and wield his crowbar against enemies. In those mods, the crowbar doesn’t properly work as a melee weapon – it’s more for a show. But a different map by modder Nick implements basic melee crowbar mechanics in a room full of zombies.
Warning: Major spoilers for Half-Life: Alyx below.
One big omission from Half-Life: Alyx was significant melee combat. Instead, the game focuses on shooting and gunplay. While it does that very well, it’s fair to say that some players were hopeful for more complex melee interactions.
Although Gordon Freeman’s iconic crowbar is present at the very end of Half-Life: Alyx, you don’t get to do much with it. Nick’s crowbar mods aims to change that.
It’s a very simplistic and somewhat unpolished implementation of the weapon, but it’s still a cool for a fan-made mod. You can deliver a one hit kill to a zombie with a swing of your crowbar, but it’s doesn’t feel overly satisfying or consistent. That being said, this is more than understandable given the limited nature of the current Alyx modding process. While waiting for the promised official support from Valve, the community has found limited methods to make do in the meantime.
A new mod for Half-Life: Alyx by modder cj_beans introduces a sandbox-style map where you can play as Gordon Freeman and spawn various items, weapons and enemies. That also means you can fight Jeff as Gordon, using your trusty crowbar… kind of.
Since the release of Half-Life: Alyx last month, the modding community has been increasingly active with mods and custom maps. One of the most fleshed out mods we’ve seen is the wave shooter mod XenThug that works like a brand new horde mode. There’s been some other cool ones as well, like this Wolfenstein 3D mod.
Now, a new release called the “Gordon mod” places you in a sandbox map as Gordon Freeman, where you can press buttons to spawn items, weapons and enemies. There’s a few rooms to explore as well, but the real fun is spawning cool combos of items and messing around.
As you can see in the video embedded above, I immediately spawned Gordon’s iconic crowbar. Sadly, it doesn’t quite work as a melee weapon – if you try to use it against an enemy, it will just fall out of your hands and do no damage. Alyx itself had no melee combat so this isn’t too surprising.
That being said, it’s still fun to play pretend. After spawning a G-Man ragdoll and taking out some revenge on his floppy body, the next logical step was to play with the now iconic creature ‘Jeff’ from Chapter 7.
Given there’s no way to kill Jeff in the actual game (besides an optional trash compactor interaction), I still couldn’t do much here either. But I couldn’t resist carrying a bucket of grenades around lobbing them at him. Of course, I also had to try take him on as Gordon using the crowbar. I knew it wouldn’t end well, but I had to try.
While the mod isn’t super substantial, it’s a fun way to spend a couple of minutes messing around with various enemy and weapon combos. It’s even more impressive given that official mod support from Valve, which was promised during Alyx’s announcement, hasn’t been implemented yet. All of these maps are built using a custom, modified version of Hammer – an official updated version of the tool, with support for Alyx and VR, is still expected from Valve at some point.
