While it's looking less and less likely that a third installment will ever see the light of day, there are still plenty of fans who will always return to 2004's Half-Life 2 and maybe even the first game in the series from the late 90s. As one of the best FPS titles in video game history, the sequel to Valve's influential maiden release still holds up to this day. Alongside this, virtual reality is becoming more popular in this modern era, so it's hardly a surprise that a team of modders have been looking to implement VR into the beloved shooter.
As spotted by DSOGaming, a team of Half-Life 2 fans led by Cabalistic have been working diligently to add a VR mode to the game, and a recent YouTube video shows 12 minutes of footage from the upcoming mod. At the moment, there doesn't appear to be any planned release date, but the footage alone speaks for itself. At this point in development, it's an impressive mod showing the player interacting with the environment in that natural way that really adds to the immersion of the antics of Gordon Freeman. Anyone interested in keeping up to date on the mod's development progress can join the team's Discord server linked at the bottom of this article.
The video shows the player emerging from the train in the 18-year-old title and being greeted by the echoing voice of Dr. Wallace Breen. Fans of the game will obviously recognize the opening moments of the sequel, showing the early portions of the game as well as the ominous Citadel tower in the distance. There's also a moment that shows Half-Life 2's scary horror town Ravenholm in which the player can be seen using the gravity gun to interact with the environment. In general, the footage shows that what's been done so far with the mod is impressive.
Users in the YouTube comment section have expressed their excitement about being able to play the game in VR at last. With Half-Life 2 mods still being released regularly, some of which overhaul a lot of the vanilla game, it's clear that this nearly two-decade-old game is still beloved by the community.
As for virtual reality itself, games like Resident Evil 4 and Hitman 3 have been given the VR treatment, being implemented into modern games successfully. Given the rise of VR headsets, there's little doubt that Cabalistic and the rest of the team's mod for Half-Life 2 will be well received. It's already looking fantastic, so hopefully there won't be much longer to wait until it's released.
Half-Life 2 released in 2004 and is available on Mobile, PC, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360.