‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Mod Adds Multiplayer Co-Op, Sort Of

Alyx-multiplayer transforms the popular single-player VR shooter into a buddy adventure.

Available now via SteamVR, Half-Life: Alyx offers one of the most satisfying single-player adventures currently available on VR headsets. That being said, it can be somewhat lonely at times. For those who’ve yet to play the game (who are you?), Valve’s immensely popular VR shooter has you stepping into the shoes of Alyx Vance, a brilliant hacker and resistance fighter, as she battles her way deep inside the heart of City 17 in an effort to thwart the efforts the evil plans laid out by the Combine, an invading alien force bent on world domination.

Throughout the entirety of the roughly 15-hour campaign, players are on their own as they navigate their way throughout a post-apocalyptic cityscape, solve puzzles, and battle a seemingly endless army of horrific creatures. That being said, wouldn’t be nice if you had a companion to keep you company on your journey? A group of modders (DerkO, Lyfeless, 2838, Kube, and more) certainly agree, so much so the team developed a new mod that introduces multiplayer support to Valve’s record-breaking VR game, albeit with a catch.

Available now as a free download, alyx-multiplayer allows players the opportunity to experience the entirety of the HL:A campaign alongside a buddy, sort of. The mod works by tracking a players’ head position and rotation and sending that information to the host game as a second player. Player two is represented as a City Scanner, one of the in-game enemies featured throughout the campaign. Unfortunately, the mod comes with several major limitations. According to the development team, player two is unable to interact with the host players’ world; the interactions aren’t synched. Put simply, each player is playing through their own version of the game, only now they can see each other in real-time. It’s a little bit like the ghost system featured in Dark Souls.

The team claims that adding cross-game interaction—even hand models—would be an extremely difficult process as it would require them to “reverse-engineer [the players’] memory addresses.”

For more information on how to download and install the mod, visit here.

Since its launch back in March 2020, HL:A has established a sizable modding community. We’ve seen new maps inspired by classic games such as Halo and Minecraft, custom-built levels featuring their own unique challenges and environments, additional weaponry, and so much more. Take a look for yourself by visiting the games’ official Steam Workshop page.

Feature Image Credit: @KubeRuns via Twitter.

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