Back in October 2020, we announced the release of a new mod for Half-Life: Alyx, which brought the world of BioShock to the VR game. Now its developer has turned this experience into a full-fledged campaign that is worth your time.
To get started, check out the full mod trailer.
Wim Baitaert’s” Return to Rapture ” is an eight-part story that further revisits the underwater dystopia in a campaign that serves as a sort of hybrid of a VR remake and remix. While the original demo reworked a lot of Alyx’s own resources (assets) to bring the mod to life, Wim Baitaert said the new campaign uses 200 resources from the actual game after getting permission from the original developers. For example, the game now has real Circus of Value and Little Sister cars, and they can even be fully used in VR.
The developer also hired a professional voice actor to help lead the story, in which Alix herself crashes at the entrance to Rapture. And that’s not all, there are real audio diaries, just like in the original game, that start playing when you pick them up, and you’ll also find written notes that relate to the story of the original game.
Below are 15 minutes of gameplay from the first half of the campaign. Pay special attention at the very beginning if you want to see how authentic this mod really is.
For the most part, the mod uses the same enemies from Alyx itself (although there are a few new types), but they fit perfectly into the raw remains of Delight, and Wim Baitaert incredibly cleverly used some elements of the original game that can reflect the features of the original BioShock. For example, the Vortigaunt energy you wield at the end of the game has been turned into a plasmid of electricity for use in combat and puzzles, while you need to avoid the cameras if you don’t want to use the security forces. Each of the eight chapters introduces new ideas and resembles both games in different ways.
In the year since the game’s launch, there have been some great Half-Life: Alyx mods (yes, this anniversary is only a few days away), but nothing like this with the scale and depth of it. If you haven’t yet immersed yourself in the game’s modding scene, then this is a really great place to start, and if you’ve been dreaming of playing BioShock VR, this mod is as close to that dream as possible. You can find it on the Alyx Workshop page on Steam.
Below you can also check out other mods of the iconic game from Valve:
Project 17 Alyx mod will remake the first chapter of Half-Life 2 for VR
New Half-Life mod: Alyx improves Gravity Gloves
Goldeneye Alyx 007-new mod Half-Life: Alyx based on the 1997 Nintendo classic
Update 1.4.1 Half-Life: Alyx — new weapons and content for modding
Half-Life: Alyx mod recreates P. T. Kojima in VR
New mod Half-Life: Alyx-Lightsaber from Star Wars»
“Crash Course” — New custom map for Half-Life: Alyx
New mod Half-Life: Alyx-play as Gordon Freeman
This Half-Life: Alyx mod turns the game into Wolfenstein 3D
XenThung-Half-Life: Alyx mod that adds Horde mode
