It’s been a couple of months since Valve launched their massive VR adventure, Half-Life:Alyx. After finishing the game’s sprawling, epic story, you may be wondering what is left to do in the game, and that’s where the wonderful world of mods comes into play. Valve recently launched modding tools and capabilities for the game in the Steam Workshop, allowing players and developers to build and publish mods and user-generated content.
The tools will allow for the creation of new levels, maps, models, textures, and animations. It can be an overwhelming thing to dive into the extensive amount of mods, and that’s why we have you covered with our list of the best mods you can use right now in Half-Life: Alyx.
Campaign+
Finished Half-Life Alyx and looking for a another reason to play it? Campaign+ gives you a very New Game Plus experience, reworking the game enough to make it interesting. The mod adds new enemies, adjusts difficulty, and gives you fully upgraded weapons to cuts out the resin search.
Mine Break
This mod adds a new map to the game, and with it comes a new story for you to play through. When you are forced out of your neighborhood by the police, you are tasked with investigating an abandoned warehouse that could be full of valuable resources that could be useful in your fight against the Combine. But first, you have to find your way through an abandoned mine to get there. This mod features scripted scenes, some hidden and some not, the use of the environment to damage enemies, and unique puzzles. This is just the first part of a planned multi-map campaign, with more maps to be released as they are made.
Sustenance Mod
Mix up your healing with the Sustenance Mod. In a city filled with food, don’t you find it odd that nobody seems to eat? This mod will change that up, allowing you to eat food and use them as healing items.
Crash Course
This standalone campaign was the first project from the person behind Mine Break, and while it isn’t a part of a bigger story, it still has plenty to offer. You play as an underground biologist whose work has been to benefit the resistance. But now the Combine has been made aware of your actions and now they’re coming for you. You have to escape the war-torn area full of creatures and Combine soldiers, and break through a Combine checkpoint to get to safety. Just like Mine Break, this mod features scripted scenes, unique puzzles, and large open areas.
Recurve Bow (Left Handed)
The Recurve Bow is exactly what you think it is, a bow in a VR game. Without a doubt one of the most fun combinations of weapon and medium, this allows left handed folks out there to use the Recurve Bow in the game.
Overcharge
This add-on has been receiving high praise from the community since it won a modding competition for the game. Taking on the role of a rebel sent alone on a suicide mission, players will have to stop the Combine from finishing the construction of a substation in a residential area. After much back and forth that has halted the construction, the Combine is gearing to finish the job, and you have to stop them.
Monsters Inc. Scare Floor
This mod is quite simple, but it brings a smile to our face. It’s a recreation of the Scare Floor from Monster Inc., and while there are no enemies or story to play through, it is still a delight to walk through a nostalgic setting. Yes, there are some issues with the 3D modelling of some objects and some things look low-poly, but for the simple purpose of the mod, these things are easily looked over.
Treasure Trouble
If you want some pure, adrenaline-inducing combat, look no further. This mod is a 30-minute exercise in the game’s exhilarating combat and better yet: you have unlimited ammo for your pistol. Dive into this gauntlet of gunplay and take back the treasure the Combine have taken from you.
Belomorskaya Station
If Treasure Trouble is an exercise in using an excess of resources, this mod is the opposite. You must work your way through an abandoned City 17 subway station that has been infested with zombies. This shorter adventure utilizes classic survival horror gameplay by giving you a limited source of ammo and also little visibility. No gravity gloves, just your weapons, and your management of ammo. And a plus: you can see the infamous G-Man throughout the map as fun little easter egg.
SpacePort
Take a Halo-themed adventure based on the Halo 3 multiplayer map, Orbital. It’s been transformed for a truly unique experience for you to explore and escape an abandoned space station. The mod features custom physics props, a dynamic Halo soundtrack, puzzles, combat, and more! This isn’t just a recreation of the map for you to walk through, either; this is a full level for you to take part in.
Gordon’s Crowbar Mod
While Alyx is an absolute blast of a game, many of us missed the classic things from the original games, including Gordon Freeman’s classic crowbar. Well, this mod takes care of that by loading in the crowbar to the start of every level in the main game. It can be used to touch and break props, injure enemies, and even comes with its own custom sounds and particle effects. Why not download this mod and try to beat the game with only the crowbar?
MiniGolf
Take a break from fighting against the Combine oppression and relax with some nice mini golf. While there is only one hole available right now, there are more in the works and will be coming. But even with just the one, the nature of the game invites a lot of creativity and freedom in trying to get a hole-in-one. It’s simple, yet it’s a refreshing change of pace from the narratively-driven, stark tone of the single-player story.
C17YSCAPE
This is a big one, bringing in a new campaign in City 17 between Half-Life: Alyx and Half-Life 2. You play as an escaped prisoner of a Combine jail, but you are deep in occupied territory and supplies are extremely limited. This will give you about 90 minutes of tension right between your shoulder blades.
All of these mods add some great content to the game, adding even more hours to your playtime and opening up a sandbox of activities to get into. These are just the top of the list too; there are still plenty of other great mods you can be using if you check out the game’s Steam Workshop page.
