A new Half-Life: Alyx mod adds a fresh, X-rated experience to the Valve and Steam VR game, with more blood, gruesome kills, and “fun mechanics such as limb dismemberment,” a brutal but brilliant way to pass the time as we wait on Half-Life 3.
Operator, a whole-new VR experience, modded from Half-Life: Alyx, feels like a cross between body horror game Scorn and action classic John Wick, as you try to survive against masses of Combine enemies in a bleeding, broken industrial hellscape.
Billed as “the bloodiest Half-Life: Alyx mod”, Operator promises “feverish brutalist geometry, horror themes with bio-mechanical inspiration, and hardcore close-quarter combat”. It’s tense and fierce in a way Alyx mods rarely are, demanding keen responses and a strong stomach. Take a look at Operator in action:
From that thumping, ominous industrial music, to the almost comical torrents of gore, Operator turns Valve’s Half-Life VR adventure into something distinctly adult. And it’s not just the visuals and violence that get the adult overhaul. Though you can knock off a leg or pop a Combine head with just a bullet or two, the same applies in reverse – react too slowly or neglect to check your corners, and Operator will bump you off faster than you can say “headcrab”. Developed by modder CementStairs, in conjunction with a team of playtesters and collaborators, Operator is out now on Steam Workshop.
Watching Alyx in action again might have you wondering — like we all are, every day — whatever happened to Half-Life 3? Alternatively, you might want to distract yourself from our cruel, Gordon Freeman-less timeline with some of the other best FPS games, or maybe jump back into the classic era of 90s shooters with the best old games that you can still get on your PC.