Even though Valve made Half-Life: Alyx as a virtual reality exclusive game to act as one of the first real AAA games in the medium, as well as a showcase of what its Index headset can do, there are a lot of people who can't afford a VR headset and would still like to play it. Valve didn't make that possible with the base game, but just three days after the game's release, modders have already started to make it work.
Shown off for the first time on TylerMcVicker's Twitch channel, the 2D Alyx doesn't have all the interactive elements of the VR version of the game, because it lacks positional tracked head movement, and individual hand tracking — so you'll only be able to shoot straight ahead, and can't look and move in different directions in quite the same was as you can when in VR. But it's certainly playable.
There's no clear indication of when this modded version of Alyx will be available to the wider public, but when it does hit mainstream, a lot of people will be able to at least experience the story of the game without worrying about buying a VR headset first.
How do you plan to experience Half-Life: Alyx for the first time?