If Half-Life: Alyx left you with an itch to revisit its seminal 2004 predecessor, now you can do so in virtual reality. On Friday, a group of fans known as the Source VR Mod Team released Half-Life 2: VR Mod. As long as you own the original, you can download and play the mod free through Steam. While it's currently in public beta, the mod allows you to play through Half-Life 2's single-player story from start to finish. The Source VR Mod Team integrated a handful of features found in Half-Life: Alyx to modernize the experience and make it playable in VR.

Gaming never went out of style, but in 2020, it evolved from a fun hobby into an essential lifeline. Staying sane isn't easy when you're stuck in isolation for months on end. You can only watch so much Netflix before your brain starts dripping out of your ears. Games provide more active experiences that can help you forget that you've been staring at the same walls for weeks, letting you explore far-away virtual worlds or hang out with friends in multiplayer lobbies. In 2020, gaming became vital.

The ongoing covid-19 pandemic placed a brighter-than-usual spotlight on gaming in 2020, with an isolated population looking for entertainment they could enjoy from the safety of home. How fortunate then that alongside the year's many maladies, 2020 also delivered some of the most memorable games in recent years. From laid-back life simulators to an anticipated sequel that scrutinized cyclical violence, the gaming world was replete with options for anyone who wanted to get their minds off the consistently grim reality around them. The reintroduction and reimagination of the classic "Final Fantasy VII" highlighted the early spring, while the November debut of the PlayStation 5 ushered in a next-generation hero the gaming world both needed and deserved. Even with multiple delays pushing the much-anticipated "Cyberpunk 2077" beyond our Dec. 1 cutoff for Game of The Year consideration, there was no shortage of worthy contenders for that title.

When Half-Life released in 1997, it was unlike any other first person shooter -- a genre of video games predicated on the central mechanic of blasting things with a firearm. Popular pioneers of the genre, like Doom and Quake, were known for being over-the-top and full of bombast. Half-Life is not like those games. It begins not with a bang, but with a slow, methodical tram ride. "Welcome to the Black Mesa research facility," says a sterile voice over the tram speakers; it is the first day on the job for MIT graduate scientist Gordon Freeman.

While exploring a worn-down warehouse, I look through a window and see a room full of zombies. Headcrabs -- disgusting parasites that turn their hosts into monsters -- twitch atop the heads of three former humans. I'll just open the door, toss in a grenade, and mop up any survivors. I remove the pin and grab the handle. The door is locked, leaving me with a live grenade and nowhere to toss it. Inside is a bug that will heal my wounds, letting me survive to another day.

This year marks the start of a new decade, and the end of a generation of video games. Sony and Microsoft are set to launch new systems during the holidays, marking the beginning of a new phase in gaming. But that's good news: Traditionally, the games launched at the end of a generation are among that generation's best. Here are the video games we're most looking forward to playing in 2020: Computers, synt-wave, betrayal, and Keanu Reeves -- Cyberpunk 2077 is the most hyped game of the year. Fresh from the success of The Witcher 3, developer CD Projekt Red has gone from medieval fantasy to the dark and gritty world Night City in the year 2077.

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have built Alyx, a robot colleague that teaches autistic people to recognise social cues, as Matthew Stock found out. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have built Alyx, a robot colleague that teaches autistic people to recognise social cues, as Matthew Stock found out.