A modder managed to get Half-Life: Alyx running standalone on the Apple Vision Pro in the space of a weekend, with some help from Claude AI. Like it or not, we’ve seen widespread use of AI for coding in fan-made mods lately. Developer Udi Wertheimer has shown the game running on the Vision Pro “without a PC, without streaming” with minimal flaws.

Much like Valve’s new Steam Frame, the Vision Pro runs on ARM architecture, either on the M2 chip or the newer Vision Pro M5 refresh model released last year. Wertheimer says running Alyx standalone on the Apple headset is a combination of the Linux ARM port of the game (designed for the Frame) and the open-source Klepton project that translates APKs to run on visionOS and macOS.

Apple Vision Pro can run Half-Life Alyx like a high-end gaming PC

According to Wertheimer, although Valve’s ARM port for Half-Life: Alyx isn’t an APK file for Android VR, “it’s close enough,” with Claude there to “fill in the blanks” alongside optimization work. The modder says the game runs at 3K resolution per eye at 60 FPS, “smoothened up to 120” frames per second. VR enthusiast Brad Lynch comments that it is “visually indiscernible from playing it on a high-end PC”.

Both users have tested it on the Apple Vision Pro M5, so we don’t currently have any word on how it runs on the older M2 model, which was originally released in 2024. Aside from the obvious chip upgrade, featuring a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU (up from the M2’s 8-core CPU and 10-core/8-core setup), it also introduces hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, upgraded bandwidth (from 100 GB/s to 153GB/s), and more, including an upgrade from 100Hz to 120Hz refresh rate.

Half-Life: Alyx also runs standalone on Valve’s new Steam Frame headset, though Valve did admit it took “just a year and a half of grinding software work” to natively support the popular VR title, which remains one of the best VR games to date. Without that hard work to get the ARM version running smoothly, the Vision Pro project likely wouldn’t be possible. A free copy of Alyx ships with any Steam Frame purchase, and Valve had always intended to get it running smoothly on the device.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.