Half-Life: Alyx new liquid physics can make some really good looking Baja Blast
You can look, but you can't drink
Half-Life: Alyx now supports the tropical lime crispness of Mountain Dew Baja Blast.
The new development is the work of a modder who put Half-Life: Alyx's eye-catching liquid shader to use on something far more appealing than musty bottles of wine (which have probably gone to vinegar since the whole alien apocalypse thing anyway): a lovingly recreated bottle of the Taco Bell/seasonal exclusive soft drink. 3D artist Kosan uploaded a pair of videos showing off their handiwork on Twitter.
Even Barnacles like the refreshing taste of lime pic.twitter.com/ivSjOzKqxUJune 4, 2020
The first video shows Alyx discovering an entire cooler of Baja Blast, which must be a welcome sight for somebody who was still a kid when the last Taco Bell fell in the Seven Hour War. The second video shows that barnacles - those things that dangle down their sticky tongues then eat stuff that catches on them - also enjoy the official taste of summer. The only problem, and it's admittedly a big one, is that you can't taste things in virtual reality. Yet.
You can see the specific values Kosan used to create the shader effect in a followup Tweet. Matthew Wilde, the Valve visual effects developer who created the shader, shared his admiration for the project.
I am refreshed just watching this https://t.co/CPQdb0k7cnJune 4, 2020
The same update that added liquid effects to Half-Life: Alyx also refreshed the game with a bunch of quality of life fixes and UI improvements - you can crack open the full patch notes right here.
If you can't start shaking up bottles of real-life soda in virtual reality right now, at least you can enjoy all the Half-Life soundtracks on Spotify.
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I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.