Half-Life: Alyx has received a new update, bringing the game up to version 1.4, and it's added a nifty new feature--liquid inside bottles. That's not normally the kind of thing that would excite us, but Half-Life: Alyx's liquids are an exception.

　　The GIF below shows off the new liquid in action inside a bottle, and it looks extremely realistic. The new feature isn't the liquid itself so much as the physics underpinning it, which should look extra impressive in VR.

　　Update 1.4 adds several other features and fixes to the game, including a raft of new subtitles, some UI improvements, and crash fixes. The Workshop has also been updated, which will be good news for anyone who likes to tinker.

　　The full notes for the update are below.

　　

Half-Life Alyx Update 1.4

Game Features

Added subtitles for: Brazilian, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, VietnameseBottles now appear to have liquid inside them that sloshes around as you shake them.UI appears quicker when returning to Main MenuImprovements to addon management UI

Game Fixes

Added checks for users loading a savegame with missing addons (eg. unsubscribed or deleted)Added error message if a game fails to load due to a missing map requested by an addonVarious crash fixesFixed bug where exiting the game by closing SteamVR could generate bad save files

Workshop Features

Enabled the Postprocessing Editor (Documentation)Added "Custom Character" example addon (Documentation)Added example maps for: Blind Zombie (a.k.a. Jeff)Hacking and Toner PuzzlesParked Vehicles and other Interactive PrefabsVisibility System (Documentation)Postprocessing Volumes (Documentation)Added core functionality required for Lua scripting and added some Alyx-specific script bindings for querying VR controller input and creating nav mesh paths from entity scriptsEnabled live bone constraints in SFM, which can be baked/enabled as procedural bones, like cloth

Workshop Fixes

Fixed case where some explicitly specified meshes became hulls. (eg. func_shatterglass will now build in a map without having to enable legacy collision mesh.)Added some meshes that were missing from parked vehicle prefabs.Made SFM UI less Dota-specific in a few placesFixed missing map models (mostly combine stations) in SFMFixed Import Sequence in SFM to work correctly on sequences with animated root orientationHalf-Life: Alyx received a 9/10 in GameSpot's review. If you don't have the VR set-up for it, you can check out our guide--or you can at least experience some of the joy of a new Half-Life by listening to the soundtrack.