Gaming
Solo developer transforms Titanfall 2 into must-play VR experience via free mod
A passionate modder has spent just one month converting the decade-old shooter into a fully realized virtual reality game that rivals professional VR titles.
The Verge
Titanfall 2 now has a second life in virtual reality, thanks to an ambitious free mod created by a solo developer. The conversion transforms the 2016 shooter into one of the most immersive VR experiences available today—and impressively, the mod was built in less than a month.
The mod, called Titanfall 2 VR, was developed by Jordan "CircuitLord" Juarez, a veteran game developer frustrated with the direction VR gaming has taken. In the cockpit of a giant Titan, players can swivel their head to glance around, manipulate the mech's arms with their own hands, and watch their feet execute wall runs as they traverse the campaign. The implementation is comprehensive: manual reload animations, custom interactions for different weapons, and even previously scripted cutscenes converted into interactive moments that preserve the original game's story beats.
The maker's vision#
Juarez isn't new to the VR space. He previously worked on titles like Gorilla Tag, Zenith: The Last City, and Synth Riders before founding his own studio, Iteration Three, where he's currently developing No Shot—a successor to the beloved Echo Arena, which Meta unexpectedly shut down. His Titanfall 2 mod began as a side experiment in reimagining how classic games could be adapted for headsets.
According to the developer, "AI has been really helpful on the reverse engineering side of things and for speeding up the development process," though he emphasizes that core game design decisions remain his own. The mod builds on infrastructure provided by the Northstar community mod loader and works across all three PC versions of the game.
Why Titanfall 2 VR works#
The challenge many assumed would be insurmountable—fast-paced movement, cockpit-based piloting, and intense action—translates surprisingly well to VR. Only after a few hours of extended play does mild simulator sickness appear, and only when deliberately spinning the analog stick too rapidly. The experience compares favorably to Resident Evil 4 VR, Capcom's landmark conversion of a classic AAA title for headsets.
Titanfall 2 runs smoothly on modest hardware. The original 2016 release was already well-optimized for PC, meaning players report success with older GPUs like the Nvidia GTX 1080 or midrange laptop hardware like the RTX 3060. Installation is straightforward: the mod installer handles setup in three clicks, and Titanfall 2 frequently drops to just $5 on Steam.
