The Half-Life: Alyx mod that spent August as a Steam Frame calendar proxy now has its own date. Solo developer Arne Burkert (ANB_Seth) locked Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone to September 10, 2026 Early Access on Steam, and publicly cut the “same day as Frame” promise that had turned his store page into a rumor instrument.
UploadVR reports the Steam listing flipped to September 10 on September 1, with a short developer note on Reddit: the initial plan was to launch the same day as Valve’s headset, but Burkert “ultimately decided to choose our own launch timing,” while still trusting Valve’s “this Summer” statement and picking a date close enough that the two could still land near each other. VR.org makes the sharper point: whatever September 10 means, it no longer means anything about Valve, because the developer said he picked it himself.
What ships on day one
This is not a Source 2 remix of the free Alyx Workshop chapters. Per Road to VR, the standalone is a ground-up Unity build for OpenXR VR and flat PC (including Steam Deck), with new weapons and contracts. The Steam Early Access page is unusually blunt about the launch package: three connected story contracts (safehouse on the city outskirts, syndicate harbor warehouse district, mob restaurant with something under it), the Hive home base with gun wall and training stations, two challenge modes across five maps, 18 unlockable weapons with attachments, Steam leaderboards split between VR and non-VR, optional low-violence mode, and unlockable cheats.
Three more story contracts are promised as free updates on the road to 1.0. Steam says the price starts lower at Early Access and rises as content lands; Road to VR separately reports a $25 Early Access price. Valve still has not named a Steam Frame ship day.
Why the date mattered more than the game
At the August VR Games Showcase, Gunman Contracts said it would go Early Access “alongside Steam Frame.” That line turned a one-person action shooter into a proxy clock for a headset Valve has only committed to summer 2026. UploadVR notes the community was watching the listing for Frame signals. Once Burkert wrote a Thursday of his own choosing into the box, that instrument stopped working. The useful remaining question is the one VR.org cares about: whether Frame arrives with anything worth playing. A finished hybrid shooter with a date is a better answer than another rumor with a headset attached.
Wishlist it on Steam. The free Alyx Workshop chapters still require owning Half-Life: Alyx; the September 10 build does not.
Sources: UploadVR, Road to VR, VR.org, Steam.