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Estranged: Act I

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Estranged: Act I
Information
VR/AR Virtual Reality
Developer Alan Edwardes
Publisher Alan Edwardes
Platform Oculus Rift (Platform)
Device DK1, DK2
Operating System Windows, Mac, Linux
Type Full Game
Genre Horror, Shooter, Puzzle, Exploration, Action/Adventure
Input Device Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad, Hydra
Game Mode Single Player
Release Date January 16, 2014
Price Free
App Store Oculus Share, Steam
Website https://www.iamestranged.com/
See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Estranged: Act I is a free first-person adventure game and VR App for the Oculus Rift (Platform), developed and published by Alan Edwardes on the Valve Source engine. It began as a Half Life 2 mod and was released as a standalone game on Steam on 16 January 2014 for Windows, macOS and Linux.[1][2] The player controls a lone fisherman whose ship is stranded on a mysterious island during a violent storm.[1]

The final release supports the Oculus Rift through the virtual reality mode that Valve added to the Source SDK 2013. Edwardes announced the Rift support in December 2013, a month before launch.[3] The game was also listed on Oculus Share with support for the Oculus Rift DK1 and Oculus Rift DK2 development kits.[4] Steam's store data for the game includes the "VR Support" feature.[5]

Reviewed 9 October 2026. Steam store data and news posts (release, achievements, VR Support, requirements, patches, player counts, sequels), ModDB Rift/beta/release posts, archived Oculus Share listing, Road to VR and Engadget Source SDK VR reports, GamingOnLinux write-up, official site and GitHub repo. About review dates.

Gameplay

Estranged: Act I is a single-player, story-driven game played from a first-person view. The fisherman explores the island, meets its inhabitants and looks for a way back to the mainland.[1] According to the Steam description, the game contains around an hour of story-driven gameplay, an original cast and script, and a soundtrack written for the game.[1] In a January 2014 write-up, GamingOnLinux described an island that is cut off from the outside world, inhabited by a few survivors and "walking corpses", where a broadcast from the mysterious Arque Corporation blocks radio communication.[6]

The Steam release includes nine Steam achievements.[2][5] Steam's content descriptors state that the game "features blood and violence with mild horror elements".[5] The game uses some assets from Half-Life 2, but its description states that the two worlds are unrelated and that Estranged is not associated with the Half-Life franchise or Valve.[1]

Virtual reality support

In June 2013 Valve released the Source SDK 2013, which added Oculus Rift support for mods built on it. Valve's release notes, quoted by Road to VR, said that running a compatible mod with the "-vr" command line option would render it in stereo and enable head tracking on the Rift.[7][8]

On 20 December 2013, Edwardes announced that the final version of Estranged: Act I would support the Oculus Rift. He published a video of the game running with the virtual reality mode enabled, showing new level design and controller support alongside the headset. He credited the Source SDK 2013's VR support for making the feature possible and thanked Saftle for donating the Rift he used for testing.[3] When Edwardes announced the Steam release date in January 2014, he listed support for Mac, Linux, controllers and VR among the features of the final version.[2]

The Oculus Share listing described the game as a Half-Life 2 mod with "full support for the Oculus Rift". It listed the supported Rift versions and controllers as follows:[4]

Field Oculus Share listing
Supported Rift versions DK1, DK2
Supported controllers Keyboard, mouse, gamepad, Hydra
Game modes Single-player
Category Full Game
Genres Horror, Shooter, Puzzle, Exploration, Action/Adventure
Version 1.0.0
Release date January 16, 2014

Steam lists the game with partial controller support.[5]

Development

Estranged started as a Half-Life 2 map called Splooshe, inspired by early Half-Life 2 screenshots, and grew into a mod and then a standalone game.[9] In April 2019 Edwardes added that original map, dated August 2011, to the game's Steam Workshop.[10] According to the official website, the project grew from a Half-Life 2 map into a mod and then, over three years, into a standalone game.[11]

Act I was released in incremental public "alphas" during development, so players could try new content and give feedback.[12] A beta followed on 18 September 2013 for Windows and Linux. The beta followed eight months of work since Alpha 5 and added overhauled and new maps, new infected models and new scenes with new voice actors.[13] The game was submitted to Steam Greenlight at the same time and was greenlit on 1 November 2013. By early November the beta had been downloaded around 4,500 times, and the team used anonymous gameplay statistics, such as completions and deaths per map, to revise its levels.[14]

The Steam description says the developers extended the engine's dynamic lighting system and added film grain and lens flare effects.[1] On 19 April 2014 Edwardes published the game's complete source code on GitHub. It includes the custom menu system, the game's implementation of HBAO and depth of field, fixes for dynamic lights and a custom HTML HUD control. He said the code was released to help other mod teams working with the Source SDK 2013.[15][16]

Release

Estranged: Act I was released free on Steam on 16 January 2014.[1][2] The final version shipped with nine achievements, support for Mac, Linux, controllers and VR, and a small SDK containing the game's map sources.[2] Edwardes has continued to patch the game since launch.

Date Event
18 September 2013 Act I (Beta) released for Windows and Linux; Steam Greenlight campaign starts[13][14]
1 November 2013 Greenlit on Steam Greenlight[14]
20 December 2013 Oculus Rift support announced[3]
16 January 2014 Free release on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux[2]
19 April 2014 Full source code published on GitHub[15]
26 April 2014 Update with "security and stability updates to Arque OS"[17]
10 March 2019 Update disabling statistics collection by default, moving links to iamestranged.com and enabling the "custom" content folder[18]
1 April 2019 Steam Workshop support added; Hammer launcher fixed[10]
15 September 2019 End of native macOS support announced[19]
4 January 2025 Windows patch removing the anonymous statistics feature and linking the official Estranged wiki[20]
19 September 2026 HBAO and depth of field enabled on AMD DirectX 9 GPUs[21]

The macOS announcement explained that the game, a 32-bit Source SDK 2013 application, would stop running after an upgrade to macOS Catalina, because Apple was removing support for 32-bit applications and deprecating OpenGL. Edwardes said the Mac version would need 64-bit and Metal support in the Source SDK 2013, and that he had raised 64-bit support with Valve.[19] As of October 2026, Steam's store data for the game still lists macOS alongside Windows and Linux.[5] In the September 2026 update, Edwardes wrote that Intel GPUs were still unsupported because the Source engine blocks them through its GPU list.[21]

System requirements

Steam lists the following minimum requirements for Windows:[1]

Component Minimum
Operating system Windows 10 (32/64-bit)/7/8/Vista/XP
Processor 2.2 GHz
Memory 1024 MB RAM
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher
DirectX Version 9.0
Storage 6 GB available space

The Oculus Share listing gave the same processor, memory, graphics, DirectX and disk space figures.[4]

Reception

Estranged: Act I has a "Very Positive" user review rating on Steam.[1] Edwardes reported more than 167,000 unique players by July 2014.[22] For the game's tenth anniversary in January 2024, he reported well over a million unique players, nearly 7,000 reviews and a 93% Steam rating.[9]

In a GamingOnLinux write-up, Samsai wrote that calling it a mod "doesn't do it enough justice". He wrote that it was "executed very well", that "the environments are designed fantastically" and that it did not "rely on cheap jump-scares to be creepy".[6]

Sequels

In July 2014 Edwardes confirmed that Estranged: Act II was in development as a paid follow-up continuing from the end of Act I.[22] In December 2015 the team said Act II would move from the Source engine to Unreal Engine 4. One reason given was that advanced features had been hard to build for Act I without access to Valve's engine code.[23] Act II entered Steam Early Access in 2017 and was released in 2020 as Estranged: The Departure; a Nintendo Switch version followed a year later.[9] Steam lists The Departure's release date as 22 May 2020, and its store listing does not include the VR Support feature.[24] The next game in the series, Estranged: Arctic Cold, received a demo in February 2026, which Edwardes said includes some environments familiar to players of Act I.[21]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Estranged: Act I on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/261820/Estranged_Act_I/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Alan Edwardes (2014-01-12). "Estranged: Act I Steam Release Date". ModDB. https://www.moddb.com/mods/estranged/news/estranged-act-i-steam-release-date. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Alan Edwardes (2013-12-20). "Oculus Rift Support in Estranged: Act I". ModDB. https://www.moddb.com/mods/estranged/news/oculus-rift-support-in-estranged-act-i. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Estranged: Act I - Apps - Oculus VR Share (Beta)". Oculus Share. Oculus VR. https://web.archive.org/web/20150411060738/https://share.oculus.com/app/estranged-act-i. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Estranged: Act I - Steam store app details". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/api/appdetails?appids=261820. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Samsai (2014-01-19). "GOL Cast: Crashing On Zombie Infested Islands in Estranged: Act I". GamingOnLinux. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2014/01/gol-cast-crashing-on-zombie-infested-islands-in-estranged-act-i. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  7. ↑ Paul James (2013-06-28). "Valve Release Source Engine SDK with Oculus Rift Support". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/valve-release-source-engine-sdk-with-oculus-rift-support/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  8. ↑ Sinan Kubba (2013-06-26). "Valve updates Source SDK to include Oculus Rift support". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2013-06-26-valve-updates-source-sdk-to-include-oculus-rift-support.html. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Alan Edwardes (2024-01-16). "10 Year Anniversary of Estranged". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/6300039510137077730. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Alan Edwardes (2019-04-01). "Steam Workshop Support". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/2465065785313228877. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  11. ↑ "Play Estranged". Estranged. https://www.iamestranged.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  12. ↑ Alan Edwardes (2017-02-20). "Estranged: Act II on Steam Early Access". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/3819571572130864204. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Alan Edwardes (2013-09-18). "Estranged: Act I (Beta) Released". ModDB. https://www.moddb.com/mods/estranged/news/estranged-act-1-beta-released. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Alan Edwardes (2013-11-06). "Act I (beta) Post Release and Project Future". ModDB. https://www.moddb.com/mods/estranged/news/act-i-beta-post-release-and-project-future. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Alan Edwardes (2014-04-19). "Act I Full Source Code Now Available". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/919041785815265065. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  16. ↑ "alanedwardes/Estranged-Act-1". GitHub. https://github.com/alanedwardes/Estranged-Act-1. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  17. ↑ Alan Edwardes (2014-04-26). "Estranged: Act I Updated". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/919042306913967066. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  18. ↑ Alan Edwardes (2019-03-10). "March 2019 Update". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/2530366080606921075. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Alan Edwardes (2019-09-15). "Native macOS Support Ending". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/3658535001303145849. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  20. ↑ Alan Edwardes (2025-01-04). "Minor Update". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/1787858252791814. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Alan Edwardes (2026-09-19). "HBAO and Depth of Field Support for AMD GPUs". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/1844115010497940. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Alan Edwardes (2014-07-15). "The Next Instalment". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/567768347902541931. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  23. ↑ "Estranged Act II Progress". Steam. 2015-12-09. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/261820/view/377538283355007202. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
  24. ↑ "Estranged: The Departure on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/582890/Estranged_The_Departure/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
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