I have a soft spot for Gunman Contracts. I spent a lot of time with the original Half-Life: Alyx mods, and they captured something that VR shooters often struggle to find: the simple pleasure of feeling like an action hero. There was a particular satisfaction to reaching for a weapon, checking a room and dealing with a situation that was rapidly getting out of hand. So I was always going to be interested in Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone. This Early Access release takes that same idea and turns it into a much larger game, adding a campaign, progression, challenges and a proper home base. More importantly, it retains the immediacy that made those original mods so enjoyable.
Release Date: September 10th 2026
Developer: ANB_Seth
Publisher: 2080 Games
Price: $24,99 USD
Reviewed On: PC VR / PC / Steam Deck
* Access Provided For Review *
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The campaign currently consists of three contracts, and while that isn’t an enormous amount of content, the missions themselves are nicely put together. Each has a clear objective and a satisfying sense of escalation, taking you from relatively controlled situations into the sort of chaos that Gunman Contracts does best. The levels aren’t sprawling immersive-sim playgrounds, but they give you enough freedom to decide how you want to approach encounters. There’s a pleasing rhythm to them, too: enter an area, assess the situation, make a plan, and then watch that plan fall apart as soon as someone spots you.
Once a contract is finished, The Hive gives you somewhere to return to and prepare for the next one. It’s part armoury, part firing range and part workshop, allowing you to customise weapons, practise your aim and generally get your kit in order. This is particularly effective in VR, where interacting with everything physically makes the base feel like somewhere you’re actually visiting rather than another menu screen. It also gives the Early Access campaign a useful sense of progression. You’re not simply completing one mission after another; you’re gradually building up your own little operation.
There are two challenge modes for those who want to spend more time shooting things without worrying about the campaign. They provide a welcome change of pace, while leaderboards give you a reason to replay missions and chase better times. The weapon customisation adds another layer to this, encouraging you to experiment with different setups rather than simply sticking with whatever worked the first time. None of this is particularly revolutionary, but it works because Stand Alone understands that the fun is in the repetition: learning a level, improving your approach and trying to do it a little better next time.
That becomes particularly apparent in VR, which is unquestionably the best way to play the game. Gunman Contracts was built around the physicality of handling weapons, and Stand Alone benefits enormously from having that physical interaction at its centre. Reaching for a sidearm, grabbing equipment, leaning around cover or physically checking your surroundings makes the action feel considerably more immediate than it does on a monitor. There is a difference between aiming at an enemy and actually bringing a weapon up in front of you, and this game makes good use of it. The original mods understood that distinction, and this Early Access release carries it forward rather nicely.
The presentation supports that sense of physicality without trying to be more elaborate than it needs to be. The environments have the slightly rough-around-the-edges quality you’d expect from a game made by a solo-developer, but there’s enough detail and lighting to sell its grimy action-thriller atmosphere. The sound design does much of the rest. Gunfire has plenty of impact, explosions are suitably loud, and the general noise of a firefight makes encounters feel properly chaotic when you’re standing in the middle of them. It isn’t the most technically spectacular shooter you’ll see this year, but it has a clear visual and audio identity, and in VR that identity works particularly well.
The sound design is perhaps at its best when you stop noticing it. Environmental noise gives each location a sense of place, while the sharp crack of combat and the various mechanical sounds of handling equipment make everything feel reassuringly tactile in VR. There is a satisfying weight to the audio without it becoming needlessly bombastic, while the music gives you a little more control than you might expect. The Gunman’s in-game phone can be used to keep music playing constantly if you want it, and you can even add your own MP3 files, turning a mission into your own little action film soundtrack. It’s a small touch, but an oddly effective one, and fits neatly with the game’s larger obsession with letting you play the professional hitman fantasy on your own terms.
The flat-screen version, meanwhile, is far better than it really needs to be. It’s easy to imagine a VR-first game treating traditional controls as an obligation, but Stand Alone doesn’t feel like that. The controls are well considered, the shooting remains satisfying and the pace translates surprisingly well to a monitor. You obviously lose some of the physical interaction that makes VR special, but the underlying game is strong enough to stand without it. I’d still recommend VR if you have the hardware, but flat-screen is a genuinely good way to play this Early Access release rather than a second-rate alternative.
It’s also Steam Deck Verified, which is a nice bonus for a game that seems particularly well suited to shorter, repeatable sessions. I had a generally good experience playing it on the Deck.
The unfinished nature of Stand Alone is also worth keeping in mind when considering what you’re buying. The plan is to add more contracts as free updates, expanding the campaign beyond the three available at launch. That’s an appealing prospect, especially when the existing missions are this enjoyable, although there is a catch for anyone considering waiting: the price will increase as additional contracts are added. Buying during Early Access therefore means getting the game at its current lower price, while later buyers will pay more for the expanded package. It’s a fairly straightforward proposition, and one that makes the current release feel more like the beginning of the game’s life than its final form.
Comfort
Verdict
Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone is an unusually convincing Early Access release because the most important part is already working. The campaign is enjoyable, the additional modes give it some longevity, and the flat-screen version is considerably better than the usual consolation prize. But VR is where it really comes alive, recreating the uncomplicated thrill that made the original Half-Life: Alyx mods so memorable. There are bugs to iron out, and three contracts don’t yet make for a particularly substantial campaign, but those limitations are easier to accept when what’s here is this good. It feels less like a game waiting to become something worthwhile and more like a very good game that simply hasn’t finished growing yet. If the planned additions can maintain this standard, Gunman Contracts – Stand Alone has every chance of becoming one of gamings more memorable shooters.
