Half-Life's Extraordinary Lost Location | Air Exchange | FULL Half-Life 2 Beta Lore

[Music] the combine empire were brutal in their occupation of Earth children were forced to work in factories creators wandered the streets as they annihilated waste and biohazards and any who spoke out against their oppressors were tortured and mutilated into mindless drones as cogs in the combine's workforce and army the halflife 2 Beta had so many enemies locations and features that did not make it into the retail game some of them were cut completely While others were reworked into something new in what some may call a darker and grittier version of halflife 2 many of these features have become iconic even though they never truly made it into an official halflife game one of these cut features would would have completely changed how a combine occupied Earth looked and felt as Gordon traversed City 17 and the Wasteland what was the air exchange why was it so important to the beta story and what remnants remain of it in the retail version of halflife 2 here we explore what we know behind the law and story of the cut air Exchange in the halflife 2 Beta the resonance Cascade was the biggest disaster in human history it was quickly followed by the biggest war in human history a war between the Hall of humanity against the multi-dimensional army of the combine only 7 hours after this Invasion began Humanity's armies were annihilated and they had to accept that they were no match against the might of the combine in what at first appeared to be look one man through an unknown method managed to find a way to communicate with this Alien Force on behalf of his entire species he offered surrender in return for a life of submission having conquered yet another planet the combine got to work Earth was home to humans a new species that the combine could experiment on and transform into new soldiers in the Army the planet itself also had valuable resources they required to fuel their War Machine as the years passed the combine treated the human population like cattle as they move them into secure settlements across the planet in Eastern Europe the city 17 was formed and it was in these cities that they were watched broken down mentally and physically and were indoctrinated with combine propaganda posters lined the walls and the console the person who had offered submission on behalf of his species worked with the combine to keep the population subservient through console casts the human population lived in a society of fear however there was a small group that had not accepted their situation and worked in the shadows with the hopes that one day they would take down their alien overlords with Humanity controlled and contained within their settlements the combine adapted the planet the oceans were drained with combined portal technology and sent to other planets under combined rule that required it the weather control Factory was built and used to manipulate Earth's weather citadels were constructed within the cities and acted as headquarters a vast railroad was erected so that human and combined units could be transported across the planet in safety and outside these combine controlled regions the creatures from from Zen that had been pulled to Earth during the portal storms of the resen Cascade transformed a Barren Wasteland into their home the combine had systematically Stripped Away what had made Earth Earth as they had contained the species that had once occupied it despite the damage that they had already done to the planet there was one more change that this Universal Union wanted to make for it a new Factory was [Music] required the years of combine occupation had taken a toll on the planet and Humanity as the days passed the human population noticed that the air became harder and harder to breathe out in the Wasteland another Factory had been developed by this Alien Force and this region the air exchange had just one goal to adapt Earth's atmosphere this atmospheric reprocessing plant was huge it had giant Towers Above Ground Control rooms tunnels and an underground region with a core that powered the entire facility this Factory had been designed by the combin brightest mindes to modify Earth's atmosphere but for what reason as of now there are two theories the first is that the air exchange was designed to open up a portal to siphon out Earth's atmosphere to be used to power a dimensional turbine this turbine was then used to access New Dimensions for the combine to seek out and invade new planets if this were the case it would be awful to think about the countless planets that had been invaded and broken down into Parts in the past the second theory was that the air exchange was used for a more Sinister purpose currently the resistance know the combine advisor to be the leaders of this Army although powerful with their telekinetic abilities Earth's atmosphere was not hospitable to them so they had to change it the air exchange was designed and constructed to replace the planet air with a noxious murky gas similar to the atmosphere of the advisor's home World in doing this they could roam Earth freely without harm despite which of these stories is true B the time almost 10 years had passed of combine occupation the human population were forced to wear gas masks in order to avoid this new toxic air while it was a horrific change that had been made to the planet this one Factory demonstrated just how advanced the combine were an impressive feat of engineering to completely manipulate the air of a whole planet if the combine were aligned differently they could have used their technology to breathe life into planets instead sadly this was not the case this was an incredibly important stronghold for the combine to protect it from any harm or resistance activity the combine ordered the human arm of their army the conscripts to defend it these soldiers were well Tred and for the most part were subservient to their rulers there were however some who worked Undercover as a part of the resistance Captain Vance was the leader of the conscripts and he just so happened to be one of them to further protect the facility combined scanners frequently surveyed the region and reported their findings back to combined units this was an advanced Factory and to run it stalkers were deployed there to operate the systems and Machinery by Design they worked without question and as an ad additional defense measure the lasers that have been implanted into their eyes were perfect to take out any Intruder that managed to bypass the scanners and combine units the resistance wanted to take down the combine and reclaim their Planet their freedom oceans sanity and general quality of life had been taken from them the issue was that they were still fairly small in their numbers they just needed to grow and above anything else required a spark to trigger a rebellion approximately 10 years after the invasion of the combine a man appeared out of thin air on a train as it entered City 17 Dr Gordon Freeman was completely unaware what had happened in his absence or that any time had passed at all his involuntary storage in stasis had protected him from time and the D ERS of a combine occupied world the passengers in this Carriage around Gordon all wore gas masks this was odd to him one of them Samuel noticed that Gordon did not have one the Wasteland was harsh but there was still some who wanted to help those around them he told the scientist Mister you can't ride around like that where's your mask take one step without it you'll be coughing up bloody foam almost by Design upon on the arrival of the train an undercover member of the resistance working in the combined Army recognized Gordon Barney calhoon had worked as a security guard at black Mesa and he knew that Gordon had disappeared years before he guided his old friend towards the lab of Dr Eli Maxwell where he was caught up on all the major events he had missed over the past decade on the third day of his return Gordon made his way towards traken base one of the few resistance bases however his train crashed into the depot of the air exchange he knew how important this region was and as the right man in the wrong place he ventured towards the factory within this area Gordon also met up with Alex Vance the daughter of Captain Vance and her pet alien Skitch this was the spark Vance and his conscripts had needed to start the re Evolution they had to shut down the air Exchange in his fight through the facility Gordon took down the combined soldiers still loyal to their leaders the scanners that observed the surroundings for them and the stalkers that were mentally programmed to defend the Factory The Scientist then reached an elevator that took him up to a control tower up here he fought with more soldiers and then he heard the familiar sound of a combine gunship this was a critical region for the combine they needed it to function although these creatures had helped take down many resistance groups in the past this gunship was nothing in comparison to Gordon's ability to survive in almost any situation at the top of this Tower Gordon looked down and left into a pool of industrial solvents as he continued on his way deeper into the core of the air exchange he avoided the aggressive Pistons projectiles of combine units and electrical currents of the machiner until he eventually reached the core the deactivation of the air exchange became yet another one of the most significant moments in human history this Factory was regarded as a combined stronghold one of the most secure locations on the planet if this region could be taken down than surely the other combine controlled regions could be too this spark ignited the uprising as resistance members came out in full force the streets of City 17 became a Battleground as everyone who could fight worked their way towards the Citadel the air exchange was an essential part in the halflife 2 Beta story line its destruction was the signal for the resistance to finally rise up and take over City 17 this may sound very familiar in the retail version of halflife 2 the idea and symbol of the air exchange was adapted into the horrendous prison of Nova Prospect a very important and feared combine location across the Wasteland when Gordon destroyed it the resistance rose up and the battle for City 17 began as the air was breathable in halflife 2 it appears that the air exchange part of this feature was cut and with it those dark smoggy streets were no more it is a shame really I loved this aesthetic but the development of Evolve game goes through so many changes to give us those perfect games that are still very relevant decades later just look at these pieces of concept art they are stunning unfortunately the that is all they were a concept for a game we never received the maps however were pretty much developed and finished from what we can tell they were last worked on in 2002 2 years before the retail game came out the air exchange would have been one of the most important and influential chapters in the Half Life 2 story and World although it did not make the cut its successor Nova Prospect was pretty much perfect perfect the prison spread fear across the whole planet and upon its destruction completely changed the way Humanity perceived the combine they too just like them had weaknesses if you have made it this far thank you so much this is the first video of 2024 and I wanted to cover something that has fascinated me for a long time the air exchange is the perfect way to explain just how powerful the combine were they stole Earth's atmosphere or adapted it just so that they could continue Wars against other planets the air exchange and weather control are my favorite cut parts of the half lifee 2 Beta as of now the air exchange chapter is currently just a collection of old maps and scripts we know some of the plot points of how this chapter would have played out but even with them the information is still very limited I wanted to go so much more into detail about why Gordon climbed the Tower or jumped into the pool of industrial solvent but we just don't know I made this video to explore the air exchange the little story and L we know and the impact it had on Earth if you would like a more in-depth understanding of each of the maps themselves and how they changed through the years I would highly recommend radiation hazard video in which he goes through them version by version I have linked this video in the description it is all very interesting but I am here for the law if you saw my opposing Force video you will understand that I do not understand game mechanics at all while on the topic of brilliant Half-Life content creators I would like to suggest the content of no click they have a wealth of valve Mauricio Jara I'm sorry if I said that wrong he has well thought out and edited videos he recently explored which facility was safer black Mesa or Aperture Science there is EDC in their latest video they looked at how the portal and halflife games are connected a must watch Lambda generation is the place to go for valve news and updates you all probably know R the overtime and no clip both amazing creators with hours of in-depth content purple colel has some very interesting videos that explore and analyze mostly halflife and finally Luchia I hope I said that one right has some brilliant videos recently they created a 2hour Iceberg even in the grand year of 2024 the halflife and portal Community is still very much alive I have linked all of these channels below as for this channel I have so many more topics I want to explore and I cannot wait to show you what I have planned for the year more law more timelines I think that was everything I wanted to say please share this video please like it if you did subscribe if you are interested in deeper dives into specific topics which I also cover on the channel and finally I would like to thank my gotier patrons and channel members Jonas Lewis Queen Arby fluffy the dragon Chicken Guy 791 Ruben Mendoza Duke a toad nut or an x a Katana AJ Verona comfy BG games aivis arest Blaze of Glory Cole Sherman Yi Rodriguez and nabba did you prefer the air exchange or Nova Prospect did you like the darker aesthetic and what would you like me to cover next please let me know in the comments below this is where our story ends check back next week for a new one

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 80,536

Keywords: lore, half-life 2, half-life, half-life 3, half life lore, half life 2 lore, halflife, warhammer 40k lore, 40k lore, half-life expansion, half life combine lore, half life lore combine, portal lore, half life nihilanth lore, half-life alyx, half-life mods, fallout lore, half-life memes, half life stalker lore, half-life alyx ending, half-life 2 memes, half life 2 stalker lore, warhammer lore, philosophy of half-life, lets play half-life, half-life: alyx, Air Exchange

Id: ozNF3uIMXQw

Length: 18min 17sec (1097 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 09 2024