(thematic music) - [Narrator] In this video, I will explain this Half-Life Iceberg created by Reddit user Sockman1. I'd also like to think
Reddit user, sunchynee, who created the list of everything comment that provided basically the
foundation of this video, And YouTube channel townCACtus, for creating the original
Half-Life Iceberg video. On the bottom left
there'll be a health meter that represents my
confidence in my explanation. 100 HP means I have my fullest confidence, while one point means I probably don't know
what I'm talking about. Now, I'm going to assume that you know most of the "Half-Life"
storyline, but just to be clear, spoilers for the entire
"Half-Life" series, including "Half-Life: Alyx" and a little bit of "Portal 1." With everything out of
the way, let's begin. (engaging music) The Black Mesa and Aperture rivalry. "Half-Life" and "Portal" are known to share the same universe, with the two respective
research corporations, Black Mesa and Aperture Science, being harsh adversaries
against each other. During the escape sequence in "Portal 1," the player can come across
one of the observation offices with a window that displays the Dollar$ and Sense slideshow. This slideshow details
how Aperture Science gets treated unfairly by the U.S. General
Services Administration. Aperture proposed for more
funding than Black Mesa but would receive less than
what Black Mesa got in turn. These slides represent how
competitive the two were at acquiring government funding. Another example of the
pair's competitiveness is the Borealis, a ship Aperture worked on that housed a project that involved powerful
portals and teleportation. They rushed the project
and neglected safety rules to beat Black Mesa in government funding, which resulted in the ship
suddenly disappearing. Playground screams. At the beginning of "Half-Life 2" the player will stumble upon
a small abandoned playground. If the player interacts
with the playground, sounds of children's laughter
and screaming can be heard. (children screaming) These screams serve as an eerie reminder of the absent children due to the Combine's suppression field. The consoling couple. While going through the
civilian sector in "Half-Life 2" the player can encounter a couple where a man is consoling a woman as she expresses her concerns
about the Combine invasion and the grim future of humanity. The couple can be seen
again in "Episode One", inside one of the resistance outposts, kitted with rebel outfits. The player can overhear their conversation as they joke about Issac
Kleiner, Odessa Cubbage, the Resistance, and their
situation in general. In "Episode Two", two
skeletons sitting on the couch can be found in the Outlands, implying that the couple had
been killed and left behind. This is only a joke from the devs as the couple can be seen at White Forest near the end of the game. The G-Man's briefcase. The briefcase's interior is
fully textured in "Half-Life 1" where a pistol, paperwork,
pencils, some sort of computer, and his ID or passport-
- My passport? - [Narrator] are shown. This point could also refer
to "Half-Life: Alyx's" ending when the G-Man gave his briefcase to Alyx, resulting in the two
of them time-traveling to "Episode Two's"
ending with Eli's death. Black Mesa visiting Xen. When Freeman starts to go through Xen, it becomes obvious that Black Mesa has visited the border world before. Dead scientists with HEV suits are scattered around the landscape, with health and ammo near them. These dead scientists
are the survey teams, who made secret expeditions
to collect data from Xen through the teleporter in the
top-secret Lambda Complex. The "Half-Life 2" beta leak. Around September 2003, "Half-Life 2's" early
source code was leaked after someone cracked into
Valve's internal network. Valve CEO, Gabe Newell, posted online to explain how he realized that Valve's servers had been compromised and asked the public for
assistance in finding the culprit. In June 2004, Valve announced that they found the person
responsible for leaking the game. The game had been leaked by
German hacker, Axel Gembe, who admitted to Newell through email. This hatched a plan where Valve would invite
him to a job interview, and the FBI would arrest
him upon his arrival. The German government
caught wind of the situation and arrested Gembe
themselves in November 2006. He was put on trial for the
beta leak and other crimes such as the creation of
his trojan virus, Agobot. Gembe was sentenced to
two years' probation. Valve never took any
action against websites or people that hosted the leaked content. They tolerated the use
of the beta material as long as they were
used in free products. The beta showcased plenty of
cut maps, enemies, and weapons. City 17's art style looked more like a bleak Washington D.C. rather than the familiar
eastern European style we know today. The storyline was much darker with the Combine draining the oceans, filling the air with noxious
gas, and utilizing child labor, a topic that will be
discussed further soon. Epistle 3, around 2017,
"Half-Life" series writer and former Valve employee, Marc
Laidlaw uploaded on his blog a post titled "Epistle 3," which takes the form of a
letter given to the player. Most of the "Half-Life" characters
had their names replaced, such as Gordon Freeman now
named Gertrude Fremont, and the G-man being called Mrs. X. So the story goes, after
the funeral of Eli Vance, Alyx and Freeman journey out to the Arctic to explore the coordinates that Judith Mossman sent to White Forest. As they reach their destination, it turns out that the coordinates are the location of the Borealis, where the Combine have already begun their research on the ship. Freeman and Alyx then get captured and are presented to Dr. Breen, who had his consciousness
implanted into a grub. Breen is fearful of Gordon as he remembers how he originally died and begs to be mercy killed. It's up to the player to choose whether or not to end Breen's suffering. The two then rescue Mossman
from a Combine prison, causing a tense situation
between Alyx and Mossman as Alyx believes Mossman is responsible for her father's death. They then board the Borealis, which continues to shift
through time and space. They catch glimpses of the Seven Hour War along with traveling to
distant alien worlds. Mossman and Alyx continue to argue over what to do with the Borealis. Mossman believes the
ship should be delivered to the Resistance and be
used against the Combine, a position similar to Dr.
Kleiner's in "Episode Two". Alyx wants to destroy the ship to fulfill her father's dying wishes. She then kills Mossman, and arms the Borealis to self-destruct, intending to destroy the
Combine's command center. All of a sudden, The G-Man appears. Alyx recognizes him from her childhood and the two depart reality
together, leaving Freeman behind. He begins to realize that
the ship's self-destruction would do little in
destroying the Combine empire and begins to accept the
resistance's futility. Then, the Vortigaunts appeared and rescued him from imminent death by re-teleporting her back Earth. Because Laidlaw wrote Epistle
3 after he had left Valve, the post had been the
subject of intense discussion on whether or not it's canon
to the "Half-Life" storyline. At the time, the story
was a solid plot synopsis of the mystical "Episode Three". Now, Epistle 3's
continuity with the series is non-canon since
"Half-Life: Alyx's" ending retconned "Episode Two's" ending, with Eli being resurrected and Alyx being captured by the G-Man. Dr. Breen is a good guy. There's been a lot of discussion within the "Half-Life" community about whether or not Dr. Breen
is the savior of humanity. He did negotiate with the Combine so that humanity got
a somewhat better fate than what the Combine
could have originally done, which was making the humans extinct. It could also be argued that he desperately
tried to capture Freeman in "Half-Life 2" to
use him as a trump card in negotiations with the Combine. Maybe Freeman surrendering could have provided
humanity with more freedom. However, the conditions
that the people live with are still pretty terrible, with them being heavily
modified into soldiers, brutally mutilated into Stalkers, forcefully ruled under fear, disgustingly fed "food
products" et cetera. The All-Knowing Vortigaunt. Near the end of the "Half-Life
2" chapter, "Water Hazard", the player destroys a hunter chopper and opens a sliding metal gate. After going through the gate, there's a drainage tunnel
along the left side that the player can enter. After traversing through
a river of toxic sludge, the tunnel opens up into a large cavern where the player meets
the All-Knowing Vortigaunt in front of a fire while
reciting chants and coughing. Each time the player
presses the interact key on the vortigaunt, he
remarks cryptic statements that can refer to the Black Mesa Incident, Xen, the G-Man, the Nihilanth, and Gordon's deep connection
with the Vortigaunts, among other topics. He could say every single line of dialogue that a Vortigaunt can say in "Half-Life 2" if prompted enough. Some people speculate that
the All-Knowing Vortiguant breaks the fourth wall by alluding to the player
controlling Freeman with the lines, The G-Man nuked Black Mesa. During the Opposing Force
chapter, "The Package," a black ops team was
sent to the Black Mesa to arm a Mark IV Thermonuclear Device, in the underground parking structure of the Ordinance Storage Facility. Adrian Shepard needs to
take out the black ops team and deactivate the nuke to
prevent his immediate death. Afterwards, he enters a nearby
room with a view of the nuke, and witnesses the G-Man reactivating it. He cannot return to the nuke, sealing the fate of the research facility. During the ending, the bomb explodes when Shephard is detained by the G-Man aboard the helicopter as a
white flash covers the screen. Zombies are conscious. In the "Half-Life" lore, it has been implied that humans
who become Headcrab Zombies may be able to stay alive and
retain their consciousness. The groaning that standard Zombies constantly make in "Half-Life 2" can be heard as the victims'
muffled screams for help. (zombie moaning) This could indicate that
a victim is still alive and somewhat aware of their surroundings. Ripping a headcrab off of a
victim shows a terrified look and a violent scream
frozen onto their face. One of the most infamous examples would be the reversed zombie sound effect. When this zombie moan is reversed, the sound effect will become
a creepy plea for help. (zombie screaming) - [Narrator] That was only the surface, and now we enter The Waters. (suspenseful music) Child labor in the "Half-Life 2" beta. As previously mentioned in
the "Half-Life 2" beta leak, the game originally had
children present in the world before they were written off
with the suppression field. Child workers would be tasked with manufacturing Cremator heads, the head of a cut enemy
that would remove corpses from the streets by incinerating them. A single Metrocop would be responsible for supervising the factory. The player could not directly
interact with the children, only seeing them work from afar either on the street or a catwalk. The radio song. In the "Half-Life 2"
chapter, "Anticitizen One," a television screen can
be found in a closet playing a distorted song accompanied by an image of the G-Man. (playing radio1.mp3) The same song is also heard on the radio at the beginning of "Half-Life: Alyx." If the song is played backwards, a woman can be slightly heard saying. This discovery implies that the song is a poorly
broadcasted message meant for either Freeman or the G-Man. What the woman's message
would be is a mystery. Fun fact, the song uses two samples from the sample library
"Cuckooland: Ghost in the Machine." The first sample is called
"Distorted Trumpets" (playing "Distorted Trumpets") and the second sample is
called "Is That the Door?" Get Your Free TVs was the
first "Half-Life 2" test level to be created when Valve
only had a small portion of the game developed. It consisted of a test sequence designed to highlight
all the new technology from the source engine, along with testing the NPCs and physics. The level depicts a street
war between rioting citizens and the Metrocops sent down
to control the situation. APCs and tanks were
rolling down the streets. Citizens would throw Molotov
cocktails at the vehicles to make them explode. Other citizens would start looting stores and yell, "Get your free TVs!" Hand-to-hand combat was presented with the civilians and the
Metrocops fighting each other. BreenGrub. BreenGrub is a Twitter account created by series writer Marc Laidlaw, where he assumes the role of Dr. Breen sending out messages from two host bodies at different locations. The purpose of Breen's messages is to reveal any information
about the Combine Advisors so that the Resistance could
use it to defeat the Combine. Fans have taken the tweets as hints or insights about the future
of the "Half-Life" series. Its last post would be on July 6, 2014, where it appears that the Combine hijacked and ended Breen's broadcasts. Laidlaw has specified that BreenGrub was not canon to the "Half-Life" storyline and that these tweets were
just something he did for fun. The G-Man is an advisor. Okay, bear with me on this. There's this theory that the
G-Man is a Combine Advisor, which I mostly derived
from this Reddit post, so thank you, deleted. Freeman's final objective in "Half-Life 1" was to kill the Nihilanth,
which freed the Vortigaunts and made them join the
Resistance in "Half-Life 2." Eli Vance, one of the
leaders of the Resistance, is aware of the G-man
and his capabilities. This in turn means that the Resistance represents the G-Man's
operations on Earth. So, the G-Man could have the Vortigaunts under his indirect command
through the Resistance. He could have easily
ignored the Vortigaunts and left Xen creatures to fight
against the Combine alone, but he was interested in the Vortigaunts, quite possibly about their Vortessence, the massive psychic energy
that the Vortigaunts share. If the G-Man could gain
control of the Vortigaunts, he could control one of
the most powerful forces in the "Half-Life" universe. In "Episode One", the
Vortigaunts may have caught on to the G-Man's plan,
and they try to stop him from doing anything to
Freeman or the Vortessence. Now the question is why is
the G-Man against the Combine? He seems to possess
powerful psychic abilities and can appear to his will. His human figure could be
just a psychic projection from his real form. Nothing would fit this description better than a Combine
Advisor, or Shu'ulathoi. Sorry for the bad pronunciation. According to the BreenGrub Twitter, the Advisors were forcibly
enslaved by the Combine through virus-like thoughts. Somehow, the G-Man circumvented this and returned to exact his
revenge against the Combine. By destroying the Combine and freeing the rest of the Advisors, the G-Man would be seen
as a hero among them. If the G-Man and the other Advisors could combine the Vortessence
and their psychic powers, they could be the most powerful
force in the multiverse, effectively creating a brand
new Shu'ulathoi Empire. Russell is Lazlo. Lazlo was a character
that was briefly shown in the "Half-Life 2" chapter, "Sandtraps," where he was killed by antlions
after he disturbed the sand or if the player walked on the sand. The character accompanying
him said that he was During the reveal trailer of "Half-Life: Alyx" this shot of the character
was briefly shown. This has caused speculation
that this character was Lazlo, especially after "Half-Life: Alyx" was revealed to be a
prequel to "Half-Life 2." The character is now known as Russel, who assists Alyx on her journey to rescue her father and reach the Vault. He was Lazlo during the early development of "Half-Life: Alyx," but
the developers decided that he should be an original character. The final game does
include some references to Russell's old identity. In Russell's Lab, a notepad
with the password lazl0, with the O as a zero, can
be found near a computer. Russell is still called
"lazlo" in the game files. Chumtoads. Chumtoads are a cut NPC that resembles a small, purple
creature resembling a toad. They make an appearance in "Half-Life: Opposing
Force" and "Blue Shift." The Chumtoad's original
role in "Half-Life" was to be the bait that a player could use to lure or distract aliens. This bait idea was reused in "Half-Life 2" as the pheropod to summon antlion allies. Gordon's child. At the beginning of "Half-Life 1," the player can open Freeman's locker which contains his diploma, some books, and a photo of a baby. According to Valve designer
and artist, Harry Teasley, the baby in the photo
is his daughter, Isabel. Series writer, Marc
Laidlaw, offered the idea that this could be an
infant relative of Gordon's, such as a niece or nephew
rather than Freeman's child. Marc Laidlaw's VA placeholder. Early in the development of "Half-Life 1" series writer Marc Laidlaw
had most of the dialogue voiced as a placeholder before the voice actors
recorded their lines. This can be seen in the
E3 1998 demonstration of "Half-Life 1," where the scientist and the security guard
are voiced by Laidlaw. Here are some comparisons
between the final voice lines and the voice lines that Laidlaw provided. - [Laidlaw VA] Let's get
the hell out of here. - [Final VA] Let's get
the hell out of here. - [Laidlaw VA] Okay, I better wait here and help anyone else that comes back. - [Final VA] Okay, I'll wait here and help anyone else who comes back. - [Laidlaw VA] I were a braver man, I would run for the surface. But I'm afraid if the world finds out what we were doing here, Gordon, but please, just don't make come with you. - [Final VA] I'm not so sure
I want to go to the surface. What if the world finds out
what we were doing down here? - [Narrator] Cheaple. Cheaple is the
low-resolution Citizen model, used when Citizens are seen from afar. Each time he is seen, the model is walking
from a point to another, re-spawning each time in a loop. He appears in the computer
screens at Kleiner's Lab, where the G-Man can be seen, and at Black Mesa East, right before getting into
the elevator with Mossman. His face texture is
based on Warren Slough, who unfortunately died on July 3, 2006. Eli's Harvard shirt. Upon closer inspection of
Eli's shirt in "Half-Life 2," the Harvard University name
and logo can be seen on it. His shirt changes in "Episode Two" to a blue diamond-patterned shirt. Through this shirt, Eli
may be a Harvard graduate. Gabe Newell did drop out
of Harvard University and this shirt could
refer to his "alma-mater." Originally, Eli wore a
Yale University shirt as seen in the beta textures
and the E3 2004 trailer. The Crab Synth. The Crab Synth is an
incomplete "Half-Life 2" enemy that's briefly shown on a conveyor belt during Freeman's second pod ride. They appear as giant bulky creatures with heavily modified weapons
carried on their backs. Game files reveal they could
charge at their targets and fire the machine guns
underneath their bodies. This enemy would never
make another appearance in any of the other "Half-Life" games. Non-mechanical reproduction simulation. Throughout "Half-Life
2," the Overwatch Voice could say this line on
the Metrocop's radio. This non-mechanical reproduction simulation that Overwatch refers to, could be allowing the Civil Protection to possibly either masturbate or have sex with another unit
that receives this award. This award could also be a drug that simulates the
pleasure of reproduction. The reproduction simulation
seems to be an incentive for the Civil Protection to continue to carry out their duties. The cat, when Barney enters Kleiner's lab at the beginning of "Half-Life 2," he references a cat when Dr. Kleiner says that they have a working teleporter again. This cat was the subject of an attempted teleport, and the experiment went horribly wrong to the point that Barney
had become traumatized by the experience. There is an allusion to
what happened to the cat. In Kleiner's Lab, the player can interact with a small teleporter
with a cactus on it. If the player teleports
the cactus a few times, the teleporter breaks down,
making the cactus disintegrate. The achievement, "What Cat?", is earned after breaking
the mini teleporter. This suggests the cat was
brutally disintegrated after the teleportation failed. On September 14, 2019, a user on the "Half-Life
2" Project beta forums posted an image of Alyx's
presumed cat as a repo. The cat was going to have robotic legs and could be the subject of the teleport. Prospero. Prospero was one of
Valve's first game designs and was supposed to come out
shortly after "Half-Life 1." The game was to emphasize exploration, an intricate storyline, and
combat via psionic powers. As the design of "Half-Life 1," known internally as "Quiver" at the time, started to take over some
of Prospero's initial goals, Prospero evolved into a
massively multiplayer game, which led to the goal of mixing official and user-created worlds, which then could be accessed
through an in-game library, and each world would be
running on its own server. Now we're just getting deeper,
and deeper, and deeper. We're in The Deep Waters. (suspenseful music) Real-time moss. During the development of "Half-Life 1," Gabe Newell wanted to make
the environment more lively by having real-time moss
growth appear on the walls if the player stays in a certain area for an extended amount of time. The feature was cut due to technological and time constraints. Newell also hinted at
real-time moss growing being implemented in "Half-Life 2" but that did not come to fruition. Is it possible that Newell's dream of moss can happen with the
technological advancements of the next "Half-Life" game? "Half-Life: Alyx's" Zoo Zombie. In the "Half-Life: Alyx"
chapter, "Captivity," Alyx goes through antlion tunnels which lead her to an
abandoned Russian zoo. A Headcrab zombie can be seen
admiring children's drawings posted on the walls. This ties back to the point where zombies can retain some
form of their consciousness. Another moment similar to this happens at the beginning of the chapter, "The Quarantine Zone," where a zombie can be seen
reading the subway map. Hallucination stuff. I'm not sure what the
hallucination stuff is so leave a comment if you
guys know what this is about. "Half-Life: Alyx's" alternate timelines. Now, this, this one is
a doozy, man (exhales). Okay, so, at the end of "Half-Life: Alyx," The G-Man offers her a favor
in return for her services, as he wants to replace Freeman who failed to carry out the duties that were assigned to him. Alyx asks for the Combine
to be removed off of Earth but, the G-Man declines. Instead, he shows Alyx the future, where Eli Vance gets killed
by a Combine advisor. The G-Man allows Alyx to kill the Advisor and save her father. He reiterates the consequences
that Alyx will face after she killed the Advisor
that puts her into stasis. The end-credit scene shows
Gordon and Eli awaken in the White Forest helicopter hangar. Alyx is nowhere to be seen and Eli angrily ridicules
the G-Man's consequences and states that he's going to kill him. Many fans have speculated that the ending has caused
alternate timelines, one where Eli lived and one where Eli die. It's possible that right after
Alyx was put into stasis, she would be returned to the Vault's ruins without the memories of the
G-Man or killing the Advisor, and progress through the
timeline into "Half-Life 2." So, this ending credit scene could possibly be a brand new timeline? Or maybe it's an alternate timeline, or it's this timey wimey
stuff, I don't know! It's honestly kinda confusing so if you guys can clarify, can you do that in the
comments, thank you. Gordon's personal holocaust. Gordon's personal holocaust
refers to a cut line from the G-Man during
"Half-Life 1's" ending if the player refused G-Man's offer. Gordon's personal holocaust most likely harkens to
the numerous alien deaths that Freeman caused during
the Black Mesa Incident. "Half-Life 1" reads your CD drive. When "Half-Life 1" was
first released in 1998, it came out on a disk, obviously. The game was programmed to use
the music tracks on the CD. When the game came out on Steam, the music came in the game files, but will still prioritize
music from any CD put in the disk drive, assuming
you have one in your PC. Not sure why this is deep in the iceberg but, Sockman1 admitted
that they kept this vague to increase the creepy factor. It's all a simulation. This could be referring to the fact that the "Half-Life" series
is a series of video games. Yes, it is a simulation of
some nerdy-ass scientist who survives loads of
violent confrontations where a random person would be decimated. Maybe it's possible
that a Combine invasion could be a simulation? Maybe the Black Mesa
Incident was a simulation. Maybe the whole "Half-Life"
story is Freeman's dream. Maybe we're in a simulation. What if this video you're watching and me creating this video, and me reading this script
to this video is a simula- Now we're past the point of no return. Now we're at The Bottom. (suspenseful music) Who's playing the piano? In the Vault, you can
hear a piano being played in multiple areas, and sometimes
it's played in reverse. You can also hear the piano right before going into Russell's lab. Now, I'm not quite sure why this entry is this deep in the iceberg because the piano could just be a part of the game's soundtrack. Am I missing something here? Let me know. Fast headcrabs are normal headcrabs. During the development of "Half-Life 2" fast headcrabs were developed first and were supposed to replace
the original headcrab. Remnants of this idea
remain in the final game as the standard headcrab model
is called "headcrabclassic.mdl" while the fast headcrab model
is just called "headcrab.mdl". d1_canals_04 and d2_coast_06. Neither of these maps exist in the final game of "Half-Life 2." The game skips from
d1_canals_03 to d1_canals_05 and from d2_coast_05 to d2_coast_07. The answer is most likely
that those two maps were cut out during development. It's probably an oversight
in renaming the maps and it's unknown what these
missing maps could have been. They may exist in the
"Half-Life 2" beta leak or they never got any major development and got cut early, who knows? The G-Man is Valve. The G-Man's character and
dialogue can be interpreted as a meta-commentary from Valve. This is the most evident when the G-Man is directly
talking to Freeman, and henceforth, the player. Valve and the G-Man can put Freeman in whatever world they design, and whenever the date is right
for Freeman to come around. Gordon's quote-unquote- From "Half-Life 1" represents the limitless potential that the "Half-Life" series has been in innovating video games. Freeman's limitless potential
may have hit a limit, ironically, with the release
of "Half-Life: Alyx." Valve has opted to create a game that revolves around Alyx
Vance, instead of Freeman. This theory could also
apply to G-Man's decision to recruit Alyx at the
end, replacing Freeman as he was not meeting the G-Man's, or Valve's, expectations. Gordon has no free will. It is often implied throughout the games that Freeman possesses no free will. Gordon Freeman's name and the
moniker, "The One Free Man", given to him by the Resistance
is meant to be ironic. It's obvious that Freeman
is controlled by the player and all the "Half-Life"
games are linearly built with only one path to go forward. The G-Man also serves as a metaphor for Freeman's lack of free will. The G-Man heavily influences
what Freeman does, to the point of making Freeman a puppet, and would follow him to keep him in check. This notion about the G-Man
goes back to the previous entry where G-Man represents Valve, both guide the player's
experience at all times. This lack of free will theme is also applicable to "Half-Life 1" where at the end, the player can decide whether to accept the
G-Man's offer or not. The choice that the player made was ultimately irrelevant
as "Half-Life 2" begins assuming that Freeman chose
to accept G-Man's offer. Trains serve as a metaphor
for the lack of free will. Every main entry in
the "Half-Life" series, except for "Half-Life: Alyx," begins with the player riding a train. Trains are linear and
move along a set path, symbolizing the G-Man's strict
control over Gordon's path. Squeal1.wav, in the "Half-Life 2" beta, there is a window found in
the map, d1_terminal_01. Behind it, there is a flashing
room and a weird contraption making ticking sounds,
almost like a clock. (clock ticking) You can hear it make weird noises, one of which is named
squeal1.wav in the game's files. The only way to play the
sound in the final game is in the chapter "Highway 17". After the player defeats
their first gunship, if they decide to kill this
rebel on top of the tower, squeal1.wav could be heard. (gun blasting) (clock squealing) It's unknown why this sound is here and how the rebel causes
this sound to be played. Citadel screams. Many players have noted
that screams can be heard throughout the Citadel. Theories have arisen about the
true nature of these screams, from those noises being the true Citadel communicating with the
Combine home planet, or otherworldly powers being
held within the building. There is one mysterious claim which states that these screams are a recording of the
astronauts screaming during the Space Shuttle
Challenger disaster, where on January 28, 1986, the shuttle exploded 73
seconds into its flight, killing all five astronauts and two payload specialists aboard. However, no such recording
exists or is used in the game. The most likely answer
is that these screams are from the process of making Stalkers, humans who have been drastically altered through extreme Synth
engineering by the Combine. They become servants who
mindlessly operate machinery and guard the core in the Citadel. The resistance can't win. Considering the sheer amount of Combine's multidimensional firepower that conquered Earth in only seven hours, it's pretty safe to assume
that Resistance alone cannot defeat the Combine without some significant assistance. Epistle 3 reflects on the resistance's
unreachable goal of liberation. As the Borealis, set for self-destruction, approaches the Combine command center, Freeman sees that it is
protected by a Dyson sphere, a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star, or planet in this situation, and captures a large
percentage of its power output. He recognizes the ineffectiveness
of their rebellion before the Vortigaunts
teleport him back to Earth. Although Epistle 3 is
considered non-canon, that does not write off
the Combine's potential to construct such a thing in future games. It's quite possible that outside forces, such as the Vortigaunts
and possibly others, could provide the support
that the Resistance needs to continue their fight
against the Combine but, it's ultimately up to Valve to decide whether or not humanity has what it takes to defeat the Combine, and free
their home once and for all. Thank you so much for watching. If there's anything wrong on the video, please leave me any feedback, and maybe I could do a follow up video. And to my regular viewers,
yeah, all seven of you, this is definitely different
from what I usually do, so, thanks for watching.
Yo it's me!
Really well made and researched, I actually learned a few things myself from a few of the details you mentioned.
_hallucination_stuff is an unused visgroup from the second map's source file. It looks like it's a remnant of the original e3 demo that showed the gman.
The simulation thing is about a theory that the whole game is a simulation for gordon created by the gman, evidenced by the text that shows up when you softlock yourself, such as knocking a vehicle into an unreachable spot, or when a critical npc dies.
You pretty much got everything else though, so congrats!
I saw your u/Sockman1's video and your video too and found my original iceberg (https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLifeLounge/comments/j6nx8z/i_made_a_halflife_iceberg_meme/) to be rather lacking.
So I was inspired and then I decided to make a longer one. Because why not.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/keqks7/how_deep_are_you_in_the_halflife_iceberg/
The Borealis ship reminds me of the old Philadelphia experiment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment
There were various theories about it. Even some old movie(s) about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAmpXDi53YQ
Time travel, other dimensions. Stuff like that.