"Here's Dario Casali's locker, I wonder what's in here OH GOD" Fuckin dead

“It’s bad to blame it all on one person, except Randy Pitchford” Gotta love how that’s slipped in between various jokes about Casali and enemy placement.

38:40 Dario Casali confirmed doing that map in his Half Life playthrough. He indeed placed that turret here.

23:45 In all of my history of gaming, this was hands down the most glorious moment. When I got HL as a teen, there was pretty much no Internet in Moscow, so nowhere to look up. And I didn't speak English back then, so I couldn't figure out things by listening to NPCs. That damn dragon thing just kept killing me, and I had no idea of how to navigate it. I wasted all my ammo on it in vain, then got frustrated to a point when I just quit playing it for a year or so. A year later I heard from someone that the dragon was deaf, and that I could sneak past it. And when I did, and I started that fuel and oxygen compressors, I distinctively remember the feeling when I approached the "Launch" button in the control room. Ending my year of humiliation would take just pressing the button. And so I did. No buttons I pressed since would even remotely give me the sense of satisfaction I felt that day like 22 years ago.

“There aren’t political prisoners being kept in a subterranean prison and being forced to play video games to make reviews on them, Freeman. You’re just being paranoid.”

"its not as elegant as Modern Major General but it'll do" I was waiting for a Freeman's Mind joke. A+

Sven Coop. I remember playing on those jank ass servers going through the campaign with random ass character skins. Like you'd have three gordon freeman people who just installed the mod and then you'd have scream, Duke Nukem, a dude dressed as a bananna, and Optimus Prime. Everyone is always jumping. You don't stop jumping.

13:20 The Scientist Hunt mod was great. They had a game mode where one player was disguised as a scientist in a map full of regular NPC scientists and the other had to identify them and kill them. The scientist player got points for every innocent NPC scientist the hunter killed. An early precursor to Prop Hunt.

Somebody should make mod where experiment ends successfully, Gordon spends rest of his day on paper work, eats dinner in the kitchen, drinks beer with Barney and returns home by train at 5 pm

I fuckin’ love how every time he talks about ID, he has to come up with a new title for our “all powerful omnipotent deity of engineering” John Carmack

44:26 This joke is now way funnier knowing Ross just uploaded a video that's about as long as this one about the game he's playing here

55:35 I hear people say that a lot but I'm thinking the Gman is the reason Kleiner had the suit at all to give to Gordon in HL2.

22:02 in Black Mesa the grunts actually mock you with "nice camouflage, asshole!" I always love that detail

"Look Adrian, ropes!" 1. Nice 2. You are now going to be forced to do an Opposing Force video.

I always imagined crouch jumping as being like when you sort of tuck your legs closer when you're trying to jump over something IRL.

The Xen 'citadel' is actually one of my favourite environments in Half-Life, but playing it on hard is rather masochistic indeed. Finding the alien grunts to be nothing more than a mass-produced bio weapon is certainly something. It was also a special moment to finally encounter an instance where the alien slaves were non-hostile, at least until the controllers intervened. The place has a special kind of atmosphere.

Fun fact: The player was originally able to carry up to 15 grenades, but this was changed to 10 later on. This is the reason that they often appear in clusters of 3 (15)

"It's not as elegant as modern major general, but it'll have to do." -Civvie11 I can hear Ross singing.

Seeing Ross's cut-in now makes me realize just how much time he spent making the Killing Time episode. Christ.

18:11 You joke, but this video convinced me to play through Half-Life for the first time, finished it yesterday, and loved it. Thanks, Civvie!

"Why does the pistol work underwater?" Because Glocks are one of few pistols that do reliably work underwater out of the box. Admittedly they're ineffective as fuck but they're one of few that doesn't just straight up fail to work when you fire the first shot underwater. They don't reliably cycle but that first shot will always work.

Imagine being the scientist who’s lunch exploded in the microwave thinking his day couldn’t get any worse.

"I'm gonna solve this with science" *Yeets a crate at 100mph with sheer high-impact reactive badassery*

I actually always saw the "youre a decisive man" line from the gman as a clue that freeman is being manipulated. You have proven that you will do as youre told, what else would his employers want?

Gabe Newell personally approved of the giant testicle monster when it was in danger of getting cut out of the game.

"note to self, don't go to medieval times with randall pitchford" - gex

19:13 That Vortigaunt teleport was 100% Casali’s idea

"Why does a pistol work under water" Because some of them just do. The Mythbusters did this back when Civvie11 was just a Civve5.5 and the most trouble they had under water was the spent casing not ejecting properly so it would not load the next round. You'd think the bullet would not go off when wet but it turns out bullets are sealed pretty tight. Unsurprisingly special ops have designed guns tht can fire under water, for reasons of the eternal need to kill anywhere, anytime.

the idea of gman giving that speech to a pulped freeman whose literally just a hazard suit at this point is slaying me

“Crouch Jumping” in real life is just tucking your legs up, so they’re not dangling underneath you while you’re trying to clera a fence or something.

It's fun how people play games differently. Unlike your experience I went out of the way trying to save every scientist and Barney that I could. It's why I really liked what the devs of Black Mesa did, particularly the lobby area where you can rescue about 5-7 people before your elevator parkouring where they all do a little thing to get comfortable at their position while you trek ahead.

The nod to Freeman's mind at 40:00 takes the cake.

"Not as elegant as Modern Major General but it'll have to do" Freeman's Mind back at it!

Great video, I haven't watched it yet. Is this game any good?

‘Hey, get over here. Am I the only one who’s read the goddamn script?’ Still one of my favorite civvie lines

47:57 This remark makes me think of something that I've always found really neat in a scary way when put into perspective with Half-Life 2 is that despite what you think is happening in HL1, you weren't fighting off a mighty interstellar empire, but just a small polity. The U.S military in this game is struggling against what amounts to the military forces of an interdimensional version of Malta, which is why they get their asses handed to them in less then seven hours when the _real_ interdimensional empire comes knocking.

My favorite part was always right there in the start, where Barney is the one making the "boop" sounds with his mouth.

holy shit sven co-op, I remember downloading that from planet half-life back in the day because I loved single player mods and saw monsters in the screenshots, I was shocked when I opened it to being a multiplayer only game so I got into it and CO-OP HALF LIFE!? changed my life and i still have it installed on steam

The train in On a Rail is also a tech demo, of one of the earliest vehicle sections. Making things that moved in such complex ways was novel at the time, just didn't age well.

Interloper is even longer in Black Mesa, it's like if your friend came over at 5 am and stayed until 4 am the next day despite you telling them to leave 15 hours before they left.

"Voila, hentai averted" - Civvie, 2021

51:58 I'm fairly confident that the "mysterious barrels that have aliens in them for some reasons" are supposed to be eggs / individual incubation chambers in which the alien grunts are artificially grown, organic armor and hive hand included. I actually thought it was pretty neat

Office complex? I find it quite simple.

38:27 The first step out of the tunnel high up on a cliff...was just such an incredible feeling! Made me gasp and recover from a game-induced vertigo!

"Engineering elemental and luddite nemesis John Carmack" just about hits the nail on the head..

Full life consequences

The Casali's locker gag got me good.

I didn't catch Ross showing up at 44:26 the first time around...idk why. But second time around his cameo got a great laugh outta me.

"Look Adrian, ropes!" Civvie really gets me with these references.

He's finally doing Half Life, only took him like 2 years

I first saw Half-Life played by my older cousin when I was about 10 years old in 1998 and I immediately thought it was amazing with the most mind-blowing moment being the Resonance Cascade right at the beginning. At the time I couldn't put my finger on why but as I got older I finally realized that Half-Life does the one thing that few other FPS games have done before or since: It puts you right in the middle of the cataclysm that kicks off the plot. Think back to Doom, Duke Nukem, even Quake, and you'll realize you're going in to a place after shit has already gone down and the invasion already happened. Not even Half-Life's contemporaries of the era deviated from this approach. Unreal starts with the Vortex Rikers already crashed on Na Pali and raided by the Skaarj who control the planet. Serious Sam has Mental victorious by destroying the Earth and Sam has to go back in time to find the means to stop Mental before the invasion can even begin. Quake 2 starts In Medias Res with Bitterman dropping on Stroggos as part of Operation Overlord as a last ditch counterattack against the Strogg who are winning their war against Earth. Even most modern games lack the balls to give you a front-row seat to Ground Zero because narrative-wise it's easier to do things the Doom way and have you come in after the fact. The only other example I can think of that takes the Half-Life approach is Prey '06.

I dont think younger gamers can appreciate how difficult hard mode used to be in gaming. Hard mode in half life is insane, he is crushing it.

I always tried to keep all the NPCs alive so this is like watching Civvie kill all my old friends.

That freeman’s mind joke with the tank blindsided me. Never change civvie... never change.

i always appreciated how the aliens are just as weak and vulnerable as anyone else, like they're still just animals not some big threat

The soldiers logic is always really infuriatingly stupid. “So you know that scientist who keeps defending himself from us who were sent here to kill a bunch of unarmed men in horrifically brutal ways? *Fuck* that guy.”

Dr. Coomer. Unforeseen consequences for that name I'm sure.

11:50... what?! The scientist actually saves the security guard's life with CPR?! I never knew he got resuscitated.

You are just so good at this shit. I’ve been living in a small ass fucking town in a pace completely absent of furniture, sleeping on a literal moldy mattress, and your videos keep me so content and satisfied. I’m not saying this to stroke your fragile ego. I’m not even scholarly exaggerating for the purpose of illustrating my point more coherently. Your shit is just. So. God. Damn. Good. I’ve played this game countless times. I’ve even watched Freeman’s Mind. And still, watching this video made me recall playing it for the first time. You always have this self-deprecating humor woven in to your videos, and I just hope you know that you really scratch a phantom itch for some people. And that’s not talent. That’s genius.

How did a clip of a 10 day old Ross video make it into this year old video. Are the timelines finally collapsing ?

The scientist that sends you through to Xen: _They’re waiting for you, Gordon..._ in the *testicle monster chamberrr.*

“Dario Casali’s closet”. I’ve never laughed so hard at a joke I saw coming from a distant galaxy.

"The angelic voice of Tony Todd" is an understatement. The man can make "Be my victim" be seductive AF

it's crazy to me that ross's killing time was in this video a full year and a half before it came out

Vents are simply "air" sewers.

"It was something they called... the Cabal" *Blood Cultist screaming* Jesus Christ we're only 3 and a half minutes in and I already can't breathe

This is one of the best videos on HL I've ever seen. It's funny, and full of references from other pieces of content created in relation to the series (HLVRAI, that modern major general sfm, etc) You, sir, earned a subscriber

44:05 I can only think of the “trust no one, not even yourself” meme. Civvie just hanging out alone in a Deathmatch lobby waiting is just funny to me.

I always thought the general consensus was that the apex predators of Half-Life, and all half-life mods for that matter, are ladders.

Civvie knows what he’s doing, he’s a trained professional.

45:33 "That is the shitiest place to put a turret and I blame Dario Cassali." Couldn't agree more.

Fun fact: the rocket launcher’s laser actually guides the tank missiles

“Fucking Half-Life”- Civvie 11

“Look Adrian, Ropes! You can use these to get your brain eaten!” This, Civvie. This is why I love your content.

what they did with Xen in Black Mesa is a masterpiece.

The subtitles at 34:55 says drums & riffs playing but its actually valve theme (extended) thats playing

Civvie talking about Doom feels like when your grandparents tell stories in front of the fireplace.

Value Employee: Dario Casarili, we're running short on time, think you can do the Surface Tension level all on your own? Dario: Yes.

Crouch jumping may only be a thing in source engine games, but it crept its way into my muscle memory and I end up doing it in every FPS.

Great comparison to _Citizen Kane,_ I think _Half-LIfe_ certainly deserves that comparison for gaming. I've recently thought too that the whole "unbroken narrative" is like the gaming equivalent of the one-take movie like _Birdman_ or _1917._ There are "no cutscenes" (there are, but they're so cleverly incorporated they never feel like control is taken away from you, even when it is). In that way, it's also comparable to a movie like _Rope_ by Alfred Hitchcock, the most famous example of an early film to experiment with a one-shot take.

When Gman says: “Time to choose" But you hit him with that >Impulse 101

"Valve's first game was.. Half-life." Well fuck, what is there left to do other than creating an entire gaming platform. If you keep going things can only go downhill

References to the alternate path in Office Complex, the cut mission from Decay, and Freeman’s Mind (with that appearance from Ross Scott!). Between that and the excellent commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of Half-Life, it’s clear how much love for the game you’ve got (except for On a Rail, Residue Processing, and Xen/Interloper with good reason). This video was great!

The sound from the Xen healing pond might be the greatest thing ever

I absolutely love how Civvie's disdain for Randy Pitchford seeps into his videos. It's absolutely amazing.

"Not playing Half-Life Source" Good man. Respectable Choice. Honorable choice.

10:50 Did you know that if you try to pull the specimen from the analyzing chamber, you manage to save one very particular life? Yes. You prevent a Vortagon from falling into the laser. He appears next to you in the analysis chamber and they try their darnedest to zap you to bits.

The Xen level, while a bit pants, still felt good. It’s like you just walk into your bully’s house with a flamethrower and lighting that shit up.

“..because I needed to gib some soldiers..” Oh Civvie. Never change

"It's not as elegant as Modern Major General but it'll have to do." Ah, a true man of culture.

I remember seeing this game running for the first time when my family went Christmas shopping in 1998. We went to a mall and the EB Games there had set up a computer with Half-Life running. Funny thing, the fact that character's had moving mouths completely blew my mind! God I feel old.

I'll be real, I loved Xen. The sudden shift was interesting and it looks cool. I would never argue that its "well designed" but I lived the environment

GabeN vs John Carmack is a fight I’d pay a *lot* of money to watch.

I'm disappointed this wasn't called Pro Life, but considering what the final boss is, it really isn't.

I didn't properly play and finish this game until after playing Half-life 2 despite having it on the PC I had in high school. I had to move back in with my parents for 4 months when I was 20 and was re-acquainted with my old gaming rig. That was when I finally realized how amazing and immersive this game really was.

One thing i consider revolutionary in half is chambering a bullet for the pistol when fully emptying the clip. Also, alt firing for practically every weapon.

Let's not forget that from the moment the resonance cascade starts Gordon is *swimming* in morphine.

I can't enter the test chamber without my buddy, Superfly!

Hmm. Ross just released the killing time vid. And now I'm realizing my grip on reality is looser than I thought. This video is a year old at least and there's a clip of Ross commenting on killing time in it. Muy Confuso

The little title cards for each chapter has got to be my favorite thing about this video.