On behalf of all of us here at Black Mesa, I just want to say the accident wasn't your fault, it's been 7 years Jam you need to let it go

I like how he actually groups up survivors instead of just leaving them after saving them.

16:47 Sorry to say this but that dead security guard is very much cannon. He’s the security guard that was back in the survey team’s supply depot. The reason he’s dead in OpFor is because he died fulfilling his promise to Gordon to quote: “cover you while you're waiting for that portal to warm up.” I can understand how you missed that though as he literally makes no attempt to actually fulfil this promise unless the player directly commands him to follow them into the chamber

I absolutely adore your interpretation of Adrian's character. Considering how you, as a player, are never tasked to kill any scientists, and they don't actively try to defend themselves against you, it only makes sense that Shepherd took the lambda side.

Honestly, if if Otis was right at the center of the nuke blast, he’d just walk it off. That man is a deity.

I love the idea that Otis goes from how his is in the game (playing him as a bit of a goofy loser type, implying he lives with his mom) to being a Combine-killing terror who has yet to be killed or captured. I'd love to see him return in a Half Life 3. I imagine he'd be anticitizen three (behind Gordon and Alyx).

43:18 I love the idea of the Gman releasing Shepard from stasis in the ruins of Black Mesa, long enough to where the technology has been picked clean and the radiation subsiding to safe (enough) levels. The Gman does this not out of malice, but as a reminder to Adrian just what he fights for. Adrian would roam, lost, confused, in a world thats no longer his own. He would be a lost shepard, until one day, he sees that Lamda symbol once again.

Here is the total for every game and expansion. There are 426 deaths/casualties. 226 of them were scientist/researcher casualties. 79 of them were Black Mesa security guard casualties. 57 of them were Black Mesa survey corp casualties. And 64 of them were HECU marine casualties. (For opposing force) There are 70 survivors of the incident. 37 of them were scientist/researcher survivors. 18 of them were Black Mesa security guard survivors. 0 of them were Black Mesa survey corp survivors. And 15 of them were HECU marine survivors. There are 58 people you can save. 31 of them were scientist/researchers. 15 of them were Black Mesa security guards. 0 of them were Black Mesa survey corps. 12 of them were HECU marines. Some HL2 survivors that survived from the destruction of black mesa via nuke was Isaac Kleiner Eli Vance Barney Calhoun Alex Vance - Its canon that Gman saved her from the blast when she was a infant. (Didn't appear in HL1 and was only mentioned by Gman in HL2EP2 of saving her) Gordon Freeman Dr. Breen aka Wallace Breen (Didn't appear in HL1 and was only mentioned by Alex in HL2 to be his old Administrator in HL1) Dr. Magnusson aka Arne Magnusson (Didn't appear in HL1 and was only mentioned by Magnusson in HL2EP2 that Gordon was the one who ruined his casserole in HL1)

The two Vortigaunts you meet in the chapter "The Package" at 28:15 are indeed an error. As you mentioned at 17:02, no Xen military forces being encountered after the chapter We Are Not Alone is a deliberate choice. The presence of these two Vortigaunts after the fact can be explained by how we know Gearbox developed the expansion. From the entity names applied to what are now enemies like Shock Troopers and Voltigore, we can see Gearbox were using the original HL1 aliens (namely Alien Grunts and Alien Slaves) as placeholder stand-ins for the new Race X aliens that they had not yet finished implementing. They simply forgot to replace these last two Vortigaunts in "The Package" with Shock Troopers, and we can further confirm this by observing that, if their scripted sequence is not interrupted (as you were able to in the video, making them docile), the two Vortigaunts will self-teleport towards Adrian's position on the mortar platform, an ability only Shock Troopers possess. In Foxtrot Uniform, the Marines you leave behind at 24:18 are inevitably destined to die. What most players tend to not realize is that the surface area with the explosive containers where you first meet these Marines hiding from the Black Ops snipers just before you enter the Voltigore tunnels is the exact same area you return to when you later climb out of the tunnels and meet the three new Marines heading for the dam. When you climb down the ladder into the tunnels at 24:21, you hear a massive explosion above you. This is the (essentially booby trapped) explosive containers on the surface detonating, completely collapsing the loading dock you just left the two Marines inside of and wiping out the remaining Black Ops presence up there, allowing Race X to move in and take over by the time you resurface. This does mean that the new group of Marines you meet in this same area at 24:51 must have materialized from out of nowhere, however.

I'd like to propose an alternate canon to what you described at the end of the video of Good Shepard. While Shepard himself would come to hate the Military, I don't see him taking out his anger on his fellow soldiers. Maybe the one interrogating the Scientist at the evac zone but it becomes quite clear that everyone is now abandoned at Black Mesa and the Black Ops are out to kill everyone, especially the soldiers. While sure the Soldiers had orders to kill, we see that even in HL1, there were HECU marines who were questioning the orders and really did not want to do this. After being abandoned, there really would be no reason for them to kill Black Mesa personnel (outside of warped perception). In addition, turning on people you likely knew and trained with to save what are effectively strangers is is not really a good thing to begin with, especially when said people aren't in situations (in this case, areas) where they can harm civis (being the scientists). Though we do see Marines still go after scientists and shit in the game, I imagine this is coding oversight (because this is Gear Box we're talking about) and in reality we'd start to see Soldiers, Security Officers, and Scientists start to team up for escape out. All of them would come to have a really obvious hatred for the US military and dislike for the Black Ops sent to wipe them out and all of them now needing to survive in the Combine controlled world with the Combine hunting down soldiers to add into their synth armies. I imagine that those soldiers and the security officers would be the first active combatance for the Resistance and help to train the Rebels in combat for the long guerilla war ahead. Plus with these soldiers being HECU Marines now experienced against Xen life, they can help the Resistance in surviving out in the wastelands also. Really this outcome just makes a lot more sense for Shepard's perspective on things and outlying how he's a good person by saving absolutely everyone he can.

27:30 just the sheer thought of being that scientist walking through a portal some random marine made filled with hope that you can finally escape but then find yourself on a deeper level of Black Mesa. Alone. Would be soul crushing my dude

I actually really like that idea of The Good Shepherd. That was just all around inspiring, it would be more than beautiful to see Gordon and Adrian firmly shaking hands while their other hands hold a crowbar and wrench respectively.

For the scientist that didn't go through the portal, my theory is that he can see the future and decided to stay until the nuke went off.

This guy spent hours of his life saving NPCs, what a legend.

42:39 I've got a slightly different headcanon. Outside of the soldiers whom are explicitly capturing/torturing/killing the Black Mesa personnel, how many of them either didn't receive the orders (like Shepard) *or* could be convinced by "the guy from our unit who literally saved our hides!" to go rogue with him? You even actually hear a Marine in Half Life complaining that "government coverups weren't in the job description (when I enlisted)". Hell, several of the marines working *with* Shepard have actually engaged the Black Ops in combat, so they know even *they* are in the crosshairs just by being there. "The aliens are shooting at everybody equally" + "that guy from our unit who saved our hides went rogue, think he has a point?" + "I didn't sign up for killing people whose only crime was a case of wrong place at the wrong time" + "Holy shit, *WE* are at the wrong place at the wrong time *too* !" might actually get the Marines working with Shepard to work out some form of truce.

The attention to detail and persistence is what makes these great. You look for ways the survivors could meet up and increase their odds, and leave them supplies. It's truly something new and I'm excited to see what you bring next!

Pretty sure the dead guard in the portal room is meant to be the guard at the end of lambda core who tells you "I'll cover you while you're waiting for that portal to warm up." You can bring him with you into the portal room.

About those 3 extra scientists you could theoretically save in Blue-Shift. They are currently developing a remake (like Black Mesa) and it would be cool if you could save those 3. Even it's just for fun without any gameplay implications.

16:50 In the first game, that Guard said "I'll cover you while Your waiting for that Portal to warm up." Probably, there is a Choice saying Leaving the guard so he can be safe or Take him with you in the Portal Room to Defend that Scientist.

9:43 That Otis artwork is so fucking cool. Imagine if he shows up in the next Half-Life game like that It kinda looks like the grittier art direction the HL2 beta was going for at first

Shepherd did his best to save everyone, like a true hero. I also don’t recall if it’s possible for friendly soldiers and scientists to be in the same area so that’s gonna be fun to see

Your closing speech regarding Adrian siding with Black Mesa personnel almost made me cry. I'd never thought of this before. I'd never thought a franchise I'd known for so many years would be able to make me feel so emotional. Thank you.

You know i think i got a lot of inspiration from you with my current additude of trying to save everyone i can in generally everything. Though while i usually like playing healing classes i think the general "No man left behind." and "Its never late to save someone." parts of it are heavily from you. So thank you.

I love the idea of G-Man getting more and more annoyed repeatedly teleporting back into the facility to re-engage the nuke, only to have the guard standing next to the warhead sneak over and turn it off over and over again, buying time for survivors to make it out.

I never realized how damn scrappy the scientists are in this game. Like a guard, military grunt or even the survey team have armor, weapons or training. These scientists are just livin inside the walls. I guess it makes sense considering Barney is the only guard we know in canon to make it out when at least 4 scientists did the same (Eli,Breen,Mossman and Kleiner)

The sequel we've all been waiting for.

16:52 The guard actually IS canon. In Half-Life, the guard that is with the scientist in the place where you get the long jump thing. Says that he would come and help you. But everyone usually does not realize this. So you are meant to take him with you. Which means when Gordon jumped in, the guard died, from the alien things.

30:40 “You’re a good guy Corporal” -random security guard

Otis really needs a game for himself.

16:48 he actually is! He is that guard briefing you about going to zen and in the end he says "i'l cover you while you are waiting for that Portal to warm up" so you are clearly meant to take him with you into this room and it seems like canonically he dies, even if that's not what you did in your playthrough of the main game

Your editing style is so engaging, leagues ahead of bigger creators for sure. I really believe that your editing is second to none, and the way you engage audiences is great as well. immaculate writing and pacing imo.

30:41 i always thought that this security guard calls player "copral" because of the shoulder straps that player wears. and the security guard, as a man who certainly served in the army, knows how to read them

The fact that you released this so quickly after the Half-Life one and also put in the effort to add Decay and Blue Shift is just amazing.

According to the wiki, on Easy difficulty, which enables aim assist, the assist triggers on Gina Cross’s body. Which implies she might be alive. Just unconscious. But if that’s the case, that would still mean she is stuck in Xen.

29:50 Guard: Hey you, what are you doing with that? Gman: * inhales * _Nothinggg youuu need to worry about......_ Guard afterwards: I think he armed some kind of bomb! One of these has to be the off switch, right? _I guess I'll just press all of them!_ Bomb: *WARNING. EMERGENCY INSTANT DETONATION ACTIVATED. HAVE A VERY SAFE DAY. GOODBYE.* Guard: Aw sh-

Wow, the sequel has arrived pretty quick! I like how in the "Welcome to Black Mesa" you had a "trolley" problem and you had to choose between one scientists and another, that was quite interesting. Also, that headcrab jump was neat, saving that security officer was satisfying to watch. This was so pleasant to watch, thank you for making these videos!

I like you how include soldiers in the casualty report. Also, I don't think Shepard would start going doom guy against the marines, I feel like he might see them being as deceived as the Black Mesa personnel. I also think the soldiers would stop killing scientists once they realized that upper command has betrayed them and this whole plan is just a waste of good men. Idk man, Half Life's story got so crazy and confusing they really should have just *nuked the whole thing.* -Also, Gina is probably alive in the secret rooms because in easy mode your aim assist moves towards her, implying she is probably just unconscious.- (Turns out it can also aim assist aims at corpses sometimes.)

I personally don't think Shepard would end up killing marines for the reason of spending years of his life knowing and making friendships with them but I do believe he would go AWOL

An interesting coincidence is that this head canon, the good Shepherd (which I really like this head cannon) kind of coincides with the canceled Ravenholm game where you play as Adrian and meet up with Father Grigori, cuz he’s a church leader and Sheperds name is a biblical one

12:10 He's not dead, he has electric powers.

You can totally bring a guard into the portal room with you in hl1, and it's actually canon, as he says he'll provide cover before you go in. It's just optional if you grab him or not.

Your videos have a ray of optimism and idealism in them which cuts through all the cynicism and defeatism I am surrounded by everyday. It's inspirational in its own way, going through all this to save them - an example to live by

27:16 Since we can headcanon anything here, I'll say that the scientist pops out of the teleporter after the nuke goes off, and somehow finds himself on a chair in the bar where Barney is having a beer post-incident. Scientist: Oh, Barney, it's you. So, how did you escape Black Mesa? Barney: Hey waiter, another round for the two of us, this is gonna take a while...

It's really thoughtful of you how far you go to preserve and support the people in these games. It makes me wish that this was a feature in the game from the start, even if it doesn't grant anything. Almost like easter eggs.

The good Shepard thingy was fun to listen too. I would think he took the rout of save everyone, in the face of an alien invasion, not once but twice, shepard tries to save himself from moral conundrums and save as many humans as possible to resist them. The less aliens the better for everyone at black mesa and earth.

Something I love about Half Life 1 is how it now feels like the beginning of some kind of modern mythos, with heroes and prophets destined to save the world (and an ending that doesn't conclude the story, Epistle 3 reading like a prediction of the end times). The Free Man, the Good Shepherd... they're treated like figures of legend over mere men

12:20 no thats RATHONGOR GOD OF THUNDER he was just taking a nap and recharging

I like the way you group survivors and somehow try to help them even in dangerous situations (such as medikit or putting each other's visible area😀). Not only does it go so well with Half Life's narrative style, but it seems like it's part of the story where you're trying to really help, not just achievements or quests to save these NPCs.😌 I also like that you don't give up and keep going even though there is a set dark and grim ending. p.s. Would like include credit of female assassin art in the description? 😅 Artist is "just-rube".

Man, Otis has a Deagle. Of course he will do a better job than anyone else.

Hey Saint. I actually managed to save the soldier from 9:45 on the steam version of the game. It took me a lot of tries but if you manage to get a grenade near the vorts it somehow breaks the script but they will kill him with their electro attacks, hence multiple tries. You just have to jump lob a grenade in the perfect location to get them. :)

4:35 best part is that Coomer is named after a valve employee that worked on Half-Life: Greg Coomer. Not only that, but Gordon Freeman's face is modeled after Greg Coomer's

At 42:56 the Bible quote “from” pulp fiction killed me

Saint: “Alright G man, I saved the lives of many scientists of black mesa, weakened the xen force, and survived all of the hazards on the way, what do I get?” GMan: “Your own pocket dimension!” Saint: “Awesome!” GMan: “That serves as a prison.” Saint: “…” Saint: “What?”

You managed to crank this out already? Mind blowing. You do great work!

Not gonna lie, as you said you are a sucker for enviromental story telling, I'm a sucker for good writing, that Good Shepard part at the end nearly brought me to tears thinking about, remembering Half-Life Reinstated, the SFM series for the Saxxy Awards, combined with the knowledge of how much trauma this man most have obtained, makes me wonder just the final thoughts going through his head before he was put through stasis, I like to think he had tears in his eyes as even then he would worry he didn't save enough, but at the same time, pride, pride in that he saved so many.

Now save everyone in half life 2

I have never left a comment on a youtube video before but I wanted to say: These videos are super entertaining and put together really professionally. I'm was honestly surprised to find out you don't create youtube videos for a living. Keep up the great work! :-)

At 19:00 I would also suggest activating the booby trapped door scanner because the scientist might try to use the scanner and get killed when you leave

Shepherd pulled a Cadia, I love it, “Black Mesa broke before the guard”

32:57 u call this a clickbait? I call that a bonus!

30:41 he could just see his rank on his vest lmao

I really like videos like this. It’s a nice nostalgic trip for me since I obsessed over half-life as a kid, and I love how much effort you put into taking both the spirit and letter of the challenge seriously by approaching it from both a canonical perspective within the franchise’s universe as well as a technical one with understanding and manipulating quirks in the game engine to forward the goal of the challenge. The spliced in memes are a charming and chuckle-inducing cherry on top. I’m happy the obvious care, forethought, and creativity you put into your videos is paying off for you in the algorithm. I got recommended this an hour after it was uploaded probably since I watched the first one and now I’m convinced you’re worth a sub.

This is kinda funny because each playable Half Life character (excluding Alyx) falls into a category in the survivor table thingy Gordon is a scientist Adrian is a marine Barney is guard Gina and colette are members of the survey team

21:17 I like to imagine that this is the same scientist who we see stuck in one of the rooms we get teleported to in zen Because he had no other way to survive if not the gman helped him But now we did

I consider this the canon ending for opposing force. Along with the half life one.

can't wait for saving every citizens in half life 2

16:48 In the original half-life the Guard and Scientist you meet before the chamber the Guard agrees to help you in the chamber while it powers up, and you have a choice to bring him or leave him. Most people dont even listen to that conversation, so dont know about this! So he is cannon.

Hell man! I love this! The effort and thought you put into this video is commendable. I do regret not discovering your channel earlier. And those “rambling” of yours are awesome. Game me goosebumps both times and The good Shepherd is my new head cannon. Just like rebel Otis. Thank you!

38:50 and also the smaller teleporter we see at the end of Blue Shift is an old prototype that while requires less energy than the Lambda Complex one (that one needed an entire nuclear reactor to work) not only required Barney to go to Xen to properly set it up before it could teleport the scientists to the parking lot at the end of Blue Shit, it is also more unpredictable and unstable as it ends up teleporting Barney to different locations before properly sending him to the end of the game

I dont think Adrian switched sides and killed grunts. It is far more likely he's ignored order, and saved everyone. Altough it was'nt shown in game mechanics, other soldiers didnt attack last survived barney, and walked down to fight geneworm.

Save the rebels in half life 2!

Love this series and how people find new things to do in these old gems

Saving Every Scientist in Half-Life is on my 'best videos of all time" playlist. This video somehow surpassed that at "The Good Shepherd" part. Absolutely brilliant. I am TOTALLY going to write fanfiction about that.

When I was little I was that kid who played Halo trying to keep all the marines alive. Meaning I love this concept, hope to see you trying similar things in other games!

I loved how, in this game, you had every opportunity to actually save the surviving Black Mesa personnel as a HECU grunt that went there and survived. It definitely makes Shepherd stand out in a good way, contrary to what the rest of his buddies were ordered there to do along with the Black Ops units that followed. Nostalgia! 💯👌😎🙏

41:22 Damn dude I've never really liked half life that much but after that narration at the end i might go and give the game a try

I always personally believed that despite the nuke being well...a nuke, that with it being a surface detonation(not even above ground mind you) that it wouldn't have destroyed ALL of BM. BM has some crazy underground concrete labyrinths to hunker down in. Though of course anyone surviving now has to deal with a whole new set of issues.

16:47 im pretty sure that guard is the one that is next to the scientist when you reach the lambda complex, since you can actually take him with you to the teleporter and he can help you 39:00 counterargument: the military are also human beings, and they also have regrets, that one grunt in hl1 himself said that he wasnt there to kill civilans, and was unhappy with the chain of command

As someone who has spent a ridiculous amount of time playing OP4, this video warmed my heart and taught me many things I never knew! One factoid that might interest you about the Otis in the vent in The Package: if you trigger a loading screen to the next map, come back, and find him again, he'll be standing up and will follow you around in the vents only...not that that changes his odds of survival but hey, some more neat Randy coding🤷‍♂ What a cool, thorough video you made here. And I thought I was crazy for getting so attached to these NPCs. Well done!

i also love the masked soldier aesthetic, something about it feels advanced and futuristic, like the soldier dawns not a helmet but an outer shell to show they have become something more than human, a avatar of war a symbol of strength

A well narrated and edited challenge run dotted with juicy memes is a recipe for success.

The dead guard in "We are not alone" is actually in Half-Life proper. When you meet the scientist with the shotgun shortly before charging the teleporter, he's accompanied by a security guard. Said guard you can order you to follow - into the teleporter chamber. And the corpse implies that's exactly what Freeman did: Get a guard as backup. As for why the guard in World's Collide calls you by rank: Ranks are normally visible on the uniform via emblem. So, he doesn't know who you are, he just can read your uniform (tho I presume the low res models of the game make it hard to impossible for a player to read it)

2:25. Let me explain why there aren't any big headcrabs in Half life 2. The Combine changed the biology of the Headcrabs ruining their reproductive cycle. The big boi Headcrabs are stage 2 of the Headcrab cycle. They start as a regular Headcrab then they become a zombie then they become a big boi zombie then they become a gonarch. The Half Life 2 Headcrabs were mutated by the Combine to be a fear machine.

You cranked this out quickly! Love your work and am excited to see what is next!

Oh my god, you did it again. I know my comment will be lost in the sea of great comments posted on this stellar video, but I just want to so that I am incredibly mesmerized. I can’t believe you were able to do essentially the entire thing once more on another video, you are such an absolute mad lad! This also makes me hope even more for a Freeman-Shepard team up, especially when Gordon finally starts going after G-Man and finds a way to free Shepard from his eternal prison. Anyway, I hope you will have an incredible day, and that you will get your well deserved rest, lad!

Wonderful video, just like the previous one. I think your sorta minimalist thumbnails with a defined style are a good attractor of viewers, but the dedication to the "challenge" and lore-knowledge combined with your soothing voice and slick editing is what keeps people watching. Great job.

The Intro is the one of the best intro's i have ever seen. Such a good idea and how it was executed made me rewatch it for more than 10 times. Pure art. The video itself was made really good for a channel with this low amount of subs. You need more attention! Wish you luck, you did one of the best works I've ever seen about this game.

Phenomenal video man, I remember as a kid playing video games and trying my best to save npcs and clear out as many enemies as possible for them or leave them supplies in hopes of it helping them. Your two videos for half life reminded of those times and gave me some unique nostalgia. Regardless, the editing, commentary, and pacing was all very well done, something that a big professional youtuber would produce, so i'm hoping that's a sign of things to come for you. :)

Not enough youtubers do the whole light storytelling angle, keep this up I'm loving it.

Oh my god, this man has an insane way of storytelling, especially on the last part. It's so goddamn captivating, I love it man. Please, keep doing what you're doing.

17:25 The ultimate betrayal...

30:48 or he figured he was a corporal based on his rank badge, but that wouldn't be as fun.

These videos are absolutely phenomenal- the speedrun-tier attention to detail and to saving every soul possible isn't just admirable, it's an inspiration. Can't wait to see if you continue this series through to Half Life 2 with the revolutionaries! With how much you did in both playthroughs so far to make the whole of Black Mesa as safe and as unified as possible, I know that scientist trapped in Xen was sent somewhere safe, too.

16:50 this guard is actually canon because he is in a room right before teleport chamber and can be taken here in original half life

Please make a "saving every rebel in Half-Life 2".

30:43 Maybe he saw Shepard's shoulder straps?

"The Good Shephard" gave me chills. Another banger! I've always hated whenever people's Opposing Force 2 theories had Adrian as a combine soldier, even if that was the point of the first game, Adrian was clearly shown to be different to the rest of the military and wanted to help the scientists. I'm still not gonna budge on Race X being non-canon, I always saw their inclusion as a proto-combine concept before the modern combine we all know was finalized, but I love the rest of your interpretation/headcanon. Can't wait to see more videos from you, whether that's saving rebels in HL2 or it's something totally different.

The wiki for this game suggests that "The Package" is a W88 thermonuclear warhead with a yield of 475 kilotons of TNT. That's obviously a very big boom, but I have severe doubts that would be enough to destroy the entirety of the Black Mesa Research Facility, for several reasons. First off, The Package is detonated underground, which would actually decrease the area it would destroy. Most nuclear weapons are designed to be detonated in mid-air above their target. Second, from what we see in the games, the BMRF is an absolutely massive facility, with structures on the surface that extend several hundred meters below ground. It's constructed mainly out of steel, concrete, and reinforced concrete. This is the exact type of structure that is designed to withstand nuclear blasts. I suppose the nuke might cause enough of a seismic event to collapse the already structurally compromised underground facilities, but at that point it would have likely been easier and more effective to bomb the facility with bunker busters.

ive never even played or watched any of the half life games all the way through but ive seen bith of your videos on it now and its so great, i'm just on a lore binge y'know btw the pyrocynical/hunt down the freeman stuff is great lol

The sequel I've been waiting for. Another well edited video with a bunch of meme's to keep me more entertained than i already am.