Surface: distorted instrumentation over implications of gman. Child labor. Wide terror Depths: gabe wanted moss

Surface: THE SCREAMS OF VICTIMS AGONY Deep waters: REAL TIME GROWING MOSS

Gordon doesn’t need to hear all this, he’s a highly trained professional.

"Hallucination stuff" could be reffering to the water the Combine gives to the citizens, one citizen states this in the beginning chapter of the game, when you're entering City 17. "Don't drink the water. They put something in it, to make you forget. I don't even remember how I got here."

The reason for Half Life 3 taking so long is because they can't figure out how to add real-time moss.

"Now we are passing the point of no return. The Bottom." First one: "Fast headcrabs are normal headcrabs" bruh

30:20 Well yeah, that's the point. Half-Life 2 literally ends with "Rather than give you the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you"

Gotta appreciate how valve was cool with people using their leaked content, yet rockstar sues someone who makes a map for rdr2.

25:34 The way the Gman says "Personal Holocaust" sounds like he's on the verge of laughter. Like even he couldn't deliver the line with a straight face.

I feel like Black Mesa doesn't necessarily care about Aperture, Aperture does however because they think they are important. Aperture and Cave Johnson have this weird, delusional sense of self importance.

Fun fact. When you’re talking about that theoretical energy catcher that encompasses a star or planet, The Dyson Sphere. Dyson’s first name was Freeman 😀

Something about the G-MAN, At the start of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2, You start on a train which is going on the rail things, this is represents the G-man's control over Gorden. At the start of Half Life's 2 Episodes, you don't start on trains meaning the G-man's control over Gorden has been fully destroyed. At the start of Half-Life Episode 2, You start on a broken train meaning that the gman has lost full control over Gorden, That sounded way better in my Head. Edit: I think the this talked about somewhere in the video but i dont know, this comment section is probably dead.

"Valve tolerated the leaks as long as they were used in free products" Meanwhile nintendo just shuts it down quickly

I remember when i was playing half life 1 years ago, I had left my 'learn spanish' dvd in my disk drive by accident. So anytime a certain sound file (usually occurring near barnacles) would fire off, it would start playing a several hour long spanish education cd instead. It was funny the first couple times.

Something I see people overlooking is that the advisors aren't necessarily the leaders of the combine, and the fact they're called "advisors" implies they're servants to some greater force.

Fun fact: The guy from the valve intro "open your eye" is the guy who wrote the soundtrack for Half Life 1 and 2, even the intro's music was made by him, his name is Kelly Bailey. This intro was replaced with the intro "open your mind" when the orange box was released, and Kelly Bailey has quit Valve. You might already know that

⚠️ ATTENTION ALL HALF LIFE GAMERS⚠️ Father Grigori is in great danger and needs your help to wipe out all of the headcrabs in ravenholm! To do this, he needs a shotgun and a gravity gun. To help him, all he needs is your parents credit card number and the three wacky numbers on the back, and the expiration date. But you gotta be quick so Father Grigori can achieve the epic victory Royale!!!!

I like to think the baby picture in freeman locker is a stock photo that came with the frame and he's just been telling people he has a family because he is a nerd and hasn't been on a date in years.

Freeman's last name is ironic since he is a pawn and Shepard's last name is ironic too (though in the opposite sense from Freeman's) since he's not leading anybody, especially not in stasis.

I'd like to add, that that couple in half life 2, (later found in half life 2 episode 2) can also be found before entering White Forest. Before entering, they will run out through some trees to a cliff, when they will over look the forest below, and they will comment on how peaceful it is. Obviously a nod to how life without the combine was peaceful, but also how close the resistance is to winning against the combine, or at least shows that there is hope.

Fun fact: you can "save" laszlo if you perfectly time a grenade throw to kill the antlions that come out to kill him, however since his death is scripted to happen, he will suddenly just die and the scene ensues.

actually the radio song reversed message can also be interpreted as "Gordon, everyone is dead"

Half-Life 2 is one of my all time favorite games, Valve has truly made a a timeless classic, the story is so deep, even after all these years still new things to be found, hidden details that add to the lore, the world building is on another level, being immersed in the world, it truly feels like you are in it, The G-Man such a deep, mysterious character, we don’t know who how is, his motives, the fight against the Combine, the gameplay is top notch, the use of the Gravity Gun, environmental physics, just a masterpiece game, Valve are among the best developers in the industry, really hope they make a part 3 some day 👏👏👏

The silence from the copyright removed soundtrack at 13:00 scared the shit out of me

Half Life 4: Gordon activates a portal which accidently removes the crystal from Half Life 1 causing a paradox, The game then turns into a dating sim with Your friend Barney who is a bartender.

im in agreement with the fact breen did save humanity, he managed to convince an extremely powerful galactic empire to keep his species alive

2:07 I think this could be something Gordon experienced as a child, as the file is marked memory.

I swear to god, I dont know who rubbed off on who, but Gabe and Kojima meeting in person had to have influenced one or the other because real time moss growing is a feature for its own sake kind of idea that only someone like Kojima would put in their game regardless if anybody noticed it.

Okay, so you're telling me that some cat traumatized Barney and everything he went through in Blue Shift didn't?

G-man had his passport, that’s why nobody questioned him.

I like to think that "personal holocaust" is referencing all the times the player has died as freeman. A rare ludonarrative point made in games like nier: automata, super meat boy and of course the dark souls series.

For the last entry, I'm of the opinion that the resistance *can* win, and thats part of why Alyx is so valuable. She can hack combine technology, and use it for herself. This might mean that over time the resistance can develop technology as strong as the technology the combine have, by reverse engineering it or something along those lines, allowing them to defeat the combine

I think the best explanation for the timeline shit is that, there is no alternate timeline. The Gman needed Eli to die in order to go back in time and create a scenario to convince Alyx to agree to work for him. After all, in episode 2, why would Gman tell Eli "prepare for unforeseen consequences" through brainwashing Alyx if Eli was only going to die a few hours later in the hangar? That message wasn't for his death; *it was for Alyx being taken away from him again*

I love how this game is over 2 decades old and theres still dozens of questions we havent even noticed

i literally just subbed because you gave credit where it was due wish more people did that and apricate the work you do turning it into a video for all of us

I would argue that "Freeman's Limitless Potential" refers to the fact that Freeman is the Player Character, and as such, can save/reload an infinite number of times to overcome any obstacle or perfect any part of the story. This further solidifies the possibility that G-Man is indeed Valve, talking to the PC directly, with the prescience that the player exists outside of the game and can always determine specific outcomes. Simultaneously, G-Man knows what the outcome will be, since Freeman can only stay within the confines of the games rails - hence G-Man is Valve because Valve designed the game, and the player, no matter how many times or different ways they try something, the game will always end the same way.

Quick thing, if anyone is wondering about why freeman in epistle 3 kinda gives up after seeing a Dyson sphere; the requirements to design, build, and maintain such a device is unbelievely high. The theory of the Dyson sphere stats that any civilization capable of developing such a device, would not need it. Its Gordon realizing just how advance the combine really are and how impossible it is for the rebelling forces to actually do anything at all against that kind of force.

"Watching the moss grow" seems simultaneously as a Peter Molyneux lie/pr scam, a Gabe Newell joke, and a Hideo Kojima art vision

"the Cat" is also a reference to Cronenberg's the Fly movie, in which a failed teleportation of a cat ends up creating a sentient and agonizing blob of flesh and exposed nerves.

Halucination stuff refers to half life 2 and what the combine had put in the water to make you forget

Just realized that the cat they teleported is most likely referencing schrödinger's cat as quantum mechanics does involve teleportation of particles in quantum tunneling

25:25 It legitemately sounds like Gman is mocking Gordon like a child, especially when he says "personal holocaust", wich he says in a tone way to goofy for the Gman.

Stayed through all the video! Thanks for the information, a lot of good stuff I didn't knew before! Havent played the new Alyx game as I dont have the VR. But would love to try it.

21:57 Prospero still lived on in the original Half Life, the soundtrack that opens the train ride is called Prospero01, other tracks from this cancelled project are there as well, the files are Prospero01 through 05

“That was only the surface now we enter the waters” *Free TVs*

I’m very new to half life. My grandson recommended me to play half life last year. I just recently finished 2 along with the episodes. I hardly knew any of this. Even at the top of the iceberg. It was a real hoot. 🦉

Fun fact: all of the Half-Life games take place when Lamarr is alive, which is why there’s no Half-Life 3/Half-Life 2: Episode Three, because, Lamarr died in the rocket that got launched in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Which means all the Half-Life games revolve around Lamarr. But hey, that’s just a theory!

back once again one year later, great video man!

wait what if the person on the radio saying "Gordan can you hear me" is Alyx after being taken by the G-man.

I can confirm the CD reading one, it's a funny story: First of all, sorry if my English is broken. I was 11yo, and I used to have the Non-Steam old version of the game (you know, the WON menu screen), but with no soundtrack on it. One day mother forgets a CD with music only, all music from Chayanne. It was a surprise form me when "Torero" start playing on the first chapter"Inbound". Yes, this is real.

I think the cat is a reference to the original The Fly movie. In where the scientist tests the prototype teleporter on the family cat. The cat's fate isn't as gruesome, it simply never makes it to the other teleport pod

"God is not with us". Took me a while to pause on that frame. Interesting video. Learned some new things despite having watched a lot of content on HL. Thanks 😊

"Hallucination Stuff" probably refers to objects with "_hallucination" in their name. These objects were found within Episode 3 leaks from the Source engine development branch. The effect, when applied to an object, makes it disappear shortly after looking at it. It's likely this was to be used on the Borealis, to simulate the ship being in multiple points in space at once.

The theory of the citadel screams being from the astronaut screaming just gave me chills, all that aside good job!

when alyx asks “combine off earth” g-man will split in two and one will vanish, thats probably combine off earth universe.

Freeman declining the gmans offer is what creates the alyx timeline

Is it just me, or does Half-Life have one of the most interesting icebergs out of all of them? Also, glad I know where that ‘radio song’ is from now.

Nobody going to talk about the "god isn't with us" and the "you don't exist" 1 frames?

Amazing video man.

I love how the entire future of the world started to collapse all because a scientist was a little to curious

The cat was turned inside out, Barney states this in the Beta version of Half Life 2.

Its scary seeing gman everywhere in the games, as he knows where gordon is and is making gordon sure that he is still keeping an eye ln him.

That "claim" about the screams being recordings of the astronauts aboard the Challenger is in pretty poor taste, and really doesn't deserve to be included in this video.

My belief is that the G-man is actually a twisted, evil/not evil version of gordon where he has the technological power to be able to create multiple timelines to his will. Furthermore the reason he can teleport at will is because he can time travel by bending space and time itself. Adding more to your idea about the G-man wating the vortigaunt's vortessence, he only wants/needs it to fix the future timeline that he is from. I am a big fan of half life games and if you make a video on the whole thing then this would mean alot to me if you mentioned this comment. Thank you for listening/reading.

The claim of the Citadel screams being from a failed space launch isn't entirely incorrect. In the beta for HL2 there were unique Citadel screams that were actually pieces of audio from recordings made by the Judica-Cordiglia brothers . They claimed to have secretly recorded multiple cosmonaut missions on the radio, and the one in the HL2 beta was from a recording that supposedly has a female cosmonaut burning up during re-entry. Many people have claimed the recordings as fake, and they probably are, but it's still eerie nonetheless. The audio file in the beta is called "trans6".

When you said "Child labor in the half 2 beta" , I though you meant IRL, at Valve

amazing video bro. one theory that i recently heard is that humanity does eventually win because at the end of portal 2 i think you see earth with oceans again a long time after the combine invasion, implying that earth was recovered. Idk the ending though i just heard that from a friend, havent actually played portal 2.

Fun Fact: The All-Knowing Vortigaunt can also be seen in half-life 2 chapter 5: Black Mesa East, when Gordon Freeman and Judith Mossman are on the elevator on their way to Eli Vance, you can see some Vortigaunts on different floors. One of the Vortigaunts in the kitchen (specifically on the left-hand side cutting onions) speaks the same voice lines as the Vortigaunt in Chapter 4: Water Hazard when you hit "E" (only works if there isn't any conversation going on). It can only be accessed using noclip.

The zombie sounds in Half-Life Alyx don't even need to be reversed. You can clearly hear them screaming "Help me, oh God!".

what the heck this isn't a funny moments highlight

Glad someone brought up the theory that G-Man is Valve. I actually thought about it long time ago. Like at the end of HL1 G-Man offers the player a choice of continuing along the path of the game plot or refuse and let go. I take it developers themselves are asking you at the end of the game "Did you like our game. Whould you like to see what's next? Subscribe if you have to!". Jokes aside, i guess i can call G-Man as Gabe's Man, yeah... The fact that this G-Man appears everywhere watching Gordon going places.... it's like developers is watching you play their game in real time. Probably like watching beta-testers playing the game, while standing behind their back. And if you ask me - i think Vorts are actuall devs themselves. I remember Gabe once said in an interview that he decided to leave the development cycle to the dev team alone for some time to observe how things change from the consumer POV. And what we saw in EP1? Vorts blocking G-Man from controlling Gordon overall

3:29 Funny conclusion you came to regarding the dead scientists in HEV suits, plus having 100% confidence in that conclusion. I always figured the other men in HEV suits were those who perished while pursuing the very mission Freeman was sent on. Did I miss something in the storyline that explained why those scientists were there?

Half Life 2’s original story was leaked so they fixed up a new one. Half Life 2 Episode 3’s story was created and everyone considered that this was the story, then Valve fixed up a new one.

I think the "Half Life 1 reads your cd drive" refers to the fact that certain servers had a "troll" script in-game that could open your CD drive. It commonly happened on a Sven Coop server of the popular Afraid of Monsters mod, where an admin would spawn as the main character of the mod with god mode and startled the players, sometime executing scripts that killed them, teleported them or opened their cd drive at random. These scripts can only be possible if the game itself has access to the cd drive.

Til this day, this is the best iceberg video I’ve ever seen. I to this day I look for the quality I found in this iceberg somewhere else

*LIMITLESS POTENTIAL* Never gets taken advantage of again. So Gordon and Megaman have something in common.

Im personally glad that Epistole 3 isnt cannon because i think it's such a bleak ending.

26:25 The way I think what the "It's all a simulation" section might actually be referring to. Instead of it being a joke or something, I think could be related to when the Gman hired Gordon at the end of HL1, meaning that the events of HL2 could be the "simulation" it was taking about. As in, the Gman placed Gordon in a Hypothetical scenario after putting him in stasis, as if he was training Gordon for something much worse that the Combine has to offer.

One of these needs to be cleared up and that is the zombies. They are not concious in the lore, the brain is half destroy, the person is dead. What you hear is the "headcrab" basically parroting the final words of the person, over and over again.... It learnt them.

The "god is not with us" and "you dont exist" lines you put into the bottom section of the iceberg makes it a bit creepier. Nice

Why is every sound in this game sound like something straight out of a horror film

The audio that plays when Gordon is around that small playground in half life 2 is probably a memory he had when he was a kid or just the fact that he remembers that the earth was once a better place

I appreciate how every level of the iceberg makes you feel more and more uneasy

The zombies still been conscious gave me chills

Part of me wonders if the woman in the reversed version of the radio is Alyx trying to communicate to Gordon while in stasis.

At 27:33 the, “Am I missing something here,” text flashes red for less than a split second and says, “God is not with us.” Interesting... Also it does it again at 28:05 and says, “You don’t exist.”

For those wondering, at the start of the last chapter in the video, at the "Am i missing something here?" The quick text that appears afterwards says "God is not with us", after that, another text says "You dont exist".

3:16 this legit made me jolt and slightly grunt in fear and laughter as the entirety of Half Life but the Ai is self aware and that eldritch horror Benrey re entered my mind

I always imagined the non mechanical reproduction simulation was just vr porn

23:38 Hallucinations were a mechanic from a leaked development map at valve, it allowed you to see strange things from the corner of your eye every now and then.

Maybe Alyx did forget killing the Advisor thus continuing the events of half-life 2 ep 2. Her being trapped in the stasis just took an effect right after Eli was supposed to be killed.

excellent video, this revitalized my love and interest in half life

I just wanna know if G-Man is a villain or he’s secret hero like Professor Snape.

27:32 GOD IS NOT WITH US 28:04 YOU DONT EXIST

And now we have CERN and a biblical prediction that there will be a time, where the bottomless pit is opened

I think the hallucination stuff might be a reference to that the combine put stuff in the water.

The craziest AND most likely theory I’ve heard is that GMan represents Valve / Gabe Newell. Gordon “Freeman” is you, the player who is “free”, not bound to the half life universe. When playing as Gordon you are living a half-life... you control a character in a game, but his fate is predetermined. So much of the lore centers around the notion of control, and free will. The game puts into question what is free will. Are these NPCs alive themselves, totally ignorant to the layer of reality above them in our physical existence?

10:05 I didn't think Headcrabs did anything to the victim's brain. From what I've seen, it appears they envelop the head & sever the spine at the neck with their "beak", & then hijack the nervous system & pilot the victim like a puppet. If you look at the models of both headcrab & zombie you can all but confirm it. Considering the existential horror that Half-Life is portraying I would consider this 100 health territory... ...But then I watched 23:10. Wierd. Haven't played Alyx yet. Maybe they grow tentacles into the victim's brain like roots & poke around till they take complete control? Or maybe the crab has it's own way of seeing? Either way, the zombie shouldn't be able to see, as their eyes are covered by the crab...

Dude, I'm rewatching this for the 5th time now. Idk why, but I just really love this video xD

Great video