Half-Life is survival horror and HL2 ruins Gordon Freeman

[Mattchester]

So I've finally played through the first game and I'm genuinely surprised. Not only by how much I enjoyed a 21-year-old game, but by how unique it actually feels compared to both old-school run-and-gun shooters and its linear, setpiece-heavy sequel. And then it hit me: this isn't really a shooter, it's a survival horror game in disguise.

HL is basically Die Hard in Area 51, and just like John McClane, Gordon isn't some badass warrior going in guns blazing. He's a competent everyguy in a terrible situation whose goal most of the time is just to survive. He's crawling through a crazy maze where any room can lead to his death and every encounter requires some strategy or very quick reflexes. He's never strong enough to just destroy the enemies, and while there's rarely a lack of ammo, the weapons aren't that strong and one bad move can kill him in 2 seconds.

I've never felt that way when playing HL2. The feeling that there can be a trap, an enemy spawn or a mine around every corner, that the entire place and everything living or not is trying to get me. Strangely enough, it reminded me of Dark Souls the most. Just like there, every new room had me asking "How is this place gonna try and screw me over?". It didn't really bother me that the combat was a bit wonky, that the gameplay tempo was slow and the difficulty was pretty unforgiving, because I didn't care about blasting enemies like in a Build engine FPS or finishing a story objective like in a modern FPS. My only goal was survival.

It saddens me that they didn't try to keep this up in HL2. If Gordon in HL1 is John McClane, then Gordon in HL2 is Snake Plissken. A legendary warrior that everyone and their aunt has heard of and the only man capable of saving the world. That relatability is gone, but at the same time he lacks the personality to sell the badassery. The silent protagonist worked fine in the first game, but in the second one it's just awkward, especially with so many scripted dialogue scenes. I think it would've been more interesting if HL2 had you play as some random citizen of City 17 dragged into the resistance, maybe meeting or playing as Gordon later in the game. That way we'd have that sense of discovery, relatability and going against insurmountable odds while barely managing to stay alive.

[Sovereign]

HL1 starts with Freeman as a an everyman just trying to survive in a horror like scenario, but by the end he's heroically leaping through portals on a suicide mission to to do battle with an evil alien demigod using rocket launchers and laser cannons in order to save the entire human race from destruction. HL2 then continues from there with Gordon already having built up a reputation.

Basically HL1 tells the story of how Gordon becomes a unstoppable badass while HL2 then has him run around being a badass. Character and plot progression, you see.

[PsyWarVeteran]

This is exactly what I have been saying for years:

HL is the story of a normal guy trying to survive, HL2 makes Gordon Freeman, a nobody who was just a name and a face for the player to give life to, a hero. Why? Who knows. If anything, they should attack Freeman because it was he who started the Resonance Cascade, willingly or not.

Long, expository scenes that drag out too long just to provide, as I said before, exposition or praise Gordon as the hero that is the last hope of humanity for some reason, and as you said, you can't talk so you just awkwardly wait there for the game to "game" again.

Less weapons, less enemies, way too many gimmicky physics puzzles to show off the engine, constant exposition that stops the game, a complete seperation from the original HL.

Still, a great game, fun and just like the first game a great technological achievement. But, not without its flaws.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

HL1 starts with Freeman as a an everyman just trying to survive in a horror like scenario, but by the end he's heroically leaping through portals on a suicide mission to to do battle with an evil alien demigod using rocket launchers and laser cannons in order to save the entire human race from destruction. HL2 then continues from there with Gordon already having built up a reputation.

Basically HL1 tells the story of how Gordon becomes a unstoppable badass while HL2 then has him run around being a badass. Character and plot progression, you see.

No one witnessed his badassery though, maybe only ones who witnessed it are that one scientist and barney who gave him the long jump module and weapons for Xen, and the other scientist who opened the portal which I am pretty sure is dead.

No one should even know who the guy is.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

HL1 starts with Freeman as a an everyman just trying to survive in a horror like scenario, but by the end he's heroically leaping through portals on a suicide mission to to do battle with an evil alien demigod using rocket launchers and laser cannons in order to save the entire human race from destruction. HL2 then continues from there with Gordon already having built up a reputation.

Basically HL1 tells the story of how Gordon becomes a unstoppable badass while HL2 then has him run around being a badass. Character and plot progression, you see.

No one saw his badassery though, maybe only ones who witnessed it are that one scientist and barney who gave him the long jump module and weapons for Xen, and the other scientist who opened the portal which I am pretty sure is dead.

No one should even know who the guy is.

The Vorts did, and spread his story to Eli and the other resistance founders who in turn spread it to humanity as a sort of legend to give the oppressed people hope, a symbol to believe in. Hence why they adopted the orange Lambda on the front Freeman's HEV as their symbol.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

No one saw his badassery though, maybe only ones who witnessed it are that one scientist and barney who gave him the long jump module and weapons for Xen, and the other scientist who opened the portal which I am pretty sure is dead.

No one should even know who the guy is.

The Vorts did, and spread his story to Eli and the other resistance founders who in turn spread it to humanity as a sort of legend to give the oppressed people hope, a symbol to believe in. Hence why they adopted the orange Lambda on the Freeman's HEV as their symbol.

Come on, huuuge stretch.

Even if that was the case, they waited all these years for a myth to come save them? A guy who hasn't been around for years and more than likely died at Xen? Vortiguants never saw G-Man took Gordon after all.

And even if we ignore that, it still doesn't change the fact the gameplay suffers because of the "Hero Gordon Syndrome" in many areas. Everyone stops you to praise you, it makes the player just want that section to be over and get back into gameplay.

I think there is a reason people love Ravenholm. It is pure action and tense moments combined, just like the first game. Even Gabe Newell admitted it was a mistake to stray that far from the horror of the first game.

I am not a pure action guy, I think story is the second most important aspect of a game after gameplay, but that doesn't mean you should stop a game dead in its tracks to give exposition. The first game gave information without stopping the flow of the game. HL2 feels very staged.

[Reginald CZ]

HL 2 turned Gordon into Jesus. You can't even kill your allies anymore.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Originally posted by Reginald CZ:

HL 2 turned Gordon into Jesus. You can't even kill your allies anymore.

Thanks to playtesters.

Valve has the worst playtesters ever, not just for HL, for every game they ever made.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

The Vorts did, and spread his story to Eli and the other resistance founders who in turn spread it to humanity as a sort of legend to give the oppressed people hope, a symbol to believe in. Hence why they adopted the orange Lambda on the Freeman's HEV as their symbol.

Come on, huuuge stretch.

Even if that was the case, they waited all these years for a myth to come save them? A guy who hasn't been around for years and more than likely died at Xen? Vortiguants never saw G-Man took Gordon after all.

And even if we ignore that, it still doesn't change the fact the gameplay suffers because of the "Hero Gordon Syndrome" in many areas. Everyone stops you to praise you, it makes the player just want that section to be over and get back into gameplay.

I think there is a reason people love Ravenholm. It is pure action and tense moments combined, just like the first game. Even Gabe Newell admitted it was a mistake to stray that far from the horror of the first game.

I am not a pure action guy, I think story is the second most important aspect of a game after gameplay, but that doesn't mean you should stop a game dead in its tracks to give exposition. The first game gave information without stopping the flow of the game. HL2 feels very staged.

No not a stretch, actual lore, the Vorts were the ones who came up with the whole "one free man" thing in the first place and they did know he was taken by the G-Man, both Eli and the Vorts. Even then they weren't waiting for him to show, they were building a resistance, they were just also hoping he may return and help. It's never revealed exactly how much the Vorts and Eli know about the G-Man and his plans but a lot more then we do for sure.

The difference between HL1 and HL2 story wise is that HL2 has a much more complex plot with actual characters which have personalities, goals and interpersonal relations. This requires a lot more actual dialogue then HL1 did, which was only introducing the concept of shooters have proper stories beyond "kill all the monsters". If you don't have patience for basic storytelling that's of course your business, but looking at HL2's critical response most people clearly didn't have a problem with it.

HL tells a linear story, of course it's staged, all fictional stories are staged. That's what staged means: "planned, organized, or arranged in advance, often of an event or situation intended to seem otherwise."

Originally posted by Reginald CZ:

HL 2 turned Gordon into Jesus. You can't even kill your allies anymore.

A basic requirement of the game's storytelling, it simply wouldn't work if you could just gun down your friends for no logical reason.

Anyway I've said my piece on this matter, not really looking to get dragged into a debate so I'll just bow out now, I bid you adieu.

[PsyWarVeteran]

That's why I said "even if".


The first game could convey info without stopping the gameplay, I don't agree with the whole "bigger story, more dialogs" thing, you can show and not tell.

The Tentacle fight from the first game for example:

You hear loud banging at first, see a dying scientist that tells you to "destroy the damn thing". / Now you know that there is a creature you must face.

After that you see another scientist try to press a button just to be grabbed by the tentacle / Now you know that you must activate the buttons to destroy the creature.

You then come across a security guard that tells you to "be quiet" / Now you know that you must sneak past the creature.

And finally, you see a guard ripped to shreds by the Tentacle. / Now you know you can't use regular weapons and facing the creature head on is death.


HL2 doesn't even have proper bosses to compare this scenario with. It instead has levels dedicated only for exposition and nothing more. Black Mesa East is the biggest example. You just hang around doing nothing, even play catch with the D0g just to show off the gravity gun and physics. If the Combine hadn't attacked, how could the story progressed? No answer. That's why I call HL2's way of telling the story staged.

[coolman552]

if the combine hadnt attacked the game would end there lmao eli just says "lets get ya out of that hev suit and put on a lab coat instead"

[Mattchester]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

HL1 starts with Freeman as a an everyman just trying to survive in a horror like scenario, but by the end he's heroically leaping through portals on a suicide mission to to do battle with an evil alien demigod using rocket launchers and laser cannons in order to save the entire human race from destruction. HL2 then continues from there with Gordon already having built up a reputation.

Basically HL1 tells the story of how Gordon becomes a unstoppable badass while HL2 then has him run around being a badass. Character and plot progression, you see.

I get that, but it completely abandons what made HL1 special and uses the same "Chosen Badass" template as hundreds other games. Not only that, it does it pretty badly since Gordon's lack of personality clashes with the scripted narrative sequences. That's why I said I'd be more interested in playing as another random bystander, just like Gordon in HL1.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

The Vorts did, and spread his story to Eli and the other resistance founders who in turn spread it to humanity as a sort of legend to give the oppressed people hope, a symbol to believe in. Hence why they adopted the orange Lambda on the Freeman's HEV as their symbol.

Come on, huuuge stretch.

Even if that was the case, they waited all these years for a myth to come save them? A guy who hasn't been around for years and more than likely died at Xen? Vortiguants never saw G-Man took Gordon after all.

And even if we ignore that, it still doesn't change the fact the gameplay suffers because of the "Hero Gordon Syndrome" in many areas. Everyone stops you to praise you, it makes the player just want that section to be over and get back into gameplay.

I think there is a reason people love Ravenholm. It is pure action and tense moments combined, just like the first game. Even Gabe Newell admitted it was a mistake to stray that far from the horror of the first game.

I am not a pure action guy, I think story is the second most important aspect of a game after gameplay, but that doesn't mean you should stop a game dead in its tracks to give exposition. The first game gave information without stopping the flow of the game. HL2 feels very staged.

Its actually not, the Vorts know of Freeman because it was him that FREED them from the final boss that was controlling them in HL1 as its slaves.

[Vassago Rain]

Originally posted by Cursed Hawkins:

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Come on, huuuge stretch.

Even if that was the case, they waited all these years for a myth to come save them? A guy who hasn't been around for years and more than likely died at Xen? Vortiguants never saw G-Man took Gordon after all.

And even if we ignore that, it still doesn't change the fact the gameplay suffers because of the "Hero Gordon Syndrome" in many areas. Everyone stops you to praise you, it makes the player just want that section to be over and get back into gameplay.

I think there is a reason people love Ravenholm. It is pure action and tense moments combined, just like the first game. Even Gabe Newell admitted it was a mistake to stray that far from the horror of the first game.

I am not a pure action guy, I think story is the second most important aspect of a game after gameplay, but that doesn't mean you should stop a game dead in its tracks to give exposition. The first game gave information without stopping the flow of the game. HL2 feels very staged.

Its actually not, the Vorts know of Freeman because it was him that FREED them from the final boss that was controlling them in HL1 as its slaves.

You can talk to the vorts standing around in HL2. They have like 30 minutes of dialogue about what Freeman means to them.