Landis HL2RP review

[Hudson633]

Trying the server on Thursday 13th Jan 2022, the auto-download left a large number of errors, and I struggled to find any content packs for it. It turned out that my Source games needed mounting again, and their content pack was available on one of the later menus.

Landis: HL2RP > Semi-Serious
Game: impulse: Half-Life 2 Roleplay
Map: rp_nc_industrial17_v3
Players: 28 / 64

A series of introduction messages describe the basic lore and gameplay concept, including suggestions to set up a business or become a doctor, and mentions the Civil Workers Union, then notes that joining the resistance would be "no easy task." These messages appear as the camera swings through the map as if you were gracefully noclipping around for a cinematic view of a few areas. It then linked the content pack while a remix of what sounded like Triage at Dawn plays quietly in the background.

The character creation interface has several custom faces to pick from, and doesn't involve physical descriptions. Some important buttons were:

• F1 = play, settings, custom achievements, community, donate
  
• F3 = submit a report
  
• F4 = actions, teams, business, information
  
• C = eating or item menu

Holding TAB shows the scoreboard, where most players are either in the Citizen or Civil Workers Union role. I'm surprised to see only one Civil Protection character for the 30 citizens, although some of the citizens may have been rebels operating in the outlands (probably matched by the four OTA characters online).

The HUD shows health, hunger, and credits. You start as a citizen in the train station. Despite downloading the content pack (and mounting my Source games) I still see a few texture errors. Weapons are the hands, phys gun, and toolgun. An advert offers fine dining with a discount for CPs. The lone CP walks by with a different playermodel than the one in the HL2 campaign. I walk around the city, and spot the diner that was advertised, and has a player-made text board above it showing its name, although I didn't note the name as I was suddenly engaged by a player.

This character picked me off the street, inviting me to his bar, offering to feed me. We walked over to it, which was quite small compared to the diner we had met near. He showed me the back room, and I was horrified when he opened the door to it. It contained an intricate series of unusual bloody plants tied together with red ropes and wires, with a central well-lit skull seated on a large red glass disc surrounded by a diamond of babies. He described this thing as the Pentagon of Truth and then pointed out an upside-down cross as he referenced religions (which he denounced), before asking me my opinion on religion, and I felt like there was a correct and incorrect answer to his question. This Truth-Teller then offered me (under pressure) what I assume was probably raw human meat.

I was suddenly released to the busy street. The well-crafted roleplay contrasted with the children using mic chat to talk about errors. Someone asked if I wanted to take a "reaction test" so I asked what the benefit of the test was. He said it was "good." So we followed him, and for this test I pressed a series of what looked like wiremod buttons for a minute in an office, and apparently scored "averagely" at the test. The truth-teller was still with me, and he decided that we should go back "home" to his bar, where my screen then turned red.

Among the loudspeaker of the city announcer I had started to notice the increasing sound of whispers, which coupled with this red vision drove my character mad. I was given an apple, which I hoped would settle this condition, but eating it didn't stop the symptoms from becoming more pronounced. As I stepped into the backroom that housed the Pentagon of Truth I could now hear what the whispers were saying, and the red vision was now so highly contrasted that all I could make out infront of me was the outline of the Truth-Teller. He offered me death, and at this point it seemed the only way to end this unbearable madness. As I stood at the middle of the shrine, an axe was swung several times at my character while I heard the Truth-Teller chanting among the whispers. He hummed a chorus with each lunge, and finally with one last swing of the axe, the red turned to black.