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However, the most distinctive aspect of the game is not the plot itself, but rather the way it is presented to the player. Valve’s in-house writer and author, Marc Laidlaw, who wrote the books Dad's Nuke and The 37th Mandela, later developed and expanded the plot. Half-Life's plot was originally inspired by the computer games Doom and Quake (both produced by id Software), Stephen King's novella The Mist, and an episode of The Outer Limits called " The Borderland". After a brief moment, Gordon steps into the portal, thereby accepting the job. Finally, G-Man makes Gordon choose between accepting the offer by jumping into the portal and fighting a battle with no chance of survival. Claiming Xen to be under "their" control, G-Man comments that he has recommended Gordon's services to his employers, and that now he wishes to offer Gordon a job. Speaking in a strange manner, the man says he is impressed by Gordon's deeds and his decisiveness. Upon gaining his senses back, Gordon sees the mysterious G-Man that he has encountered multiple times throughout his journey in Black Mesa. As the creature explodes, Gordon suddenly gets teleported. After a challenging battle, the scientist gains the upper hand and finally destroys the creature. Cooperating with surviving scientists and security officers, Gordon ultimately works his way to the mysterious Lambda Complex, where a team of scientists teleports him to the alien world Xen, where he must destroy the Nihilanth, the creature keeping Xen's side of the dimensional rift open.Īfter reaching the alien dimension and fighting hordes of different alien monsters, Gordon manages to reach the portal that takes him to Nihilanth's chamber. Gordon barely fights his way through the facility and at one point even deals with the Black Ops soldiers sent to eliminate all the scientists, aliens and HECU marines. Throughout the game, a mysterious figure known as the G-Man regularly appears, apparently monitoring Freeman's progress with uncanny serenity. Arming himself, Gordon starts his journey to the surface.Īs the situation escalates, Gordon finds himself caught between two opposing factions: the hostile aliens, and the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, a military force dispatched to cover up the incident - including eliminating Freeman and the rest of the Black Mesa Science Team. Soon, he finds out that the facility is infested with dangerous and hostile alien creatures. Upon waking up, Gordon leaves the test chamber and starts exploring the place. After the test goes unexpectedly wrong, a phenomenon called Resonance Cascade occurs and causes massive dimensional rifts, opening a portal between Earth and Xen. Gordon Freeman, a recent MIT graduate in theoretical physics, and also a recent employee at Black Mesa, goes to the Anomalous Materials lab to participate in an experiment that involves an alien crystal. The game is set during May 200- in a remote area of New Mexico, USA at the Black Mesa Research Facility a fictional complex that bears many similarities to both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Area 51.Įarly in the morning, Dr.
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