As well as featuring the mute scientist and one of the most iconic crowbars in video games, Half-Life is also known for its health and HEV recovery stations dotted around the Black Mesa Research Facility. These allow Freeman to heal injuries sustained during high-octane battles with aliens. But one thing that’s been puzzling a few people is just how the silent protagonist makes use of these wall-mounted devices.
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In a recent post on Twitter, video game composer Andrew Hulshult has reached out to others to ask how they think the crowbar-wielding hero of Half-Life makes use of the health stations. Although the design, which Hulshult posts an example of, is very synonymous with the series, it’s curious how Freeman actually uses them. In the game, players simply walk up to one and press the action button, but there’s no animation. People on Twitter have offered their own theories. One person suggests the staff at Black Mesa have silly straws for the health station’s front hole. There’s also an image another user posted showing Gordon with his back to the camera in a position that’s more suited to public urinals.
In any case, it’s interesting to see fans still engaging with the iconic sci-fi shooter some 25 years later. Considered to be one of the most important FPS games of all time, picking up where Doom and Quake left off, Half-Life continues to influence to this day. This is also not the first time Valve’s maiden release has cropped up recently.
After a repository leak in which a number of assets from popular Valve games were made public, someone managed to piece together a rough draft of the original Half-Life. This early take looks almost like the finished product, but is actually a very abridged version of what would become the final release. After two and half decades, fans are still finding things out about this legendary entry in the FPS genre.
Half-Life is available on PC and PS2.
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