Absolute Redemption - The 1999 Fan Sequel to Half-Life

Redemption? Absolute Redemption.
Absolute Classic? Absolute Madness.
www.moddb.com/...
This mod came out in 1999/2000 and was like a sequel to the original game. Kind of a cool concept since fans knew nothing about HL2 at the time. Pretty great looking mod with a lot of questionable gameplay choices.
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All music used in my videos are my own UNLESS stated in the description above. You can listen to them on my Hazard Music channel, or on most music streaming services.
Intro Music:
Unexplained Hazards (OG Intro)
Intro by Skyclad
❗Links❗
☢Spotify: open.spotify.c...
☢Music Channel: / @hazardmusicyt

[@cerealexperimentsuboa]

radiation hazard ur swag too diffferent. u smoke too tough

[@RadiationHazardYT]

😤

[@БогданКрименюк]

Jealous? 🕶️

[@dylan8736]

Radioactive Aura

[@knotemplation]

scientific rizz

[@InconsistentManner]

@@RadiationHazardYT thank you for your sacrifice. so we don't have to experience this bullshit.

[@jsca1082]

Love how GMAN is like a literal agent here with his own office and cars and shit

[@reptiliannoizezz.413]

So here he actually is a G(overnment) Man

[@JackPorter]

kind of a cool premise, a secret world government having an invisible war to fight off an invading alien race, using space tech from secret labs that are kept in the dark of why they're doing these experiments and where these specimens come from. could easily see how you would evolve the story from HL to XCOM, maybe later on you have Vortigaunts coexisting with humans in a Men In Black type world if humanity succeeds and prospers with this new alien tech. maybe we use the invention of teleportation for space exploration, or just to go down to the store and grab some milk :P

[@Kyezoar]

I gotta say for 1999 that's a damn good Gman impression.

[@Tjthemedic]

Did Gman impression technology improve since '99?

[@Mahoromatic]

AI, brother ​@@Tjthemedic

[@Kyezoar]

@@Tjthemedic Considering people like Gianni exist I'd say so

[@UltraViolentLight]

@@Mahoromaticthis mod came out before AI was a widely popular concept

[@timewarpdrive77]

@@Mahoromatic So you'd say the same thing about an impression from 2019? What about an impression from 2024? The year would be irrelevant in this case

[@GermanPeter]

You know, despite all of this, I think the weirdest thing is G-Man calling him "Gordon" instead of "Dr. Freeman.

[@dylanzlol7293]

The devs prob didnt notice that detail

[@pman56789]

Half-Life 2: The world is a dystopian hellscape ruled by an oppressive alien dictatorship. Absolute Redemption: *xen butterfly*

[@ToiletCloggerDemon]

Sounds pretty dark. And GRIDDY

[@rukifellth2]

Before hl2, this was the sequel. And I loved it and it's concept. XD Gordon becoming a globetrotting agent to deal with Xen matters. XD

[@DaxAxeOffical]

Zan Butterfly

[@peppermillers8361]

​@@rukifellth2 he goes into different planets and dimesioms as opposed to earth.

[@denifnaf5874]

10:48 Mr friendly: "once i get out of this cage, you. Are. Fucked!"

[@O3SOLETE]

literally

[@KaraokeNig]

Lit.. era.. lly.

[@sakurasfingernails7247]

i know you're being at least somewhat sarcastic when talking about the voice acting but honestly the Gman and Barney impressions are pretty well done for a fan-mod from the the late 90's. I've heard worse attempts at imitating a voice actor in actual AAA games lol

[@sakurasfingernails7247]

also that g-man voice actor could probably do a bangin' Kleiner impression lol

[@Siger5019]

This mod always had a special place in my memory precisely because it was trying to continue the story. Still love the idea of G-Man giving Gordon missions like he's some Agent 47.

[@munchkin_mania]

"29 year old suicidal schizophrenic"

[@Only_Now_Matters]

Literally me

[@XFGHL78E]

Literally me

[@Leopard_Tank]

Literally me

[@vesnabernjak-ord8674]

Literally not me

[@Green-Cop]

HALF-LIFE 2 BETA IN GOLDSOURCE?!?!?!?!

[@deepflare1028]

Dark and griddy at it's finest

[@Green-Cop]

@@deepflare1028 Gordon is now John Black Mesa

[@farmervillager1376]

this is so dark and griddy 😥😥😥😥

[@64_three]

evil beta ... Be like... "So light and goofy!"

[@Green-Cop]

@@64_three Consul is now SpongeBob

[@Scary_stalker-w9k]

If I was Gordon I wouldn’t accept the gman deal if I knew he was gonna rid me of my stylish goatee.

[@gabanciano]

Rad, I swear back when I was 4 or 5. I played a half-life map where there's red barneys and a carnival. I thought its some false memory until i see your upload. holy shit

[@POINTS2]

I have so much nostalgia for this mod! Fun fact: In one of the voice lines of the security guard (aka Boris) you can hear an ICQ notification sound of "Uh Oh!" The guy recording the line must have gotten an ICQ message right at that time. Other memorable things: This mod had cut scenes which felt out of place for Half Life but it was interesting to see. The voice acting was awesome. The carnival felt like a recreation of the Black Mesa disaster. (Gordon does something, 3 beams, things blow up, and aliens appear.) I felt that the story was compelling too. In Xen, Gordon frees the 3 telnorps and you don't think anything of it. But it happens that the telnorps needed to be recaptured. Makes you think about how maybe Gordon shouldn't be running around pushing buttons and freeing things because there are consequences. Also, I didn't know you could drink from those fountains. My health was always way below 50 in that section. And thank you Rad for finally covering one of our most beloved mods! It's too bad you didn't get to play it back in the day because some things haven't aged well with it.

[@alovard3]

Rad, I played this in middle school off my dad's Counter Strike disc like 20 or so years ago. I had forgotten the name of this mod and felt like it was a fever dream of my youth. I'm glad to see I wasn't just inserting a memory of a half life mod.

[@davetrap9403]

Red-Half Redemption?

[@snoiper-bp9vf]

Eli Vance: “I have a plan! One more experiment! And then, we will sail off to white forest like nothing ever happened.”

[@Peterpetercheeseeater]

Mangos maidens resonance cascade

[@averagehl2betafan148]

Half Red Redepttionn

[@hl2betafan]

ty

[@MacaqueStinx]

Half dead redemption

[@onlywithbuts1781]

Gordon's Goatee = Gone Also Gordon = Forgot his glasses in Xen

[@justhere4637]

1:35 This image goes hard. Feel free to screenshot.

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

This shows Valve could have taken the easy way and give us more of the same on the gold source but they took a massive risk and set Half-life 2 in an Eastern European inspired alien dystopia and it worked so much better.

[@yobyckinfungal4283]

no it didn't

[@annihil4nth]

@@yobyckinfungal4283 Yes it did

[@LordVader1094]

The duality of man

[@Marine_Dude]

@@yobyckinfungal4283It totally did

[@jimbabwe3]

@@yobyckinfungal4283why no

[@pimcast]

You know what's the better title for this mod? Hunt Down the Telnorps

[@HQ_Default]

I love seeing people's attempt at making a follow-up to Half-Life's story before Half-Life 2 existed, since the introduction of the Combine was such a curveball in HL2 that absolutely no one could have seen coming. It's fascinating to see people try to extrapolate lore and new scenarios based off of the existing aliens, instead of introducing a whole new threat like what Valve eventually did.

[@StopThisIsBatCountry]

I remember this now. As a kid i didnt understand anything or what i had to do, so i just loaded all the maps from console and explored them. i was blown away when i got to the carnival map and just said WTF a full blown carnival where i can ride everything. this was like peak interactivity in a video game for me back then.

[@EugenijusKrenis]

That mod menu is such peak 90s aesthethic

[@PilaCiu]

My friend voiced G-Man in this mod

[@RadiationHazardYT]

Nice!

[@PilaCiu]

I think he also helped write the story

[@T_M_T_9]

interview the guy 🙏🙏🙏​@@RadiationHazardYT

[@marvinarellano3087]

​@@PilaCiuWhat did they think of the retail Half-life 2?

[@PilaCiu]

@@marvinarellano3087 I never asked him, but he's currently playing through HL Alyx

[@minifigure808]

What if instead of radiation hazard, we had freaky hazard and. Instead of being dark and gritty, he got dark and freaky.

[@the_not_real_bigboss]

Absolute Vodka when

[@Vienna3080]

The OG dark and gritty HL2

[@BobTheMartin]

17:57 "There's something insiiiiiiiiide youuuuuuuuu It's hard to explaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain"

[@relicofanotherage]

_they're talking about you, booyyy_

[@Cynidecia]

🤨

[@HannahFortalezza]

“They're talking about you, boy But you're still the same”

[@StitchPen]

It's funny how close they were to Valve's original concepts. They just had it shrunk down to a bite-sized version with much stranger locales. Hell, that Himalayan Mountain part actually kind of looks like what Valve was originally trying to do with the Wastelands.

[@Cysco8575]

There's a pretty popular but odd mod out there called "Invasion", you should check it up because as far as i know its a pretty long mod.

[@unoriginalperson72]

That title screen looks like a horror game

[@junglenerd2291]

Half-Life is a horror game

[@MyUsersDark]

@@junglenerd2291 Left 4 dead is a walking simulator

[@rukifellth2]

In my head, this was a better alt timeline where Gordon was sent by G-Man to close the Zan portal, Which could retroactively be considered a gateway for the Combine. Thus preventing all of HL2! YAY!

[@dylanzlol7293]

A good ending alternative timeline lol

[@MelonSiggi]

The Gman in this mod sounds like if Dr. Kleiner and The Actual Gman were combined haha

[@mexicanguygaming]

eating a double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a grape nerds slushie from sonic while watching this it makes it better

[@theenceladuschannelcool5777]

A HALF LIFE IN A CUTSCENE MOD!?!?

[@kugerfang-y2k]

This brings back a lot of memories - we only had pirated copies of HL here in my country and most of them came with Redemption included! As a kid I legit thought this was a real HL expansion, especially since it was very polished by mod standards. Thanks!

[@lukeumhoefer]

Always such a blessed day waking up to a new Haz vid :)

[@ubermorpth2208]

Nice to see these banger videos as always coming out for the back catalogue. By the way as a potential update to the "Original Survivors" video from a few years ago: A mod maker by the name of "Oxxy" has released their own near authentic versions of the Turtle Rock Survivors on the L4D2 steam workshop page a year ago just titled "Oxxy's TRS Survivors". Actually they made five of them each based on different version or state of when L4D1 was in it's development/beta state throughout the years with very subtle or minor changes. I'd say they are near close good enough to be authentic if you ever feel like revisiting that topic again.

[@lymphoid]

This mod isn't for modern day HL players... just 10-year-olds in 1999. The first time I played, I didn't break the glass dome in the Himalayas chapter. I went through the catacombs tunnel and nothing happened when I reached the cliff, so I had to back-track. The maze-like levels are confusing. You're supposed to ride the tunnel-of-love to escape out of the Carnival. (I did not actually know the Telnorp kills the Garg, btw). The imports/exports map is awful. That generator gate makes the non-breakable object sound for some reason. And later, you cannot proceed unless you take that dead-end to get the Egon and return back to the main room. Next, the roof sequence never makes any sense. I still don't remember the correct path. Basically once you take down the Apache, then a HVAC thing breaks so you can hop up onto it to continue? Anyways, I love this mod.

[@TJ5897]

I vaguely remember playing this in like 2003 on an old ass Compaq off my buddy's CD that had counterstrike, firearms, this, and some western mod

[@kala1780]

It's wierd that I never played this, since I literally played probably most half-life mods I could find and run back in the day. Looks like a fever dream though.

[@Taxes_Collector]

Hell yeah new vid. Keep up the good work my man ;)

[@HellsAsylum]

Holy shit! I remember playing this back around 2001 or 2002. I got it as part of a mega collection of something off a burnt CD, along with Half Life, Opposing Force, Ricochet, Firearms (I think that was what it was called) and Wanted! I remember that opening cutscene in G-Man's office and the opening level in the Himalayas. I don't think I ever got much further than the first encounter though. I definitely remember this mod being extremely hard.

[@codm10031]

RadHaz, in the future will you review Afraid of Monsters? Anyways, Epic video dude!😎👍💪

[@SRNX1]

Oh boy, this mod was my first experience of Half-Life before I even knew the official Half-Life as a series. It's great to see it being discussed today. Makes me want to replay it to see how much I remember.

[@khiarastales2091]

The funny thing is, I've been believing for several years that this was the original story of Half-Life since I played this first before Half-Life 1 when I was younger (probably from a bootleg disc)--like, I remember almost everything of it; the carnival, G-Man's office, the portal to stonehenge, while not remembering much of Half-Life 1 (except the train ride and resonance cascade, maybe). Thank you for the nostalgia!

[@sanitylost4271]

I've played this mod ages ago and was stuck at the carnival level. I clearly remember that music and Russian Barney

[@ColonDee.]

Damn, this is the mod that has been coming to my mind very frequently lately but I couldnt quite remember its name. As soon as I saw the title screen I felt like that Leonardo Dicaprio pointing to the screen gif. Now I know, thank you!

[@casmith1998]

it’s hilarious seeing G-Man get a bollocking from his boss over the phone lol

[@demitrysualokin2796]

1:51 scientist sound effect

[@gonzalot.605]

10:55 They are actually called "tunnels of love."

[@skipfighter]

Glad to see you back rad

[@flamsey]

Absolute Redemption video finally!!

[@Xspurr]

04:00 Had to check if that painting had the same texture as the rooms in Starship Titanic. Sadly, it was not so.

[@moosevelt9148]

Radiation Hazard's never seen Star Trek if he's caught up on Telnorps, lol. I really appreciate these deep dives into halflife modding, it's fascinating seeing how people thought about HL when it came out. I like how parts of the 2nd level kind of look like the Vortigaunt houses from Black Mesa Xen levels. Keep up the great work :)

[@DukeBluedevil70]

Even when I first played this in like 2005 it was obvious that this was pretty impressive for the time of its release. Are some of the choices for where AR went a bit strange? Absolutely. But it was always refreshing to me it wasn’t just, “We’re back at Black Mesa lol.” which would have been incredibly uninspired and boring. I’ve always really liked this mod even though I consider it kind of an average experience. People really don’t understand just how explosive and alive the mod scene felt for HL1 even crossing into the release of HL2. And getting your mod distributed on a cd in a magazine or as a bonus on a box set of Valve games always gave it a semi-official feeling. Like it had been officially recognized.

[@averagehl2betafan148]

17:55 nawww its pixel gun 3d gordon 😭😭😭😭😭

[@iamgeorgesears]

"where is his goatse" .... LOL good one

[@sleepi-nouth-laureltine-8108]

(flashbacks from the gmod incident)

[@Efri3nd]

I played this mod years ago. I never could find it again and wondered if it was lost forever. This was a great trip down memory lane

[@Andres33AU]

Great video, and I am glad you were honest with this one! I played it back in the day and loved it, and replayed it recently, and still enjoyed it, but I got very lost a few times in the warehouse section, and I don't remember getting that lost the first time I played it, lol. I recently made a video about this mod too, haha. I also like how you too call the Russian Barney "Boris" it just makes sense, hahaha.

[@swinepigovich3737]

This mod was super fun, I still have the Counter-Strike 1.4 CD with the mod somewhere in my house.

[@lawnchairs]

its interesting that they chose to say mark 6 suits when a mark 5 hev appears in hl2

[@olrac980]

balling. I remember laying this many years ago (like 2008?) and that first level with the monks stayed in my mind. I never finished anything else afterwards. I remember searching for it a couple months back but could not remember the name for the life of me. Somewhat related, does anyone remember the Mod night at the Office? I remember it had 2 bad endings but the moddb page said there was a good one which I never could find. If this unblocks any memory please let me know.

[@ultgamercw6759]

This mod seems pretty cool considering how early it was. Funny how they were actually able to predict a bunch of stuff like the Vorts becoming ally's in HL2 or the portal storms on earth. Even if it's a bit goofy, it's still cool to see these old mods and how they helped shape the future of fan content.

[@kegerat000r]

This mod is great, it sure has a few problems regarding gameplay and level design but I wouldn't consider this a bad mod. PD: Those barney models are cursed af. Haha

[@Ikelae]

Weird, I totally played this back in the day when I was like 10; but it was just the carnival stand-alone. This really awakened some memories! Thanks!

[@Cats-TM]

My favourite part of Half-Life 2 are the telnorps, did not know they came from this mod. Really cool how Valve took stuff from a fan mod and incorporated it into their game. Also, genuinely, when fighting black ops I will often turn on Half-Life's auto-aim because most of the time they are awful.

[@nickybee6878]

Tyler Mcvicker had such a stroke playing this game lmao.

[@ohtravo997]

I hope your doing alright mr hazard... I've been digging the videos lately!!! much love

[@lulubeloo]

I also got this on a bootleg CD that also had Gunman Chronicles, and I have to say I did not expect this to be so good back then. It was a good unofficial sequel.

[@alexanderwhite8320]

I was playing this in 2002 and it was 22 years ago😢 Time flies. New generation was born since then and now are finishing bachelors degree. And I am still a lonely computer gamer and the windows98 computer I was playing this game are collecting dust in corner 22 years later...

[@Mach-2-Fishbed]

Going by the maps, something tells me they may have had some other recent (at the time) influential PC titles fresh on their mind (Unreal, UT99, Quake 2, etc).

[@jess648]

in an old version of the teleport sequence sttonehenge was the first level from quake ii instead

[@tnolentin]

I remember being scared of the mod's main menu WON version when I was 5

[@stenka4847]

2:55 Goatsee 😭

[@spyczech]

I gotta apperciate the dedication to the carnival theming, its camp in a way that makes it timeless

[@shiba2ndworlder]

At least it's more consistent in themes and gameplay mechanics.

[@VayIe-xf2hh]

i love your videos radiationhazard. your the best half life content creator ever!!

[@charlotte80389]

9:59 what a madman LMAO

[@TheStoodUpKid]

Ive been looking for this for a long time.. thanks legend

[@CosmicKingEvol]

no offense to the modder but this just makes me happy that the fans don't write the story.

[@carsvengaming5558]

This feels a lot like the orignal pitch for half life 2 that was turned down.

[@ElmeriThePig]

This mod has good ideas but aren't executed that well. Now I want to make a Half-Life themed carnival map where the rides would be optional and has good gameplay.

[@vhammermdl]

gman lowkey sound like scientist

[@12y]

13:08 for a sec I thought that was a stalker

[@umcarafoda125]

definitely "bro thinks for real he is HALF-LIFE 2 💀" ahh moment

[@Extramrdo]

oh hell yeah, playing that carnival on sven coop's one-hit death ultimate survival server hits differently, especially not knowing it's part of a greater mod. What a wacky experience. That swan boat alone kills like most of the people with what's supposed to be minor inconveniences like shocks and guys with guns.

[@adamfoxton6341]

Holy shit, I have had this stuck in my head for 25 years now and could never remmeber the name. Even a google including the 'Xan' turned up nothing. IIRC I enjoyed it at the time. Even if not, I'm heading off to play it again!

[@maginekris]

radiation hazard? more like radiation poisoning

[@Petrick69]

That was great time for Half-Life fan. Mods had much more custom voice acting than mods nowdays.

[@FalkyRocket2222]

17:20 guy just disappearing lol

[@4556vahg]

half life, but gordon has schizophrenia

[@FtL_CS]

When I was 8 I thought this was Half Life, it came with the CS 1.0 retail CD and I played the hell out of this mod. I had one playthrough without taking damage on Hard difficulty. It also came with the HL Wanted, Ricochet and TFC mods.

[@TheArtkaw]

I remember playing Redemption when it came bundled with Counter Strike on a pirated disc. The Himalayan level looked great and was a lot brighter from what I recall, and it was also really hard. The carnival level was when I quit when the entire level looped on itself and I got lost for at least an hour. Sigh.

[@Jigsaw765]

rad haz getting a little whacky a little silly a little quirked up

[@arizona8506]

6:19 Dark....and gritty?

[@halfhawk718]

This isn't HL2 Beta

[@DreadNawght]

excellent mod, the warehouse complex was absolute bonkers with a completely sober mature espionage-like atmosphere. all in all the mod gives off the strong vibe it was designed by professionals who knew how to make an interesting immersive experience

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Funny you should say that, Maverick Developments, who made this mod, also used the GoldSrc engine to make training games for industries here in the UK, including the military.

[@Desolas_]

FINALLY. I'VE FOUND IT, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS This was the mod that I saw on my cousin's pc when I was little

[@matthewsteele99]

9:45 I assumed the force of teleportation was so strong it broke something and set off the alarm

[@epicgamre445]

hazardous radiation why did you come back you should've stayed in whatever place you were sent to

[@danskartbg422]

RadDady is back again!

[@TDCsuper35363]

Absolute Redemption should probably be a separate universe where gordon is taken out of stasis early to stop the portal storms on earth right before the actual portal storms with combine n stuff

[@FlyboyHelosim]

This is one of my all-time favorite HL mods and probably one of the first I ever played. I have more of a soft spot for the mod version as that's the one I played first, which was on a PC Zone magazine coverdisc here in the UK and also contained some PC Zone easter eggs in the levels. You also accidentally got teleported to a level in Quake 2 rather than Stonehenge. I found the level design of the mod intriguing due to the vastly different and interesting locations where the Telnorps were located, giving the feel of a globe-hopping game such as Daikatana. I loved the level of interactivity of the carnival as well, with all the rides being usable. I also have a soft spot for it because the development studio, Maverick Developments, was based only a few miles from where I live. When I was about 16 I applied for a job with them as a level designer even though they weren't looking for one, but was refused because at the time they were only interested in people who could do modelling and animation. One of the team actually hand-delivered the reply, which was a typed letter that he put through the letterbox of my house. Fun fact: Maverick Developments also used the GoldSrc engine to create training games for industries in the UK, including hospitality and the military. So they were a professional and respected dev team. They also made Wanted! (the HL western mod), Counter-Strike training, and the Gunman Chronicles demo... amongst others.