Exploring Half-Life 1's Longest Possible Backtracks

00:00 Endgame
00:37 Nihilanth
00:45 Interloper
03:41 Gonarch's Lair
07:09 Xen
07:23 Lambda Core
09:40 "Forget About Freeman!"
11:19 Surface Tension
16:02 Questionable Ethics
16:12 Residue Processing
18:40 Apprehension
20:24 On A Rail
22:12 Power Up
22:15 Blast Pit
24:07 "We've Got Hostiles"
26:06 "We've Got More Hostiles"
29:00 Office Complex
29:42 Unforeseen Consequences
32:10 Anomalous Materials
32:53 Recap
This video's subtitles took 43 minutes.
This project started on September 29.

[@Pinsplash]

32:32 When you're fired

[@hardlyanydiggity3953]

lemon demon: mr. wolfgang

[@mr.prankkiller66]

LOL

[@FiksIIanzO]

That's why we don't equip our employees with grenades. On the off chance we need to fire them later

[@ithebinman]

in lore context, these ARE the main scientists who would contribute to the cause the events of hl1 and 2, even if they were unforeseen consequences. So, if freeman could go back in time, he would absolutely blow these people up

[@guessimissedthelz32]

why not just kill everyone though ?

[@HoovyGaming]

imagine the lambda team just sitting in the lamba complex when suddently gordon appears and says: yo guys i forgot my car keys in my locker im gona go get them gona be back soon (then gordon back tracks to unforseen consequences, looks in his locker and realises his keys were in his pockets this whole time)

[@Mach-2-Fishbed]

Gordon: "You know what, fuck this" *Un-resonances the cascade*

[@MednaTheFox]

"FREEMAN, YOU FOOL!"

[@HoovyGaming]

@@Mach-2-Fishbed Gordon after realising his keys are in his pockets: welp since im here i might aswell fix everything (Gordon then proceeds to fix the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, sets it to -110% and undoes the resonance cascade)

[@bugjams]

He had to go back and get his passport, obviously.

[@realhaidinh]

resident evil belike

[@ldib7798]

Crazy how a valve employee has to do all this every time someone wants the play the game again

[@SonicMaster519]

Their dedication is unmatched

[@AtlasFox_]

22:08 "Freeman? What the hell?!" "Barney, right? I got a message for you. The rocket's launched."

[@Cats-TM]

25:50 Black Mesa is very smart, they want to protect their fire door from fire with a fire door.

[@shibainu2528]

Come on Black Mesa... I thought you were better than to stoop to Aperture's level of unnecessary.

[@primethread]

​@@shibainu2528tax funding will do that.

[@hiralykowalski6825]

Double protection

[@TheGreenReaper]

@@shibainu2528 Given what actually went down, one could argue that it was a reasonable precaution.

[@lawfulpotato]

A move almost on par with Aperture

[@kiroma0]

Black mesa could only afford one elevator so they just made it move between shafts to save money

[@kelleroid]

the latest technology from what the anomalous materials boys have cooked up!

[@kyberhazard]

Headcanon: In order to employ Gordon, Gman needed proof of ID, but Gordon accidentally left his wallet on the tram at the start of the game so he has to go all the way back to get it xD

[@pokedoesstuff8859]

So… He needed his Passport

[@GordonFreemanTR]

G-Man at c5a1 asking Gordon: Can i see ur passport?

[@Matikz007]

pick up that can@@pokedoesstuff8859

[@Dr.Freeman...]

gordon always needs his passport

[@vxpdx]

Gordon forgot his passport and had to go all the way back into the locker room, undoing the resonance cascade in the process

[@DamianQualshy]

Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained time traveler.

[@mr.second3427]

Imagine just casually playing through C4A1D and getting flung to this trigger and not understanding what happened

[@fecalunfunny7109]

time code?

[@Legojimbo99]

@@fecalunfunny7109 2:15

[@VerbDoesStuff]

2:14

[@peconi47]

when you really need that one medkit that you left back a couple of maps back

[@that_one_fucking_idiot]

ah shit i forgot to bring my medkit *undoes the accident*

[@0sac]

I was wondering why that grunt was so tanky at 12:00 but I then realised he was crushed by the infinite health door lol

[@AGrayPhantom]

I had no idea that trick works on NPC's as well!

[@mondayhater5449]

I clicked the time stamp and all I heard was a loud crash then a ad played

[@Achrokat]

"is that all you got?"

[@santi308]

doorstuck dooorstuck!

[@YabbaTroll]

o shit waddup

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Using BunnyXT to see the triggers is only half the story. A lot of brush triggers, including trigger_changelevel, have the "Use only" flag, which makes them function essentially as a point entity and activated only from other entities, completely ignoring collisions. On those maps where they don't work, Valve's mappers bothered to actually enable the flag. Secondly, because these out of reach triggers aren't meant to be reached, the landmarks can be out of place. Valve's mappers usually settle the issue with a teleport box that ensures the player is within the box when they changelevel into the map. No affordances were made for those who backtrack, of course. Lastly, a few of those where you landed beyond the changelevel that'd take you back to the previous level, it shows you the unfinished state of a portion of the map you just went, which is cool. Addendum: 1. The fact that backtracking changelevel triggers exist at all is due to the way Valve coded changelevels and save states, which didn't exist in the original Quake engine. It requires all changelevels to be two way, even when you're teleporting between levels in game. If the backtracking changelevels didn't exist, the game crashes. So the quick solution for when backtracking isn't intended is to place them in far away, hard to reach places. To be doubly sure, mappers should enable the aforementioned "use only" flag, which Valve rarely did. 2. As to why the sky is made of water, I think it's to prevent grenades, RPGs, and bullets, from leaving explosion effects and decals on the skybox.

[@dfghj241]

i love the duct tape stories from older games lol.

[@3333218]

Few peope know this but this is actually how Valve originally meant the game to be played. According to Mark Laidlaw, Gordon was supposed to go back in time and prevent the Ressonance Cascade from ever happening. Through the magic of level transitions and save-load scumming. True Story. I heard this from my friends' uncle who's also a timetraveler and works at Nintendo's Hotline.

[@NickiRusin]

Hotline Nintendo

[@stylesrj]

My uncle works at the Half Life Factory and he can confirm this.

[@oxidedamage8837]

Not *entirely* untrue. Before Half Life was released, there was a PCGamer interview where valve stated that from any point in the game you would be able to backtrack to the beginning, and that the environment will have changed, like wet areas being covered in moss and such. So that was in fact part of the original design. Of course the accompanying screenshots were of the early version of Half life where the scientists all looked crazy and the weapons were weird and super blocky. Clearly somewhere between the early version and the versions closer to release that idea got scrapped, but it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with a sort of Metroidvania backtracking kind of thing where you needed new abilities like the long jump in order to progress in an earlier map. But thankfully what was released was a great game in any case.

[@3333218]

​@@oxidedamage8837Yes! You're absolutely right! (No sarcasm). So cool you brought this up. I believe that it's not simply that the idea got scrapped, but that the whole development ethos changed and evolved. I really miss that spirit of them wanting to go after simulacrum instead of smokes and mirrors. We only got a glimpse of that in the released game.

[@maztr_0n81]

I can confirm this was going to be revealed in Opposing Force when it was originally a SEGA Game Gear and Colecovision exclusive expansion but then those versions got cut.

[@mr1spamification]

dunno why but the sped-up pitter-patter of Gordon's footsteps was repeatedly funny to me

[@DrMogilus]

Sped-up medical stations and HEV warnings are absolutely hilarious as well

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

Alarms and elevators too

[@sevvvich8118]

After the lobotomy:

[@littlefieryone2825]

The fast forwarded beat down of the grunt with a crowbar 20:58

[@Dolphin002]

The fact that you can not only reach the test chamber but also undo the resonance cascade from blast pit is amazing

[@tristanwegner]

I mean it is NOT possible. He state many times in the video where the game would not allow him back. Then he skips this with tools/cheats I assume.

[@itdobelikedattho8112]

​@@tristanwegnerhe uses noclip, why can't he explain what he's doing is so weird

[@Cr3zant]

@@itdobelikedattho8112 It's pretty self evident if you're not a dumbass. It's blocked by invisible walls, so the easiest and simplest way to get past it is by simply typing noclip into the console.

[@aidanscharine3814]

gordon really said "actually nevermind"

[@dogfaceman2440]

That scientist was like “allow me to treat that injury” and in return you stood on his head and blew him up

[@xboxdrumstick]

gordon goes backwards through xen and black mesa, and reverses the resonance cascade and kills the key scientists in the experiment, preventing the end of the world, chad

[@alexbowlin7044]

4:46 accurate description of hl:source

[@the-guy-beyond-the-socket]

gordon in HEV suit and full armory in his inventory just casually throwing granades at fellow scientist and watchin them become gibs in 2x speed is the funniest thing i've seen today

[@HamStar_]

32:08 You did it Gordon! You reversed the Resonance Cascade!

[@ThePrimith]

"I never thought I would SEE a Resonance Cascade, let alone UNMAKE one!"

[@olympian3]

The gman: you have two choices Gordon Gordon:

[@collinpersinger4809]

​@@olympian3Gordon: ... (Nah, I'mma do my own thing.)

[@Therealguymins]

I'd love to play a mod that actually makes the levels play in backwards order (but be properly connected for a normal playthrough)

[@TheD736]

I've always liked the concept of the normal game progression flipped on its head. You start the game and kill the final boss, then torch all his guards, and drop the BFG at the level transition. Then you go through the second to last level and drop the sniper rifle at the end of that mission. Your tools become more and more limited but the level design starts focusing on smaller scale fights to compensate. The idea of discovering the story in reverse would be pretty cool, and the gameplay would look something like some of these moments, although with less game breaking. The idea of starting halflife knowing nothing about the story and playing it backwards, putting together the pieces of the disaster in reverse just sounds like a crazy experience

[@vir00]

Half memento

[@prospero2405]

Reminds me of the Pain of the path mod in Hollow Knight where you have to do the Path of Pain (The hardest, most infamous level in the game) in reverse

[@Val-ud9fn]

​@@prospero2405I have to try that mod

[@SMG-vx3mu]

there is a map pack for doom that remixes the doom levels to be played in reverse, you start with the icon of sin (now completely destroyed) and end in entryway (with a brand new icon of sin) called "the long trek back home"

[@concentratedcringe]

20:25 A well-timed Discord ping is very important to this backtrack. Can't get through On a Rail without it 😌

[@milesprower4463]

pinghop is a crucial tech when backtracking

[@FiksIIanzO]

Considering how linear Half-Life games are, I am extremely impressed that they bothered setting up backtracking in any maps at all. Most linear games just use impassable drops as excuses as to why you can't backtrack or just weld the doors behind you when you use them to transition to another map. Considering Half-Life 1 doesn't really have collectibles in the traditional sense, they really didn't have to implement backtracking at all, but they did. Just another reason to respect Valve in their early days

[@TheBleggh]

It's probably a legacy of one of HL1's original design objectives: They originally wanted it to be possible to backtrack through the entire game at any point. That was abandoned when it was realized to be incompatible with a linear story.

[@FiksIIanzO]

@@TheBleggh I wouldn't say it was abandoned, seeing as you can successfully go back 17 maps in a row lol. Besides, Half-Life 2 also has backtracking, when Valve already knew it was unnecessary, so adding at least some backtracking is clearly a choice, not a vestige of cut out functionality

[@TheBleggh]

@FiksIIanzO They absolutely kept as much continuity as they could, but the hard breaks in HL1 are something Marc Laidlaw talks about In a blog post, IIRC.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

It's the engine's limitation that makes backtrack triggers compulsory. You can't have just one changelevel trigger without their counterpart in the other map, otherwise the game crashes.

[@FiksIIanzO]

@@mfaizsyahmi That is... really weird and unnecesarily limiting. Man, Source engine is old, isn't it?

[@TheZombieTurkey]

I tried playing backwards at one point but i am not good at this game so i can watch this instead, nice

[@axkvs]

It's amazing that people are still finding more stuff about this game even to this date

[@Dave5400]

26:53 I can't believe you just let me watch that lift appear out of the wall and start descending without making any comment as if nothing happened. "*whistles* don't mind me!" Edit: And again at 27:57!

[@Cheesurius]

its like they used the same elevator so it must travel between elevator shafts

[@Dave5400]

@@Cheesurius Sounds a bit Heath Robinson, even by Valve standards.

[@MaeGoji]

Gordon running all the way back after seeing gmans face

[@lucialambda]

yes more longform content!! and i loved the other backtrack vid for hl2 ^^

[@Makuramancer]

likewise

[@daor4]

balls

[@AmalekIsComing]

ok

[@samuels1123]

That water at the map borders is very interesting, I think it could work to catch grenades so they don't bounce off the skybox, even if it's unintended.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Also so that rockets, grenades, and bullets don't leave scorch marks and bullet holes in the sky.

[@Roach1]

is there just... water outside the map in half life 1? like, all of the maps? this is the first i've seen of this

[@mfaizsyahmi]

yeah. for some reason, the sky brushes are made of water. it was a lot of fun, as a kid, going OOB and swim in the sky and snipe enemies and other players. with modern day community-made compilers, however, it put clip boxes around the sky by default.

[@denifnaf5874]

Fun fact: change level in source is so bs hard that in hl2 there are invisible walls right behind the eplayer because the devs didn't wan't to waste their time making another change level

[@CrAzYpotpie]

They aren't hard at all once you know how they work. They have very little difference in terms of functionality between goldsrc and source in any ways that would contribute to any hardness comparison you are trying to make.

[@PineappleDealer37]

I bet it's possible to backtrack from the apprehention moment all the way back to the beginning of the game.

[@PineappleDealer37]

It appears I have lost my bet.

[@TheChronova]

at least you owned up to it

[@kelleroid]

@@PineappleDealer37 foiled by one-time elevators!

[@MrElpizo]

12:00 So, if enough HECU marines and Barneys were to juice up on the door, could they potentially stop the Combine?

[@varahunter68]

as long as the combine doesnt find the door first

[@LewisCollard]

I appreciate your to-the-point presentation style, your humour, and also the sheer time you must have put into this just for our amusement. Thank you!

[@freedom-man]

12:02 i didn't know NPCS Can trigger that door glitch!

[@nintyfanr]

I was gonna make this like over a year ago inspired by your HL2 facts video but hey, you've finally done it and way better than I could ❤

[@loleq2137]

I think the way the thumbnail changes meaning after you go through the pictured area is really neat.

[@old-schematic]

I get the impression Pinsplash is (or can be) a perfect QA/tester in game industry, or any other industry really. Very thorough analysis and ability to break things, great qualities for engineers of this kind.

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

The load/reload part of gonarchs lair is exactly how it feels to have a grade 2 concussion

[@MaxLebled]

Awesome video, very well put together. Thank you!

[@DevilNeverKnows]

Your videos are perfect for when I want someone with a soothing voice to tell me a bunch of stuff that doesn't require a lot of mental energy to take in. It's like ASMR except it feels like I'm actually doing something

[@masonsykes2240]

Black Mesa Sweet Voice™

[@gabrielchcosta]

You know I always imagined in my head how far you could go back and tried it once, never got to record it though, good stuff.

[@UNTITLED_UNDEFINED]

24:00 Hey, nice beat!

[@Someone_s_nick2]

Gordon Freeman after gman told him that he will now work for him : -"Oh hell nah" *procide to go back in time*

[@planescaped]

I remember seeing a friend of mine doing this once when I went over to visit him. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was seeing how far he could backtrack in HL1. He was in one of the on a rail maps IIRC and reacted a bit like he was embarrassed, lol. But I remember you doing this Will. :P

[@themountaindude]

When You want to fight a giant space baby, but your co-worker's microwaved casserole be bussin real good [don't worry, Freeman is a professional.. he doesn't need a.. microwave oven to heat stolen food. **gasp** He has got the Tau & Gluon to do.. the job]

[@philippenkov5622]

This is so strange watching it. Awesome work!

[@furtivetef805]

That messes with my orientation in space-time continuum just slightly less than Tenet.

[@ctrlaltrepeat245]

"Gordon freeman in the flesh. Or rather... In the hazard suit. I took the liberty of releiving you of your weapons, most of them were government property... As for your carkeys... I left them on your desk..." Gordon turns around and begins the longest backtrack through space and time.

[@ceu160193]

So, Gordon went all the way back to stop himself from causing resonance cascade.

[@CrazyKosai]

This was great! Now I challenge you to do Hazard Course and rest of the xpacks this way.

[@Razorkiller]

This is very ingenuine-ly interesting and fun to see you go through all levels backwards whilst fighting against the scripts and specific level design made by VALVe and yet suffice to say you still nailed them all. And did all so perfectly with creative ways to reach those spots. Honestly though, I'd love to see now people trying to speedrun these doing backward runs.

[@Saver310]

Interesting video as always

[@otter4370]

imagine a mod centered around Gordon moment away from beating the Nihilanth and then realizing "Oh crap, I haven't taken my meds and I left them in the test chamber!" and having to backtrack through the entire game to get them.

[@raystheotterfox324]

Lambda: Alright Gordon, time to fix this mess Gordon: Oh shit hold up, forgot my helmet

[@kelleroid]

Wonderful video for my irreparably Half-Life 1-affected brain, and what a celebration of Valve's mapping! Now I wonder how much longer the streaks could be if those irreversible elevators (like in Lambda Core or Blast Pit) did work the other way around?

[@AtreVire]

Ah yes, my favorite 1998 game: 1 Efil Flah

[@snapnut]

30:49 never knew these books were pushable

[@kudlaty83]

At 10:31 I just love to see you lining up diagonally on a ladder. After playing hl1 and cs 1.6 for so long you just can't not use the ladder bug. It's natural for us all 😅

[@AceDrgn]

That works in csgo as well. Also i didn't even noticed it because i never use ladders normally anymore

[@itdobelikedattho8112]

Left 4 dead as well

[@user-jn3lo8ij6n]

awesome content bro

[@Ryor97]

21:25 i can only imagine gordon chugging 20 cans of soda just to heal his broken bones

[@xero003]

After killing the nihilanth and saving the world, gordon freeman simply said..... "Nah" and went back to his dorm... eating his leftover quesadillas for dinner

[@stylesrj]

After of course destroying a guy's casserole and thus being unable to use the microwave.

[@spongemagic7351]

3:07 Even playing this game for 2 decades, I never knew about this route.😮

[@iannalemme]

holy shit this was so good and straight to the point.

[@empty5013]

gman: gordon freeman, in the flesh *record scratch* gordon: yep, that's me, I bet you're wondering how I got here? well it all started when *backtracks through all of half life 1*

[@hansonkerman7286]

I love it when Pinsplash answers questions I didn't even realize I wanted the answers to, such as "is it possible to go through We've Got Hostiles forward, backward, then forward again"❤

[@almostsomeone1010]

20:57 HOW DID THIS MAKE ME LAUGH SO HARD

[@tymekin5106]

When teacher asks you to get something from the janitor:

[@CyberPick]

I played the game in 1999 but i never found 1% of what you show :o amazing

[@yunusluborek]

is there any reason why there is water on top of most maps?

[@mfaizsyahmi]

in goldsrc, sky is made of water, which is interesting since the word sky is old norse for cloud, which is made of water.

[@armoredscout3773]

This is great! I have a question for a potential future video; the multiplayer map Lambda Bunker has an inaccessible level transition inside the elevator that spawns you dead in another map. Could you look into that?

[@KrystalTheFox]

S'Coz C3a1a doesn't have a landmark to proper transition you in from lambda_bunker. Or the other way around, lambda_bunkers elevator change-level is referencing a landmark in c3a1a that doesn't exist

[@dracmeister]

​@@KrystalTheFoxiirc, this button transition also exists in the same spot as in Forget About Freeman with the same result. Not sure there are more "dead" level transitions Half-life-I have a hazy memory on the broken elevator at one of the dead ends of On a Rail.

[@armoredscout3773]

@@dracmeister hah, this is total arg material, fixed dead end level transitions becoming a horror show as an alternate half-life becomes available

[@Mordecai02]

@@armoredscout3773 Okay. But where would the interactive element come in?

[@NoGaLyX]

i felt 14:41 to 14:44 in my soul

[@Scouter953]

Cool video! Anytime games let me backtrack through levels, I always try to see just how far back I can go. Same with taking useless objects forward, like DOG's ball in HL2.

[@BrockRogan]

ti ees ot evol ,oediv taerg

[@mosquito7307]

No way, like 4 days ago I thought about doing this and recording it maybe but you made this first lol

[@weavorjjohanna5619]

It's like Gordon finally won, he goes back to save eli

[@epakai]

Just appreciating the book boost.

[@mr.second3427]

Can you explain why the elevator just comes out of walls..? Some spooktober stuff going on...

[@dracmeister]

It's because the elevator platform is in a totally diferrent spot entirely when it transitions to another map. So the maximum size of a HL1 map is 8192 × 8192 (±4096 from 0,0). In order to connect the maps, the player needs to be shifted along with the relevant entities (the elevator platform is one of them) to make the map flow naturally to the next rather than just plopping you in the same triordinates from the previous map. Now, when you somehow got to the previous map without the relevant entity that took you there, it'll still call for that entity when you press the button for it do that it can move into the correct position when you called it.

[@natesc9934]

This is important work

[@SaintLeonar]

Impressive work, Mr. Freeman

[@B3RyL]

G-Man: "Time to choose..." Gordon: "Damn it, I left my wallet in my locker! Just wait here, I'll be right back!"

[@ManyManyPandas]

Why did Valve add the trigger_changelevel entity to levels where backtracking was impossible?

[@mfaizsyahmi]

it's required due the way they coded the game engine. without a backtrack trigger_changelevel, the game crashes.

[@iodreamify]

⁠kind of a weird requirement to have in an engine?

[@XenoSpyro]

@@mfaizsyahmi do multiplayer maps require this trigger? seeing as they can be loaded into singleplayer through the console

[@mfaizsyahmi]

@@iodreamify tbf, the engine is a heavily patched Quake engine, which doesn't even have changelevels, nor save states. it's probably the save state system Valve added that needs the backtrack triggers to exist, and panics when there isn't one.

[@Based_IRL]

Ur a beast! Those gauss shots & nade throws were on point!! Have u ever thought of a speedrun?

[@6eyedsniper]

The grenade jump at the dam on c2a5 was satisfying to watch

[@officialnyiyanmoehtet]

32:57 is from Lambda Core to Surface Tension 33:14 is from Interloper to Lambda Core 33:20 is from Blast Pit to Anomalous Materials 33:25 is from Apprehension to Blast Pit 33:30 is from Forget About Freeman to Residue Processing

[@Tedinator64SAUSAGEROLL]

In lore, this all could happen, THEREOTICLY

[@Cuestrupaster]

*This is information I absolute not needed... but I'm happy that I got it.*

[@amjo31]

just when i thought i saw everything on HL. great video :)

[@ButtonMasherReal]

Imagine if the credits played when you backtracked from Unforeseen Consequences to Anomalous Materials.

[@BoofingPasta]

Funny your uploading this just as I finished hl1 and moving onto hl1 blue

[@charleshaskell2056]

I love all the jank with elevators in We've Got Hostiles.

[@Kacpa2]

What about some minor mod that fixes some things and map save states are not removed or the softlock moments allow youbto destroy/open the doors. Without being outright backwards HL1?

[@TankGenics]

awesome video!

[@supermegabenji1026]

Reversing Time to tell The Administrator saying the Resonance Cascade will happened: Or going back Home to your Dorms:

[@skraegorn7317]

I remember getting some really fucked-up corrupted textures while backtracking in We've Got Hostiles on Linux. I used the skip where you shoot the scientist and make him open the door at the beginning, then I hopped through the vent and certain textures were either randomized or completely corrupted. It corrupted my other saves too. Maybe it had something to do with me not playing those maps forwards before I entered them backwards.

[@Hellraiser14]

Why doesn't the soldier at the health bug door shoot at you?

[@theshapeshifter0330]

He’s an actor used for being killed by gargantua in the car park, would be useless giving him real soldier AI

[@Hellraiser14]

@@theshapeshifter0330 omg nice

[@churchofclaus]

He's part of scripted sequence which he's waiting to complete

[@deployedkitty]

deliberately traveling back through the living nightmare that was gordon freeman's very bad day at work has to me made this the scariest half-life video i've ever seen

[@deployedkitty]

bravo!

[@orvilleredenpiller338]

"I'm sorry I'm late for the experiment. I woke up in an alternate dimension."

[@SaintRedFox]

13:13 "Its locked, what are you even doing?" "...oh"

[@bingodeagle]

fun concept, cool video