Half-Life Uplink Fan Theory

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[@GlassyDusty]

The gargantua thrashing around at the end is the sound of the trash compactor as Gordon starts waking up

[@lymphoid]

I love this

[@blukat9903]

That's the sound of gman teleporting him out

[@Bloxed]

I always imagined that Uplink is what would happen if Gordon continued on the train path and it didn't derail at the start of Apprehension, given how it's nighttime, or if Gordon didn't get knocked out. I imagine the area we are in during Apprehension isn't too far from the Lambda Complex, and that even though it's nowhere near as long, the distance from Sector C we travel through in Op4 is meant to be Adrian taking an alternative route without worrying about the interruption. OFC the full Black Mesa map makes it look like the distance is short but I imagine Gearbox imagined it to be a much larger distance between the labs, like how Blue Shift starts in Sector G, and it'd only make sense that where Barney travels is near to the Dam from Surface Tension / Foxtrot Uniform.

[@CrazyKosai]

I love Uplink so much, its like this small, concise but fun adventure with all the features and environments, that made Half-Life great

[@diotheotaku3552]

I like to think that the places that appear in Uplink really exist, but Gordon has never visited them (something like Lost Coast). So things like the soldiers breaking into the Antenna room and the scientists being killed by Gargantua would be canon. Or maybe nothing is canon XD

[@awesomemouse]

There is a well-known theory (possibly even confirmed by Valve) that states that ALL Valve's games take place in the same universe - the Aleph Universe. Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and others - that's it. Therefore, Uplink must be a part of something, and not just a demo version.

[@brickblatle1663]

This may just me being stupid but i always tought it was like a side mission gave by the gman or an mission so his employers trust Gordon more

[@Noxx55]

Interesting theory, and I hate to be this person, but I don't think you can dream while knocked unconscious. Sleep and loss of consciousness are very different states for the brain.

[@craftyrobandicootproductio1424]

True, but Gordon probably recovered from unconsciousness before ending up in the trash compactor

[@j.cormier8737]

It would make more sense if it was Gman alternate reality shenanigans. For example : Gman has Gordon connect the antenna in Uplink in an alternate dimension to allow "main timeline" Gordon to access the Lambda labs. IMHO.

[@Architector_4]

...This makes me wonder if there's any parallels to draw between Uplink and Lost Coast lol

[@alexmastah5073]

I think when peolple say Uplink is based on a cut chapter they mean the "Communications centre" chapter that was cut from the alpha/beta stage of the game

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

I always imagined that if it were to be added to the main game, the best option would be to have it as a detour just after the topside battle in "Forget About Freeman!", with you having to go through finished versions of all the cut locations from the Communications Center chapter from across the various betas.

[@taf0457]

2:18 What if it's a different guy who's happened to be named Gordon Freeman and has a Ph.D.?

[@Oppen1945]

Sounds like that theory where people say that you don't play as Barney Callhoun in Blue Shift but a different Callhoun who's first name also starts with B and is also a security guard at Black Mesa.

[@diotheotaku3552]

​@@Oppen1945Booty Calhoun

[@ionescuandrei1245]

​@@Oppen1945 bernard callhoun

[@meatyfork]

@@Oppen1945 Benrey Calhoun

[@bigfatcarp93]

"Narrowly escapes from" is an interesting way of saying "fucking obliterates"

[@KingPBJames]

If I remember correctly, Valve made Uplink AFTER the full game, to be used as a demo. Maybe they reused leftover assets and ideas and didn't care for continuity. Also, I believe you do not dream when knocked out.

[@bigfatcarp93]

I mean, you also don't get knocked out for several hours and survive without debilitating brain damage. Unconsciousness in media already doesn't work like it does in real life.

[@KingPBJames]

@@bigfatcarp93 I'm no expert but a bit of googling said that it's possible to be knocked out by a rapid change of bloodflow in the head, different from the brain getting knocked. In any case Valve opted for the Hollywood "beat him unconscious" and I think it would have been strange for Gordon to complete Uplink only to wake up from a dream, especially for a game from '97. You know what would have been awesome would be branching paths in the story! Not sure where exactly but one choice or action leads you through Uplink and the other through the Lambda Bunker or something.

[@bigfatcarp93]

@@KingPBJames True, but typically when you're knocked out in real life it's for less than a minute. If it's any longer than that, then your chances of waking up _ever_ are really slim, and if you do you probably won't be quite the same.

[@craftyrobandicootproductio1424]

Personally, my take is the following: Gordon was knocked out initially, but later on fell asleep after the soldiers decided to put Gordon in the trash compactor.

[@TheKingofBunga2912]

In Ross Scott’s “Freeman’s Mind” series, Gordon teleports to the Uplink mod during Lambda complex when he’s going through the teleporters. Which would make sense that Gordon was teleported to tune the transmitter in order for him to go deeper in the lambda complex so he could find the scientists that are supposed to open the portal to Xen so Gordon could go through.

[@007spudmanSpudsArmy]

Next time I play through Half Life im gonna boot Uplink after Gordon gets knocked out and then do the Compactor part and onwards after.

[@cillianennis9921]

Uplink is like Half-Life 1's Lost coast. Vaguely based on a cut level from earlier in development & its now being used as more of a tech demo that is just giving another experience for the games. Like its harder to work out where it is in the respects to the games compared to Lost coast which must've been at some early point of development attached to the Highway 17 level possibly acting as another way it ends. I kinda wish Half-life 2 had gotten all 3 of its DLCs as we would've had the Return to Ravenholm adding Shepard back in, along with Episodes 1 & 2. we also had episode 3 but I think it was planned to become half-life 3 at some point before they just decided to leave us in the water for another decade or two.

[@HaAJPaAJ]

I have an alternate theory, although this cannot be confirmed and its more just for fun. In Apprehension, one scientist informs Gordon that they are tracking him using the Black Mesa security system. Here's where the crazy speculation comes in. What if Uplink is a simulation created by scientists to see what Gordon can survive? This brings a different meaning to the ominous "Require Further Data" message. In all likelihood, Uplink is probably just defined as an alternate universe to the one Freeman traversed, and so anything goes. Perhaps this is why the G-Man can be observed as well. If Uplink were a simulation, it would be odd to put the G-Man there. Interesting stuff as always, lymphoid. :)

[@Hqnmol-rt6lh]

Actually your theory kinda makes sense if you recall what the scientist at the entrance of the Lambda Complex tells you. He says that “when we realized you might actually make it here”, which sounds to me like they didn’t exactly have high hopes of Freeman actually arriving. Lines up with the whole simulation to see if Gordon would survive and Uplink’s ending I think. Of course this doesn’t explain the gman though

[@DrMedicsGameSurgery]

Theres a better mod than what yo udescribed called Uplinked that adds this and some alpha maps between forget about freeman and lambda core, its very worthwhiel playing.

[@Seb-Storm]

It's am interesting hypothesis. The fact that uplink just simply ends, you can't kill the gargantua just like that (according to the game you need a big machine) so been caged with it would mean certain death and a nightmare

[@gudmansal3468]

you can kill the gargantua with grenades

[@RickTests]

@@gudmansal3468 and laser weapons

[@Seb-Storm]

Yes, but if you play the game the first time you see the gargantua take no damage from the soldiers and you need a machine to kill it so for the uplink "dream" would make sense the gargantua is a deathless nightmare

[@gudmansal3468]

@@Seb-Storm you needed a machine to kill it? i never knew that

[@Seb-Storm]

@@gudmansal3468 sarcasm?

[@tech34756]

If I was to try and squeeze this into canon, I'd either have gone with: 1) The multiverse theory 2) Alternative timelines 3) Originally Gordon was going to go through the main entrance but that route gets cut off requiring him to go through the 'back' way. This could have been placed just after residue processing and somehow lead to Questionable Ethics whilst running away. The first option is basically Bioshock Infinite-esque, so the Gordon in Uplink isn't the main game version. The second, more plausible thanks to HL:A, basically Gordon dies and the Gman or some other entity 'resets' Gordon, forcing him down another path from earlier in the game. The latter could have been a massive troll moment by Valve as you basically get to Lamda's doorstep but have to go through several more hours of Black Mesa. Edit: obviously there would need to be some changes to the maps to accommodate 3.

[@ahmeteneskoksal1929]

I like to think the uplink is original timeline and end of gordon freeman before g man decided to hire him. maybe this was the scenario that happened if gordon was on time instead of being late. so the experiment has done earlier and soldiers come to base later than normal we have not seen any black agents because they have not arrived yet. maybe we saw g man in the going to work sequence because he changed the time and checking on us.

[@Oden-gp8xu]

Ive always wondered myself if Uplink took place in between getting knocked out and getting thrown in a trash compactor, there is so much you could put between there and say that freeman escaped and was recaptured.

[@lagomoof]

The first two seconds of this video tell us everything we need to know. It's 48 hours _after_ containment failure. _After_ the resonance cascade. But wait... Assuming Gordon isn't knocked out for long before the trash compactor, Half-Life takes place during the course of one day. Starts at ~9am and Gordon is in Xen by the evening. Less than 24 hours. Resonance cascade + 48 hours means that _Uplink is Gordon's first assignment after being hired by G-Man at the end of Half-Life._ That also explains the G-Man sighting at the end. Think about it: Gordon starts out by appearing mysteriously at the end of a corridor in front of a locked door with no weapons and already wearing a hazard suit. He lacks weapons not because this is at the trash compactor or because of a teleporter, it's because G-Man took his weapons away at the end of Half-Life. "Most of them _were_ Government issue." He got to keep the hazard suit. "I think you've earned it after all you've been through." Coincidence? Does Gordon die at the end? The message at the end is vague, but given G-Man's abilities and the fact Valve would have wanted to leave things open for a sequel, that seems unlikely. Speaking of HL2, the train carriage at the start is oddly reminiscent of that Uplink corridor, don't you think? Locked door behind. Mysteriously appeared in front of it. The inside of the carriage is a shade of green not too far from the one of that corridor too. No hazard suit that time of course. By that point I assume G-Man decided Gordon would be less conspicuous without it. Obvious question: What about the nuke that G-Man sets off in Opposing Force that destroys Black Mesa? Well, ignoring the questionable canon of the Gearbox games, Shephard goes to Xen and then comes back. There's no way to know how long he's over there. Maybe he experiences a week-long teleport at some point like happens to Gordon in HL2. That gives plenty of time for Black Mesa to continue to exist and for Uplink to happen before the whole place is wiped out.

[@technotron8637]

Nope. Half Life does not take place in 1 day. Its a 3 day long journey for Gordon. He gets to work in the morning and by evening he reaches the surface again only to get sent back underground by the military. He goes to Xen on possibly the second or third day of the Black Mesa incident. And why would gman send Gordon to Black Mesa to send an all clearance code to the Lambda team after he’s done helping them? Even if you consider Opposing force as non canon, im pretty sure Black Mesa was in irreparable ruins by the time Gordon had reached Lambda core

[@Mr-highhonor]

I always believed uplink was seen in the eyes of a random scientist with a HEV suit. If we wanted to we could connect to echoes and azura sheep saying it was one of those prototype HEV guard suits and only a few of them wore it. Again not everything Azure Sheep is canon in this headcanon and echoes but making them both connect makes me believe black mesa is bigger than it is.

[@BrandonBattleblade]

I like to imagine that is like a prophetic dream that Gordon had the morning of the Resonance Cascade that he quickly forgot about

[@blukat9903]

I would have cared if i didn't speedrun that campaign a hundred times my best time is 5 minutes btw

[@Gravity_studioss]

Uplink Features so many little details that are missing from the retail game for some reason

[@joeiswear]

yeah but its just a theory.......

[@Eyepoke42]

Interesting theory! I like it. 😎

[@FtL_CS]

why do you have screen tearing?

[@danielriossuarez]

Woah this is an interesting theory!

[@cromax9855]

I think it's just an alternative timeline (if it's supposed to be taken at face value rather than it just being a gameplay demo) where Gordon enters the Lambda complex from the main entrance and gets killed. (If you ignore the continuity error with the missing weapons)

[@datamal]

I love hlu

[@hl2betafan]

blam theory

[@real_Clone_Gordon_Freeman]

If Uplink does happen to be a dream sequence, it's most likely placement in the half life canon would be between Apprehension and Residue Processing as that is the only time Gordon is actually unconcious

[@hl1xaweaponanimator26]

Ebic my boi

[@lion3312]

Thanks for this video lymphoid.

[@Dovah2798]

Nice theory I like it! and that mod looks cool i want to check it and see how it go back to the main game.

[@ahmedking5793]

I could say this is the best/strongest theory I have ever heard in a game and the fact he didn't encounter alien grunts or get an RPG etc makes the theory more believable and I love it ❤

[@ramzej3169]

very cool theory! I like it

[@cosmiccynic2757]

Interesting theory...

[@ivansantanatelleria]

That's what it is!

[@GoldSrcAesthetic]

Nice theory

[@NoName-st5so]

Comes Another

[@thecaketubby5764]

This doesn't at all cause issues with the lore but I personally don't really think it's the case, just feels a bit far fetched. Also, I think that having the GMan's info texts at the start and end kinda proves that this is an alternate timeline and not just Gordon dreaming

[@gamingadeldex]

yes, just yes! I want it

[@lymphoid]

You want to play a mod that does this?

[@gamingadeldex]

​@@lymphoidyeah, a mod with vanilla uplink between c2a3 and c2a4 with trash compactor sound at the end to make it clear it was a dream would be awesome!😅

[@lymphoid]

I'm almost done making it 🙌🤪

[@Ayoub-lv3yl]

I love your content keep on it my friend