PATIENT ZERO - A Half-Life Short by TheParryGod - Reaction

[@tristanzarin6642]

For added terror of what that drone was, it’s called a Manhack. It’s essentially a flying weed whacker, and the Combine (the soldiers that use the Manhack) typically deploys them to flush out adversaries from close quarters areas. They are especially horrifying when they deploy 5 of them at once in your direction while running through a sewer tunnel.

[@Razgriz_01]

Thinking about it. Gordon can just raise his arms and let his armor take the brunt of a Manhack's charge. At best he'll only get scratches to his forearm's armor, hence why they bounce off you in-gameplay. But for everyone else with only standard protective gear, someone is gonna lose a finger or more. If they try to block with their arms, those blades will most definitely shred through cloth and into flesh. Imagine a person getting caught unaware by a Manhack charge to the face. No wonder the rebels will focus on them more than combine soldiers. The perfect weapon to flush out any opposing forces in cover.

[@pizzaman10203]

@TheAntiFurrydude that's what they are called in combine terminology, manhack is just the name humans gave them

[@ellis-ui9ue]

@@Razgriz_01 Legit gordon could just backhand the manhack with his arm due to his HEV suit.

[@HR-Commander]

@@pizzaman10203 yea the manhack used mostly by Humans aka rebels and citzens the combine to that drone use the name Vector like the SMG (kriss vector)

[@ninjaguyYT]

Not scary in game though, since you're wearing a robot.

[@ThePeanutMann]

11:45 I'm glad you pointed that out, the reason the SPIKEWALL isn't nervous is because he's genetically modified to fight. The police guys aren't.

[@eagle10799]

So begins your journey into Half Life

[@thebluesavior]

The Parry God's videos are like the Astartes shorts of the Half-Life community. The Templin Institute made a great video about the Combine, I'd recommend checking it out since it fills in a ton of blanks.

[@hubdweller9969]

Don’t watch Templin, they pull their information from the Wikipedia pages-not the wikia pages

[@thebluesavior]

@@hubdweller9969 Their video has the best summary of the premise that I've seen. I didn't notice anything glaringly inaccurate for that particular video.

[@Razgriz_01]

@@hubdweller9969 Eh, The Templin Institute does a great job of offering a quick summary into a fictional world before jumping into the rabbit hole.

[@denni8271]

Man now I gotta rewatch Astartes

[@gamingwolf6735]

Imagine if Theparrygod made a collab with the dude who made Atartes that would be awesome

[@battedbook5811]

I cant recommend ParryGods videos enough, seriously they are really good. Also other Half Life lore video reactions would be nice, because it gets really dark when you look under the surface.

[@brigidtheirish]

It's pretty dark *on* the surface.

[@battedbook5811]

@@brigidtheirish Yes, but the games do a lot of hint don't tell, which makes a lot of people miss things like the sea level height decreasing. And thats one of the more obvious examples.

[@brigidtheirish]

@@battedbook5811 True, but just the fact that the whole thing is an obvious apocalypse means that things like the sea level lowering is just icing on the dystopia cake.

[@chosenrubric7308]

For a look at the Combine's more... inhuman combat units, I strongly recommend "Blue Eyes" also by TheParryGod.

[@multiversepatriot3148]

One of my favorite shorts. Trust me Boss, you'll rewatch this fifty times

[@DerpsWithWolves]

Hi there! I'm Jordan; the writing and tactical consultant for this project, as well as the voice for Victor Niner-Two. Glad to see someone else enjoying Parry's work, as well as a comments section equally enthusiastic about it! Y'all are why we do this! As for the piece itself, the animation really is ONE guy; Richard Makk (Parry). He also does about 95% of everything, with a few hired voice actors, some volunteer audio engineers (for vocoders), and myself assisting on the side. My end is script and dialogue editing, as well as reference for military subjects (army vet, LEO volunteer) - while keeping the spirit of the Half-Life universe, which I've been doing for about a year, beginning with the 'Infestation' short. Patient Zero is, so far, the biggest project Parry's published, or that I've ever been involved with, but "T H E M O V I E" as he calls it, IS announced, and IS coming (eventually). Said movie is why I was brought onto the project in the first place, so I'm looking forward to it as much as everyone else... Which is all I can say on that matter. The weightiness you point out, the sheer feeling of 'being in a place', and how naturally in-universe everything feels drew me to the project in the first place, and in the time since I joined he's only gotten better at it... It's so easy for me to to get sucked into it, and forget I'm even watching something, even though I already know the script. His whole channel is fantastic. I also, of course, HIGHLY recommend the Half-Life universe itself - it's one of my personal favorite sci-fi settings, alongside Star Wars / Trek, Dune, and Asimov. Though, having said that, I think it's also one best explored, rather than explained... But there's plenty of other stuff out there for that, so I leave you in the capable hands of all the different animators, playthrough channels, or the games themselves, if that strikes your fancy! I see the Templin Institute mentioned on other comments, and they are indeed a great place if you do want a more concise distillation of the lore! Probably a good fit for a reaction channel, actually. Cheers,

[@grantsrants665]

Thank you for your service, to your nation and to the cause of luck-ass animations!

[@sookendestroy1]

You should definitely look into half life lore, it's one of the coolest universes that has never been used for anything larger but is the most out there expansive setting there is

[@Unknown-ek1ox]

I like to think the whole Colony TV show (sadly ended after Season 3) was notably or partially inspired by HL2 lore. Mild spoilers on it only to describe the references or similarities to HL2: It mirrors the themes of a hostile invaders having been in clandestine contact with parts of humankind before invasion (like Breen was rumored to be I guess?) and then during the invasion hitting the whole planet with shock and awe orbital strikes and even directing human institutional or military resistance in select cases to areas to then strike. Or in other words, they knew of clandestine rally points of even various assembling special forces during the blackout and striked individual buildings at the right time. It was like a less bloody Seven Hour war I think, but devastating ultimately to initial human forces and resistance. Then they do the whole occupation thing and eventually put people into "blocs" which are I guess at least mildly smaller versions of the number cities from HL2. They don't use a big citadel but also huge artificially erected walls to, well, wall these blocks in. In turn there appears, albeit, restricted and only authorized, travel between blocks and they literally have a sort of "offworld-reassignment" as punishment too. And there's implications they use parts of Earth's resources for a wider goal or purpose I won't spoil. They use mostly human collaborators divided into like a civil protection-type occupation force but also have "politicians" or administrators. Like the scanners, they have heavily lethal drones patrol or augment the human collaborator force if need be. And in later seasons you see some other synth-type units. And of course there's also resistance movements. I can only recommend you or anyone reading this try to find any working access to the show (IDK where it is still hosted or streamed, you can look it up tho). Hell even if it might cost you a few bucks I feel it's definitely worth it for HL2 fans. They'll likely get some "Hah! Relatable!" moments. I sure had many.

[@idk422]

Would suggest Protectors if I remember that one is made by the same guy

[@knightprincess-pq3zd]

omg finally this shorts are so good pls do the others

[@bthsr7113]

The gist of the background for Half Life 2 is: The aliens won. They rule with an iron fist after annihilating conventional forces. On this dwindling earth the Combine is in control as they harvest resources, but there are still those who fight back, and the wrong man in the right place at the right time can make all the difference in the world.

[@DOSFS]

In short (but if you interested there are plenty of explain for Half Life story, highly recommend HL universe is top-tier) Combine (thicc boy and bois) : Bad guy ; essentially Combine is multi-dimensional alien invader who really like genetic modification and cybernetics to its multitude of victim races (Thicc boy, Combine soldier, is barely human at this point (but he is custom original variants from ParryGod thought) while Civil protection (other white masks) are just human volunteers for a little bit of better life compare to other humans). Rebel : Good guy, human resistance

[@heathliput-ru6cy]

I mean in this situation in the video it can be very hard to tell who is bad and who is not.

[@nerdError0XF]

It always funny to me that almost in any fictional universe rebels equal good, when in reality its much more complicated

[@theenderdestruction2362]

​@LosManexStudio666 In most realitys the rebels are fighting against an actually horrible force that doesn't care at all like thw combine

[@shadowstrider8295]

Let it be known that in the world of Half Life, it took the Combine (those guys who look like their wearing masks) seven _hours_ to conquer earth

[@Razgriz_01]

To be fair, the entire world was still dealing with the after-effects of the Resonance Cascade. Portal-Storms were probably wrecking a lot of shit and the world governments had to also deal with the hostile Xen lifeforms that has popped up all over the world Thats the funny thing about the HECU in Black Mesa, covering up what they did was probably moot by that point, since its affecting the whole world.

[@shadowstrider8295]

@@Razgriz_01 That still doesn't change the fact they took such a short amount of time. Obviously it was because of many varying factors

[@rorya01ok37]

You really gotta get into Half-Life, its really damn good

[@bruhmedia385]

11:51 There's also a reason why the transhuman soldier (Spikewall unit) isn't doing any nervous ticks, unlike the normal civil protection units, the overwatch transhuman soldiers have been augmented to the point that they lack any emotion, that may not be the case in Alyx where some can display emotion but I call that the "Prototype" phase of the transhuman arms, where they are still soldiers but lack what made them truly horrifying as present in half-life 2. The transhuman soldiers in half-life 2 are what I call the true complete version of what they are, emotionless, inhuman soldiers who do not care about the lives of anyone, they don't even care about the civil protection units as they are still human. The combine doesn't actually care for earth seeing as they already conquered it after the seven hour war, the combine occupation Is just a way of slowly killing off humanity like they have done before to many others.

[@javiergnzalez]

pls watch Just how bad is The Combine? by Leadhead

[@Marcharound]

Underrated af youtuber.

[@javiergnzalez]

@@shaneclark2927 i did months ago

[@vibaj16]

In case you haven't seen, he's watched it now

[@javiergnzalez]

@@vibaj16 yeah i was him when he reacted to the vid

[@alphariussx1504]

That was made in the source 2 film maker

[@Northbravo]

Boss you really gotta get into the half life universe! It connects to the portal games as well.

[@DVBois]

Yeah TheParryGod is an amazing animator. You should totally watch his other short-films!

[@whuskeywolf0032]

Attention all Ground Protection Teams: Autonomous judgment is now in effect. Sentencing is now discretionary. Code: amputate, zero, confirm.

[@LucasSantos-si4nd]

Definitely recommend his other half-life shorts

[@ThePandoraGuy]

Hopper Mines. Nasty little things. They only reason you have a chance against them in Half-Life 2 is the fact that Gordon has a Graviton, a zero-gravity tool to pick up stuff and throw at the enemy or playing minesweeper.

[@RKXIXKR]

The cool thing is that the wallhammer (big dude) is using actual codes which mean specific things. For example, when he says "One active viscerator," he is referring to the manhack, as that is what the combine calls them. Anyways, the wallhammer is apart of the OTA or Overwatch Transhuman Arm. Which is essentially the military. Wallhammers are close quarter combat specialized fighters. As you can probably tell, they are very effective. I swear if an ordinal were with them, they both could've easily taken on all of the rebels.

[@thedemolitionsexpertsledge5552]

… it was a Spikehammer, which can be very easily verified by turning on the subtitles in the original video

[@heathliput-ru6cy]

Close on the name it’s spikewall not hammer

[@thedemolitionsexpertsledge5552]

@@heathliput-ru6cy yeah idk why I called it that when I’ve watched this enough 😭

[@thexlonewolf671]

This short is set in the universe of Half-Life. After an accident at an anomalous materials lab in New Mexico, huge interdimensional portals began tearing across Earth. An alien empire called the Combine exploited these portals to invade and subjugate Earth in an event known as the "Seven Hour War." To call the Combine "brutal" in how they treat the citizens of Earth is an understatement: if you don't cooperate with them, then you're against them and you'll be executed pretty much on the spot. The opening sequence of Half-Life 2 is really dark, it's great for demonstrating just how bad they are if you're paying attention.

[@staliniosifvissarionovich5588]

11:53 That soldier is an alien, in him now forever a soldier.

[@SturgGaeming]

If you want some context you should watch Consequences - A Half-Life: Alyx Short [S2FM] by the same animator.

[@large-turkey]

To explain the Half Life lore, I'll give you the simplest answer: During the 2003-2004s, scientists at Black Mesa, a government funded research facility were studying an alien dimension named Xen. During this study, they brought a crystal back from Xen to investigate. A scientist at Black Mesa named Gordon Freeman (the main protagonist of HL) is responsible for placing the crystal inside a large machine made by the Black Mesa staff to teleport to Xen with more ease. However, the crystal and machine malfunctions, causing what is known as a Residence Casscade. Several alien species from Xen teleported into Black Mesa, killing all the staff. As Gordon, the player has to navigate through the facility and avoid/kill the aliens as well as Government Marines sent to Black Mesa to make sure no one finds out about the situation. Because of the Residence Cassciade, 'Portal Storms' popped up on Earth . These were basically portals that had Xen Aliens arrive on Earth, which made many basic animals go extinct. Eventually however, humanity was able to adapt to the new Xen Aliens on the planet. However, the Portal Storms caught the attention o an alien empire that spreds throughout universes and dimensions named the Combine. The Combine found out about Earth and, after a few years after HL1, they invaded the Earth, forcing humanity to surrender in just 7 hours. The video you watched took place some years after the Combine occupied the planet. The 'CP' (the ones with lighter armor) are basically humans who willingly joined the combine. At the time, the combine took Earths resources, and enslaved the human race with cruelty as well as giving humans little freedom. They did this by using CP units (Civil Protection), regular humans who, if they did their job well, would be promoted to an Overwatch Soldier. Overwatch Soldiers are CP who were genetically modified by the combine to become Transhuman forces. The Heavy soldier you saw in the video (A Spikewall unit) was an example of an Overwatch Soldier. The other humans however are resistance/rebellion soldiers, humans who went against the combine's cruelty. However, the resistance was really weak, and didn't have much of a chance against the combine. The video also takes place during Half Life Alyx, which takes place between HL1 and HL2. Theres alot more i could go over but for now i hoped this helped :)

[@theenderdestruction2362]

Also there's a 3rd party in play as well, namily who ever employs the gman. It seems this party wants mankind to win against the combine, whether they be a future mankind using their past as a way to pave for mankind, an entirety differnt race of hyper advance aliens who just dont want the combine to win like at all. Or its us, the players and valve who are in the gmans employer

[@Randomdu8e]

The bad guys are the combine the guys that are raiding the building And the little drone is called a manhack ,it’s a drone with a blade that cuts things up 8:34 yep that’s a shotgun for ya And the big dude is a spike wall not to be confused with wall hammer, The wall hammer is a guy with the same shotgun but with a plasma sheild.

[@eternal7912]

I love Half-Life and I love the Parry God's work. He really makes the Combine (the masked guys) feel terrifying. You pointed out how the big guy, was wasn't bouncing his foot like the others. The other guys are Metrocops. Humans who have opted to work for the this totalitarian alien regime as a pretty brutal police force in order to get more food and "reproductive simulations," as well as actually being able to live with your family. The big guy is one of the Overwatch Soldiers, who are barely even human anymore. They're half machine, and the flesh they have has been genetically modified, and their minds have been wiped and essentially reprogrammed to remove 90% of their emotions and make them into effective killing machines that never disobey orders. I genuinely think Half-Life 2 is easily the coolest and most terrifying dystopia in fiction, and it is absolutely deserving of a television series following rebels just trying to fight for freedom and survival. Highly recommend the games.

[@Randomrobot-fs4du]

the baddies are the guys with the suits, big one isn't actually in the games, but its called the spikewall

[@montiegaines7179]

Half-life 2 Combine-Soldiers-bad guys Big guy is barley human anymore. Rebels-Rebels-good guys

[@hdog9046]

I would highly recommend playing the Half-Life games, going in the order of their release. It's never too late to get into it, the games have stood the test of time.

[@genericscottishchannel1603]

source 2 goes hard, pretty sure the movement weight is just done by the engine for you

[@nerdError0XF]

yea probabbly. but still didnt see any s2fm video as good as TheParryGod onces in terms of movement, action and so on

[@JustAnAverageGuy5731]

There's a lot of other really good animations on Half-Life, you should check 'em out!

[@yolosnip1555]

You should check out another half life short called “ LZ Sparrow” it’s pretty great and it tells you more about what happened during half life 1.

[@volcanicknight5594]

This video was fantastic you should watch more half life videos It can be quite interesting

[@wulvesgaming3523]

Can't wait to see more reactions to TheParryGod's videos.

[@ThechaosInsurgency-1]

All units advisory quicksand at my 10-20 code 3

[@SomeKindaSpy]

The creator of this project got hired by a game company to make cutscenes! shame it's under their direction, but hopefully he'll be able to keep making video soon!

[@MrJulio632]

Watch the other videos from this guy, he is amazing

[@khornethebloodgod4155]

You should really play Half Life. If the first one is too dated for you the remake Black Mesa is amazing.

[@NoSoulJoel177]

Oh my you should 100% react to The Fat Electrician.

[@pootissfmstudios6370]

You should definetly watch more of these.

[@EC23331]

Definately should check his other content.

[@marcosflores1459]

Lookin at someone with a very bad headache 😭

[@Riwecrew]

You really need to watch Parrygod from old to new videos.

[@the-btc-tradingfloor2808]

Ultra Cool

[@CorwinTheOneAndOnly]

I know you know already, but I am just leaving this comment for posterity. The baddies are the Combine soldiers here, and by a lot.

[@niklausmerki5947]

Freemann 4 ever 😘