Breaking Half-Life 2 to Play it in Reverse (the Real Longest Possible Backtrack)

[@Pinsplash]

This in Half-Life 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5-mmn9qhd9jh6M

[@realElo.2]

just watched it! such a good video

[@abasgames]

Now make one for episode 2 an episode 1

[@238Hero238]

"Shit, I left my briefcase on the train."

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

*proceeds to travel backwards on all 4 dimensions*

[@theRedGman]

@@TinyDeskEngineer *proceeds to make the time go backwards*

[@PebsBeans]

but in the end it doesn't even matter cause he couldn't get to the train 😭😭

[@fyretnt]

@@PebsBeans funny how you say “in the end it doesn’t even matter” on an hl2 video

[@PebsBeans]

@@fyretnt that was the joke

[@VectorBatesta]

alyx: "gordon, you made it through ravenholm? thank god!" gordon: wanna see me do it again?

[@TheJ0hm]

“want me to go through ravenholm and back? want me to do it again?”

[@superofsrb2196]

imagine being a combine soldier working in the citadel seeing some guy in a metal warning vest sidestepping around a cliff hundreds of feet above ground

[@oneshotw1z630]

Meanwhile City 17 repairs itself and all the fighting suddenly stops

[@trolled1791]

I hate living in city 17 onggg💀💀💀

[@zeepro_tv]

@@trolled1791 can't have shit in city 17

[@KingMetalMario]

@@oneshotw1z630 and the passage of daytime reverses

[@the_sund]

imagine being that guy, but irl

[@mcarpen89]

"The obvious path has been blocked by an invisible wall" *proceeds to phase right through a very visible wall instead*

[@B.L.U.S]

Ok so if not walls are walls so I need to walk walls because they are not walls

[@Pewwgun]

@@B.L.U.S huh?

[@B.L.U.S]

@@Pewwgun I made this to make no sense and i succeeded Not even i understand it anymore...

[@Pewwgun]

@@B.L.U.S not even the best reader can understand it

[@empireofitalypsstimfromano5025]

@@B.L.U.S It's Literally So Easy To Understand And Translate In Common English Compared To What Comments I'm Used To Reading That I Wheezed. Translation: If Air Is A Wall Then I Need To Walk Trough Real Walls Since They Are Not Actually Walls.

[@Fierce0Deity0Link]

11:35 Kleiner: "My God, how did you get here? and when?" Gordon: "That's an interesting question in more ways than one"

[@Mordecai02]

I love how the previous map's final clip takes him directly into Kleiner's lab -- specifically, the HEV suit storage space, lol. Kind of gives sort of an uncanny feeling really, walking out into this room in a similar fashion as you have before, but nobody's there and all of the furniture & equipment is gone. Kind of like walking into your empty bedroom one last time when you're moving away ._.

[@Kacpa2]

​@@Mordecai02 Yeah.. I mostly found areas that you're not meant to be in or outside of playable area/in scenery to be mysterious or even eerie/creepy when i was younger. And always was fascinated to explore and get outside in most games.

[@BigChinYay]

inaccurate, gordon can't talk /j

[@owenkegg5608]

There is something so Half Life about using a God damned tin can as a disposable portable teleportation device

[@RAFMnBgaming]

Localised teleportation right below the combine's noses all along.

[@nuxx1876]

well at least half-life universe, that sounds more like something Aperture Science would do

[@gudmansal3468]

@@nuxx1876 same universe

[@nuxx1876]

@@gudmansal3468 thats what i meant, theyre both in the same universe

[@TimI94]

Adrian got displacer cannon, Gordon got displacer CANnon.

[@DanielEhlmann]

The incredible story about how City 17 went from being a dystopia, to a destroyed warzone, and then right back to an (intact) dystopia.

[@hardlyanydiggity3953]

i love how he says "the fucky wucky trigger" so proffessionally

[@bsmith9890]

Timestamp?

[@hardlyanydiggity3953]

@@bsmith9890 No

[@bsmith9890]

@Kaisa Islamova holy shit thats hilarious lmao

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@bsmith9890 what is that trigger? is it the one that forces a failure state? edit. yeah it's a failure state trigger, for if you fuck up the jeep jump.

[@hockdudu]

@@caramelldansen2204 Thanks for the explanation

[@SolidIncMedia]

The damage system in Half Life 2 is amazing. You can drop a grenade, and as it's going off, shoot an RPG right at your feet, and only take a handful of damage. Meanwhile you can fall off a moderately high wall and take 75 damage.

[@lukabrasi001]

is it damage gating? or armor mitigation?

[@ZoofyZoof]

@@lukabrasi001 I don't know what that means, but... Fall damage is not affected by armor, while the explosive damage is. That's why, when you have a lot of armor, you can take less damage to both a grenade and rocket launcher while taking a lot of damage with fall damage

[@joonaa2751]

Pinsplash, I have a few HL-related mysteries for you to solve or explain: - On some playthroughs of the second map of Route Kanal, the citizens who are supposed to be executed by the CP will not spawn where they should, but are instead found standing around at the part where the drainpipe lady tells you to ”keep going friend, that station was raided[…]”. What causes this to happen? - When Alyx gets captured towards the end of Anticitizen One, some Combine soldiers will sometimes spawn on the other side of the collapsed bridge once you’re down in the ravine, and fire at the rebels you leave behind (if any are alive). It only happens very rarely, so what exactly is needed to trigger this event? - In Surface Tension, there’s the part where you have to turn a valve inside a building to open a hatch to the cliffside map. The valve room sometimes has crossbow magazines on the floor, but sometimes they’re not there. Is there some glitch that causes them to not always appear, or is it some intentional design? - HL1 has a bug (unless it got fixed sometime recently) where the contents of the Xen ammo canisters fail to get added to your inventory if they contain grenades/satchels/tripmines, but you’re out of that particular item (I expect the same would also happen with snarks, but obviously none of the canisters contain them). Why does this happen?

[@adirblazkowics7717]

I think we should like this to see if pinsplash sees it, I wanna know the answers to these too

[@nicogeek7528]

For the first one I think is related to some trigger with the barnacle (the one where the crow goes to it), in my experience every time I avoid that trigger the citizens will spawn there, my guess is that they are there before the trigger and the trigger teleports them to the CP

[@Tiftid]

1) Put simply, the room with the drainpipe lady is actually where the citizens spawn. When you touch a trigger earlier in the map, they're teleported to the spots where they get shot and killed. This trigger is relatively small, which makes it possible to skip by climbing over the trains at the start of the map. Skipping it will mean the citizens are never teleported away from their spawn location. This will mean they never die, except for one - a trigger later in the map, which is harder to skip, arbitrarily kills that one. This is probably because they would otherwise escape to safety before the metrocops can mow them down. Interestingly, this same second trigger also tells the citizens to run to positions which would get them killed, but they refuse and stay at their spawn locations. 2) There's a trigger at the end of the bridge that spawns three combine soldiers on the inaccessible side. This trigger only enables after alyx has been captured and you've jumped down into the canal. Additionally, it can only be triggered by an NPC allied to the player. The difficulty in triggering this comes from the fact that any citizens that survive the generator square immediately stop being part of your squad and are forced to run to specific positions, so it becomes really hard to get them into the trigger. I only managed it by spawning in a new citizen with cheats. I can't imagine how you'd do it in normal gameplay. As for 3) and 4), I don't have a setup for looking at HL1 maps, so I won't be the one to solve these. At least, not today.

[@windowssonic5953]

For #3, I think someone explained that loot drops change depending on what weapon(s) you use the most.

[@joonaa2751]

@@windowssonic5953 That’s in Source games. HL1 has no such system.

[@InfinityMakesVideos]

He didn't play Half-Life, he played Life-Half

[@kitma9]

alternatively efil-flah

[@Psyden5757]

Or full life, since the first half is from start to end, and the other would be end to start

[@alexusman]

@@Psyden5757 if we had full life we wouldn't be here watching/making obscure HL videos.

[@Vyclops]

@@Psyden5757 half-life: full life consequences

[@SuperBoyboys]

ƎꟻI⅃-ꟻ⅃AH

[@Sped55]

good thing gordon has a phd in theoretical physics

[@caramelldansen2204]

I thought it was a theoretical phd in physics... 😳

[@iodreamify]

He's a highly trained professional

[@JacobKinsley]

"e=mc^2! That's the equation to phase through walls! Now I can get out of this place!"

[@Kavukamari]

gordon has many theories about physics, and i think he's right about most of them

[@M0gwr]

"that means you can theoretically solve this puzzle!"

[@Arv.o]

Gordon freeman time travels by walking in the wrong direction

[@Xedim365]

I like to imagine this as an alternate ending where Gordon kills Breen and just B-hops all the way home

[@Architector_4]

Now watch this video in reverse for a weird Half Life 2 playthrough

[@JuanGamer0202]

You sick man, take my like and leave

[@-ExpiredLube]

The one combine that set those forcefields up only to realize that some random dude is gonna phase through it by ramming into a box

[@Falloutgamer347]

Years of academy brainwashing wasted!

[@biohazarddetected792]

alternate universe where gordon has to escape the citadel,and get back to the trainstation

[@Wheagg]

Someone will make a mod

[@Wheagg]

@@kazcav4973 you smart ass lol

[@fyretnt]

@@Wheagg there is a mod where you can play the game backwards

[@alguienpocoguapo4428]

this is literally hl2 ep1

[@heavyweaponsguy153]

Light Energy, not our Benefactors, Avoid Freeman, Citizen One, Disentanglement, Nova Doubt, Safesand, Lowway 17, We go to Ravenholm, Black Mesa West, Safe Waters, Off route Kanal, Just another day, Off point Intersection.

[@JuanGamer0202]

Just another day lmao

[@BenLubar]

Shooting at a barrel moves it towards you? Physics!

[@DanielEhlmann]

Yeah I learned that one playing zombie mod on Counter-Strike: Source. Trying to build or break barricades showed me just how fucky the physics really are.

[@cucumbuhh]

its tenet

[@MiriadCalibrumAstar]

Fun fact, in CSS in some angles and on some props it does the same (i was a expert on zombie survival servers)

[@cookiecreeperplayz]

In the Portal Speedrunning community, the "solid clipping" is referred to as save glitch due to the requirement of saving and loading. It's used heavily in Portal to shoot portals through walls as save glitching in a specific way with a portal moves your player model but keeps your camera stationary allowing you to shoot portals through walls.

[@joe_ness]

Babe wake up, new pinsplash upload

[@DaRealBruner]

Yes honey.

[@monuri0451]

please stop waking me up at the end of the day or i will fucking break up with you

[@owenxm8649]

now I wonder how a speedrun of a modified version where all level load triggers actually exist and are reachable would work

[@fyretnt]

There’s a mod where you can play the game backwards and there are speed runs of it

[@laticuslad]

16:06 Gordon learned how to quantum tunnel, really putting that degree in theoretical physics to good use, huh?

[@warmooze]

You know you've played a game a lot when you start recognizing out of bound areas...

[@starseer986]

"Hey. Last time we did some super simple tricks that a few people thought were a bit tough, so today we're gonna use tricks that only 3 people can actually use."

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@defaultprofilepictureguy2526 oh, that's all?

[@XDRosenheim]

I like how you did not just mark a section as a dead end, but showed it was possible to get to the trigger, even if it does not work.

[@vaakdemandante8772]

yeah, those dead ends are a bit confusing. A dead end is when you are able to get to the trigger but the trigger is non-functional / non-active for some reason, so there's not even a theoretical possibility of moving back to the previous level - do I understand that correctly?

[@lukabrasi001]

@@vaakdemandante8772 the trigger exists but no level is set to it i think

[@TomatoRadio]

​@@lukabrasi001I think it's a flag that makes it not activate on touch. I think it's explained in the HL1 video, or in the comments.

[@pro-hz7kx]

@@TomatoRadio yeah when the devs put the flag so it can’t be activated like that

[@Taigavarpu]

Alyx: "gordon, you made it through ravenholm? thank god!" Gordon: Goes back. :D

[@TiagoAlvesNogueira-r3q]

Copy, you Not funny Man

[@thracian]

man i remember thinking as a kid "what if we go back".the video was so good to watch to quinch that thirst.

[@deviateedits]

Combine: invades entire planet in the hopes of obtaining local intra-universe teleportation technology Gordon: tin can

[@spongerobert]

I used to do this a lot as a kid in Half-Life 1 & 2 but mostly with noclip and other console commands. I liked exploring a map with all the enemies dead and also out of bounds areas. It's way more fun to reach out of bounds areas without console commands though and rather through neat movement tricks or prop tricks.

[@NorthstarSystem]

this video was so relaxing that I started falling asleep. but once I heard "fucky wucky" my eyes shot open and i jolted up and had to make sure i didnt dream that

[@UseroneGaming]

Who would have expected to be able to enter Nova Prospect prison, and just turn around and go all the way back to that rebel hideout you first found after Ravenholm. Or from the dam near Black Mesa to be able to go back to Ely’s lab!

[@IanZWhite00]

I think for this specific case they should have been called “dead entrances”

[@The_Hell_Lord]

would've been so cool to take the super gravity gun out of the citadel

[@loloreel]

If I'm not mistaking, the super gravity gun is a map specific setting, so it will just turn back to normal once you leave the citadel maps

[@swagmaster-vn2dx]

​@@loloreelyou can reenable it via console command too

[@DestructoGabe8]

The NPCs must be like, "Gordon! What the hell are you doing here?! Go back in the citadel, your grounded!

[@loleq2137]

I really enjoy your down-to-earth editing style. Banger vid as always

[@NoahGooder]

20:32 I was so waiting for that barrel to explode

[@XanderNiles]

This is an amazing backwards run, never thought this could be possible.

[@KarltheBarl]

"Gorden you made it through ravenholm..." *Turns around and Immediately goes back in*

[@Martyste]

Gordon here being that responsible kid rewinding the tape before returning it to the rental store.

[@adirblazkowics7717]

Those risky jumps in citadel_02 give me the same kinda vibes as when you make a tricky sprint-jump around corners on the sides of cliffs from one block to the next in minecraft Edit: 26:06 As a lagomorph once said: "DO A BARREL ROLL"

[@lakotacorff4012]

For some reason, this video helped me realize what I don't like, repetitiveness brought on by lack of variety. Combat comes in 6 flavors, those being: * Headcrabs & Barnacles * Headcrabs & Zombies * Antlions * Small Combine forces (CPs, Manhacks, APCs) * Big Combine forces (Soldiers, Overwatch) * Boss Combine (Hunter-Chopper, Gunship, Strider) These 6 scenarios are occasionally spiced up by help from allies or gimmick weapons, with the occasional start n' stop vehicle section or physics puzzle. If you're unlucky, plot scenes that are fun the first time around and boring the second).

[@Pnezyx2056]

imagine being a combine survivor of Freeman, and then you just see him coming back rock climbing, activating the hl2 long jump module, jumping through walls, and flinging through the void

[@Tchesco625]

26:03 Beta version of the REAL man's speedrun tactics: The DOG JUMP!

[@jessegamer2222]

as grayfruit would say: thats a neat little grayfruit reference

[@Mordecai02]

Furthermore: DO A BARREL ROLL!

[@nematode_interface]

Ofc there is a strategy called "Breen-Blast" haha, great video as usual

[@Francis_M]

Did you decide call it the fucky wucky trigger or was that actually in the game source code? 19:38

[@Tiftid]

The trigger is actually two triggers stacked on top of each other. Both are called "fall_trigger". One handles the player falling off the bridge, while the other handles the jeep. Both of them force you to reload your last save, but there'll be a different message shown depending on which one is triggered. I have no idea why he calls it the "fucky wucky trigger". Presumably it's jank in some way.

[@temkin9298]

@@Tiftid I think reload your last save results in a softlock and progress loss. He might have triggered it and lost time

[@nuxx1876]

​@@Tiftid he probably just calls it that because it fucky-wucks with you, foolishly believing you could just drop down easily

[@eldafi]

Why does this man does not have more subscribers at this point, this is true content

[@SomeGrunt_On_Youtube]

0:15 Some idiot couldnt process being able to stand on an object and press your mouse inside their brain…..

[@itsukarine]

those citadel strafes and ledges makes me feel like they could repurpose this map into a bhop map

[@justacomedian]

18:02 The finest mind of his generation

[@fireaza]

I wonder if the VR version could make this easier or harder? There's a fair bit of clipping using physics objects in this, and the VR version allows a very fine level of manipulation over the rotation and orientation of held objects. Plus, you can hold two physics objects at once.

[@sniperheroes3082]

If you can stand the nausea from clipping everywhere and have a keen vision, probably easier.

[@arforafro5523]

Canals is long but considering the amount of sequence breaking done I'm more impressed by Prison and C17

[@Maske4]

Someone should make a mod about freeman forgetting something on the start of the game and the whole objective would be to go back

[@FuzzyLiama]

15:15 me trying to suck through a straw on an empty drink

[@Mordecai02]

20:15 _What a thrill..._

[@genghisdingus]

11:13 THERES A CRATE BACK THERE!?!? I just looked a crate starts back there just like that.

[@trashbeast]

quick clip is fun. it's like skyrim with bowls and buckets

[@baronbacku9984]

the quickclip deadass looks like a jumpcut

[@ram3rz]

This is the moment Gordon became a free man

[@toiletfx5679]

It's amazing how you can basically move on foot through the entire citadel if u have the j&r skills.

[@TsjuunTze]

Wow, you move around very free, man.

[@iodreamify]

Nothing can contain the free man, not even the intended level flow

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

The ability to clip through walls, prop jump, b-hop... these are what you are really taught when you get a theoretical physics degree.

[@JacobKinsley]

*smugly* "here, let me buy you a drink" Drinks let you Phase through walls ALYX KNEW

[@angelnavarro553]

Imagine watching the citadel cameras and you see Gordon Freeman using his absolute pure muscle legs to stay balanced on a quarter inch ledge and blasting himself around

[@NoGaLyX]

Damn man I can't imagine the amount of time spent setting up these jumps respect

[@chessemchesse3676]

This reminds me of how deus ex devs excepted you yo backtrack entire missions early on

[@robuxyyyyyyyyyy4708]

You mean accepted?

[@ixxxxxxx]

@@robuxyyyyyyyyyy4708 you mean expected?

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@ixxxxxxx Robux

[@imonke5303]

All these peoplenwould rather correct something obvious than say anything of substance

[@ixxxxxxx]

@@imonke5303 hey the other guy started it, and thats not exactly of substance either

[@btarg1]

Citadel 2's strat made me think about how a half-life 2 hide and seek game would be amazing

[@loloreel]

So Garry's mod?

[@jonothanthrace1530]

So, you can backtrack through many areas, but will wind up completely deaf from explosions. Good to know!

[@LauraLowe]

Amazing how the game still remembers the state of everything in a level 13 maps later

[@221Prohunter]

This was a really good video, such a neat challenge. Love that even if you knew it would be a dead end ahead of time, you still went and did it legitimately.

[@jgvfdzugnyvfasnefj]

d3_citadel_02 was made with advanced movement in mind

[@FracturedPixels]

Legendary challenge-runner YMFAH uses solidclipping in Bethesda games. He calls it "Speed Transfer" for short range or "Load-warp" for long range.

[@sussyfard]

Imagine your a combine soldier swing gordan freeman speedrunjing and glitching

[@berkkurun9109]

all the effort you put on it. you are awesome.

[@asialsky]

17:19 Casually ker-smacks the antlion away. Refuses to elaborate.

[@nuxx1876]

"Shoo! Shoo, I say!"

[@Goldenhordemilo]

Shadows of the empire we would get to the end only to turn back to collect all the challenge points.

[@wug6175]

these videos are weirdly relaxing

[@MillsTC]

Could you clarify what you mean by "One seizure later" at 27:03? Does the screen glitch out or something?

[@Pinsplash]

toxic goo in hl2 makes your screen flash constantly

[@LordZordid]

If speedrunners has taught me anything it is that, where there's a will there's a way.

[@lincoln3124]

Alyx: Gordon you made it through ravenholm thank god. Gordon: proceeds to go all the way back through ravenholm

[@snarkbaited]

Cool video, your commitment is amazing

[@lightningkitten]

watching this feels like a dream

[@anonymousperson32]

Hello, Gordon! I see you've managed to break through time and space.

[@scantyer]

Man this really shows how dragged on "Folllow freeman" and "Anticitizen one" are.

[@JacobKinsley]

I wouldn't have complained if it was set in a more interesting set piece

[@anueutsuho7425]

No wonder the citadel felt so damn short.

[@TheEXTRAtesco]

It's such a mind fuck watching this entire game backwards. Incredible effort!

[@whynotll83]

19:38 This caught me off guard.

[@WackoMcGoose]

Honestly, I'm surprised any of this is even _possible,_ especially the ones that require extensive setup on the "forward" trip... I would've figured that to keep savefile sizes down, Source would discard the data for old maps past a certain point, so you could (for example) play through to d1_canals_10, then start backtracking, but by the time you got five maps back to d1_canals_05, it would no longer have the saved entity data and load everything "fresh". Kinda shocked to see that the game technically remembers and records _everything_ you've done for an entire playthrough.

[@CerisuHakka]

I wonder what the longest streak would be in HL1 - somewhere around Surface Tension to the beginning of Residue Processing perhaps?

[@adazomg07]

"My job here is done. Still have to catch the bus home. Better hurry!"

[@Kavukamari]

someone should mod backtracks into all of the dead ends, like a reverse pod for citadel, and stuff like that

[@Kavukamari]

add level triggers that fix the blocked passages, if you start the game at the end, let the blue gravity gun break doors and blockades

[@Danilozaver]

life-half 2 is exists

[@DavidMarsh-142Shepard]

Bro: "Oh shit i forgot somthin', brb." how far bro gotta go back:

[@Sockren]

you gotta crank up that bitrate bro

[@Deniil2000]

where is this TTS voice from? 2:51

[@AmalekIsComing]

Half life 2 video? Check. Obscure youtuber I vaguely know? Check. Funny scripted premise? Check. Twink ass voice? Check. Yeah

[@nuxx1876]

excuse me ermmmn could you repeat that last one

[@frogge_with_hat]

*pinsplash sprinting and jumping inside the citadel* combine soldier:WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE LORD IS THAT

[@kveller555]

IM IN YOUR WALLS

[@locrain7]

bro went back *38* maps worth while breaking half life 2

[@devil5051000]

0:25 - 18 years, hundreds of hours playtime and in this video I learn about the stash on top of the vending machine... ^^

[@Kirbman]

"Gordon, you made it through Ravenholm?" Goes back to Ravenholm.

[@JacobKinsley]

Open world game players when they have 49/50 collectible collectible tissue boxes