Hunt Down The Freeman - Just Bad Games

[@rerez]

Note From The Team: We used Half-Life Source footage in this video because that version of the game has chapter select making it easy for us to quickly grab footage from different parts of the game world. While Half-Life Source is far better than Hunt Down the Freeman it is way worse than the original Half-Life. DO NOT WILLINGLY PLAY HALF-LIFE SOURCE.

[@mstvbr371]

Just... open up the console with ~ or ' and type: Map c(chapter number)a(act number) AND DONE

[@zebastakian6973]

I mostly play Half Life: Source on Garry’s mod because it’s fun.

[@mstvbr371]

@@zebastakian6973 that's fine. If you play SOURCE for shits & giggles & funny

[@erainmartinez8175]

3 words "This game sucks!"

[@PhazonEnder]

Wasn't Half-Life Source developed by Valve?

[@sainterasmus4545]

With regards to Half Life: Alyx. I feel they had to break the silent protagonist rule. Fans are used to Alyx being a side character with a defined personality, if she was just a blank canvas because you were playing as her, that would be jarring as heck.

[@sorrenblitz805]

I kind of want Valve to hire Ross Scott to officially voice Gordon Freeman. His descent into complete apathetic insanity is hilarious.

[@nathanblevins9870]

It would be interesting if they use a text to speech voice for a mute character

[@Freelancer837]

@@sorrenblitz805 Oh god no, no voice actor for Gordon

[@TheRealJochen]

In fact, it is jarring to go back to blue shift where barney was mute

[@victorgamez8885]

@@TheRealJochen barney actually talks to rosenberg

[@karlispovisils5297]

For those who don't know, the voice actors for this game didn't get a full script. They were given lines without context with vague direction.

[@ieatmikuhairforbreakfast]

They probably didn't want it to get leaked, but honestly there is nothing to leak, and there are probably no script at all and they just made everything on the go

[@Rebel_Railroad_Productions]

I knew the V-director was to blame.

[@williek08472]

No wonder all the KZbinrs who were invited did a 180 and said "Yeah, this game is actually crap."

[@jprofio]

That's annoyingly common with voice actors; I saw a panel with the cast of Cowboy Bebop once and they talked about how a lot of their jobs they had no idea what it was for or what the context was, just a script and vague direction

[@nrc1965gm]

I believe something similar happened with people who created the maps. IIRC, the person who made that slow-elevator lobby had thought that it would be a place the player could explore to find pick-ups that never wound up existing.

[@masterofbloopers]

Fun fact: the director of Hunt Down the Freeman got hired by Activision. They're perfect for each other!

[@teslashark]

Guy went to work on Warzones until 2021? 2022?

[@mrfacestab5758]

Who?

[@johntory8330]

​@@teslasharkoh so thats why MW3 sucks.

[@teslashark]

@@johntory8330 Nah, he left before MW2022

[@johntory8330]

@@teslashark oh. Ok.

[@christopherverhoef9112]

"So, what did this game accomplish?" It shamed Valve into picking the series up again!

[@highoctanesynx7950]

That is a big feat!

[@MountainMemelord]

It's the DB Evolution of Half-Life.

[@zeldagameryt4018]

@@MountainMemelordBut the really important question is which one is worse?

[@MountainMemelord]

@@zeldagameryt4018 At least the people who worked on DB Evolution were paid.

[@ImmaLittlePip]

​@@MountainMemelordplus DB evolution is over with in like 2 hours

[@drewhunter4347]

Fun Fact: There is an achievement in this game that you can unlock if you successfully refund it.

[@DynamoTheGamma]

I just can't believe that, honestly. Why would someone make an achievement for there game like that.

[@mysanity_islow]

​@@DynamoTheGammaread the joke

[@Kenma-r4q]

@@DynamoTheGamma lol

[@airstep001]

Let me guess it's called "A great decision"

[@R3SerialPro]

@@DynamoTheGamma I'm sure plenty of folks would love to perform your name on the devs.

[@Jasman506]

Fun fact, as if there's not enough of them already: There actually *was* a cutscene that acknowledges the 17-year gap they mention at 28:00. According to The Cutting Room Floor, a short cutscene is left behind within the game's files. It shows the children of the factory watching as one of them takes Mitchell's hand while the factory burns down, then cuts to a screen reading "17 Years Later." TCRF states that a misspelling in the code is the only reason this cutscene never shows up.

[@annettemaldonado3373]

Wow

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Damn teather errors...

[@redjed100]

That, plus the fact that the team just removed sections they couldn’t patch in the April Fools patch, makes it pretty clear how FUBAR Berkan’s vision was.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Oh

[@notatrollll]

These game devs played wayyyyy too much metal gear solid 5. With the child soldiers and acting and ship it all screams it

[@ronnielane8985]

To be fair as well regarding Alyx, Alyx was prior a voiced character and it would have been even more immersion breaking if she suddenly stopped talking because she was a player character.

[@kankeydong2500]

And it works because she was established as a very talkative person, capable to taking care of herself and her dialogue feels natural. That's an absolute contrast with this piece of crap.

[@Bleplar]

And I think another reason she talks is because play testers kept thinking they were playing as Gordon. What I do know for sure tho is that's why they cut the crowbar weapon.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

@@kankeydong2500 They also wanted Alyx to talk to prevent players from getting too much of a sense of isolation. They wanted to curate the horror to a particular level, using dialogue to provide levity rather than go through the whole thing with just a voice in their head a la Portal.

[@Criegrrunov]

Yeah like the inverse Barney. It is weird for him to not speak in Blue Shift but then he talks quite a lot in HL2 onwards

[@PineappleDealer37]

@@kankeydong2500 aside from that, can we talk about how great Alyx character is? Today when one tries to make a strong woman character it almost always comes off as a toxic person who doesn't care about noone and often is also surrounded by other characters which cannot do anything properly. Meanwhile alyx is written as strong, but also caring for her father and kicking asses *together with* Gordon! Tho that's probably the fault of regress of todays writing than anything...

[@rna151]

"Everything is under-baked. Like a Google Maps prototype running on a Nintendo 64." Poetry.

[@sorrenblitz805]

Under-baked, undercooked, or as some might say "£π€√ING RAW!!!"

[@Crudely-Drawn-Cupcake]

What’s next? A paint prototype on a nes?

[@whoisanarnb]

@@Crudely-Drawn-Cupcake An MS-DOS prototype running on the original Gameboy

[@plasmaoctopus1728]

@@whoisanarnb Running on an Etch a Sketch.

[@CornFarmer64]

Wait a minute….that sounds familiar

[@zaneplayx3176]

Honestly, I beat Alyx and never noticed how much she talked, mainly because it's natural hearing her talk, since she talked in every other half-life game she was in.

[@hundkebab2433]

she didn't talk in HL1 though

[@Echoe-14]

@@hundkebab2433She was in HL1?

[@MageTom]

​@@hundkebab2433 What?

[@sabianv2009]

​@@hundkebab2433Bro what are you on about, she's not in HL1

[@self-proclaimedanimator]

​@@Echoe-14shd was a baby in Black mesa and the G man plucked her out from there

[@JDelwynn]

"You will do it for the children?" "Yes, but not for the children." Quality writing there...

[@Baldricksturnip]

'Are you a god' part was pure cringe. The writing is so bad it's not even ironically good.

[@1Thunderfire]

Yes but actually no.

[@optiquemusic6204]

"You fucked up my face!" I understand why you didn't include it, but that line is still one of the best things about this train-wreck.

[@ZorotheGallade]

@@Baldricksturnip Only the ancient sumerian demon known as Gozer gets to say that line and not be cringe.

[@gracekim1998]

@@ZorotheGallade but when Gozer says it , it makes sense!

[@invalid_user_handle]

If you remember that HDtF was intended to be just an SFM movie instead of a game, the game having so many cutscenes and being so disjointed makes sense. It wasn't _supposed_ to be playable, but the creator overextended too much and it really shows.

[@GatorRay]

WOW! That explains EVERYTHING!

[@hafirenggayuda]

Well, not counting bad voice acting and bad story, I think the cutscene quite good

[@realderyn]

They should have just made mediocre sfm movie instead of a really bad game But i guess then they couldnt have sold it

[@rogofos]

honestly Earth surrendering in 7 hours makes so much more sense in a universe with president keemstar

[@jeltje50]

I don't think calling the aliens pxdos would harm them. 7 hours is actually quite impressive.

[@krystlvines]

Who even is keemstar?

[@rogofos]

@@krystlvines a sensationalist KZbinr making drama videos probably the biggest of the kind

[@jeltje50]

@@rogofos basically the youtube version of TMZ. With similar levels of ethics and sleaziness. But even more shitty surprisingly.

[@titanjakob1056]

⁠@@krystlvines a literal gnome who craves drama of any kind even starting some to post on his channel/twitter drama alert which in one case lead to someone taking his own life a famous KZbinr/streamer etika

[@aaronsonyt]

Fun fact: the game didn't have a tutorial at first, due to the amount of complaints, they decided to update it and add that mediocre attempt of a tutorialive

[@StateBlaze1989]

I still remember so many playthroughs and streams of people just walking into walls or fumbling around because they had no idea what the controls were or how to proceed. I recall one guy, in the Alaska level, just turned on noclip and flew up the building where you're supposed to climb the pipes because he had no idea that mechanic existed. Didn't help the function wasn't bound to any key by default, like several other things in the game.

[@Jdeadevil]

"The Freeman never even shows his face, and can we blame him?" had me in stitches

[@3lectr0nix]

Beautiful 69 likes

[@sorrenblitz805]

He shows seven of his faces in that cutscene with Adrian.

[@tabithamonetathchi9386]

@@3lectr0nix make it 420

[@evildrporker]

@@tabithamonetathchi9386 You mean 463?

[@Ausieck]

@@evildrporker you mean 700?

[@PurelyHyperbolic]

11:16 That man is in a fire fighter uniform! He must've ran into the hospital to grab supplies to help the Earthly defenders outside. This would be very unique, since it would've been cool seeing first responders in the fray. But no, this is the only emergency responder the game ever shows... who's in a hospital!

[@Randomyoutuber-4831]

I just wanna say something about black mesa: xen is by far it’s greatest strength. The team turned a bland, annoying, glorified platforming section into a breathtaking alien world filled with not just beautiful scenery but an expansion upon the lore that showed us a deeper look into the native societies of xen along with how the black mesa scientists had known about the world for far longer than they had let on. You’ve got alien villages, a black mesa research outpost, hell they even threw in zombies wearing HEV suits with the AI still active and those were legitimately creepy.

[@sorrenblitz805]

I honestly really liked the original xen too though. There was just something unsettling about the environment. Beautiful, in a 1998 gold source kinda way, but haunting and wrong.

[@sorrenblitz805]

Not discrediting Black Mesa's incredible reinterpretation at all but I wanted to defend the original just a little bit.

[@Aresydatch]

​@@sorrenblitz805If Valve had more time for Xen it would have been better

[@monkaWGiga]

​@@sorrenblitz805there's something about those old sky boxes that just hit right for me.

[@ZeoHidra]

And it turned the Gonarch from the glitchy nadir of the game to one of the highlights.

[@labenvenci1584]

Fun Fact : HL3 was cancelled 4 times. 2007 - 09 : Post EP2. This was planned for Christmas of 2008, only Concept art exists. This was the Epistle era and was on Source. All that exists from gameplay leaks is prototype maps using EP2 templates for testing mechanics. 2013 - 2014 : Prototype era, which would feature a mix of scripted narrative content and procedurally generated combat scenarios, inspired by the gameplay of Left 4 Dead 2. The game had a difficult production due to the unfinished state of the Source 2 engine it was built on, and was eventually canceled. The Gman model from HLA is from this version. 201? - Over the years, there are prototypes of the next Half-Life game, ranging from an RTS game to a live-action choice-driven experience. News of this came between 2017 at a conference and small leaks in 2015. May be turned into that "Citadel" / Half life X we keep hearing about. 2016 - 2020 : Pre-HLA, and where most of HLA's assets come from. And when Laidlaw left the company sadly. Labeled as Half Life VR, it was a test on what they could do and they had plans to remake HL2 in this style, and mabye make 3. It was cancelled before it was fully conceptualized, and they made Alyx instead, development for 4 years, a rewrite in 2018 due to a Index delay and crunch at the last minute.

[@lucaspereirahmj]

Well, in a world that we finally had Metroid Dread, we can be hopeful of a HL3 again

[@Crawldragon]

An RTS game set in the Half-Life universe sounds pretty boss, actually. Too bad the part of the war that involved the humans only lasted 7 hours. I guess you could still do smaller-scale skirmishes with the dimension-hopping teams that invaded Xen, though.

[@ZeoHidra]

I don't understand why they kept throwing new gimmicks at the wall, RTS, pecideral generation, VR, just give us the same awesome gameplay that made the last games so great.

[@alewis514]

Half-Life 3 already happened and it IS Half-Life Alyx. A milestone game, the best VR game to date, although too far ahead of its time. HL1 was groundbreaking for storytelling in an FPS game (prior to that, these games had porn-movie depth of story) and Half-Life 2 was propably the most perfect FPS campaign ever made. HL:Alyx is groundbreaking in the same manner HL1 was.

[@Aceshot-uu7yx]

@@Crawldragon wel dispite the surrender, I doubt everyone gave up and a 7 hour invasion could be fun to build scenarios around where you fight with each nation.

[@steffennilsen2132]

I like the logic that you can dodge the sniper fire by stopping after you hear the shot and it somehow makes the faster than speed of sound bullet miss you

[@cjthecomposer02]

That's because they're leading their shot. Despite the bullet speed, considering that the snipers are a good deal away from Mitchell, then it would make sense that you can stop moving when you hear the gunshot. Having said that, I'm genuinely surprised the Combine haven't developed a faster bullet that can act as a hitscan weapon of sorts

[@Full_Throttle_Axolotl]

​​@@cjthecomposer02Bullets, generally, travel *faster* than sound, a lot faster, meaning you literally would get hit by the shot *before* you had a chance to even hear it

[@cjthecomposer02]

@@Full_Throttle_Axolotl I am well aware of that. However, the game reverses this fact, so my point still stands

[@Blue_Sonnet]

For those that don't know, here are some fun little factoids: • There is a much worse (!) demo for this game, released just after a failed crowdfunding campaign for $100,000. The developer, Berkan Denizyaran (who was working alone at this point), raised a grand total of $12. • As mentioned in the video, several KZbinrs voice most of the characters, including Pyrocynical, Keemstar and IHE (Nick). IHE ended up releasing a video explainining the poorly-managed development process, starting with his casting as a Chinese-American character who (unsurprisingly) has an American accent. As a result of his lack of American accent, several valiant yet unconvincing attempts at an American accent, combined with virtually invisible direction, IHE asks to use his normal accent. Denizyaran agrees to this change, however he only replaced SOME of the earlier voice lines. • Denizyaran kept insisting that the game worked, he just accidentally released the wrong version. Repeatedly. • Four years later, the borked version remains for sale as he still hasn't managed to get around to releasing this mythical, fully-functional-version-that-totally-exists-I-promise-guys-it's-totally-real version. • Hardly anyone got paid properly, others didn't get paid at all. A lot of the assets are taken from other games and it's not clear whether Denizyaran had the rights to use a lot of them. • The remaining development team are/were trying to fix this game, however they've resorted to crowdfunding since all profit from selling the game goes to Denizyaran alone, to this very day. • Denizyaran now works at Activision, in the Marketing department, weirdly enough. That's a kicker, eh? If you're interested in the insane story behind this game I highly recommends The Right Opinion's detailed breakdown, as well as IHE's "confessional" video. If you just want to watch someone suffer through this abomination I also recommend watching Tehsnakerer's vid, which is really funny to boot!

[@TheRogueWolf]

Activision? I shouldn't be surprised, but I always thought he'd end up in a bunker with Sergey Titov (he of _Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing/The War Z_ infamy) collaborating to produce the worst video game to ever exist.

[@johnclark926]

Did the guy work at Activision Blizzard when they merged? And/or does he still work there after Microsoft bought them out?

[@ari-dynamicarchive]

Was there any real significance behind the choices of youtubers voicing the characters? If I'd be making a Half-Life game I'd want people who specifically play Valve-related games on their channels, not... the world's notorious drama llama, a guy who hates most media, and whomever Pyrocynical is (heard of him but always confused him for critikalsec). It's like if I made a sports game for sports fans but hired Techmoan and Pewdiepie to play as my football career NPCs.

[@ZX3000GT1]

@@ari-dynamicarchive Wouldn't mind hearing Techmoan as a sport commentator lol. His smooth, sarcasm-filled voice would be good for sport commentaries.

[@nthgth]

@@ZX3000GT1 lmao yes! 🤣 That would be perfect

[@Wnick1996]

Oh this takes me back. When this released, the fiasco around this was magical. The best part about it was the VAs, notably IHE, ripping it apart and detailing their experience behind the game's creation.

[@Real_Xwisdom]

I don’t get why keemstar was in it.

[@Hopper_Arts]

@@Real_Xwisdom my fellow americans

[@Wnick1996]

Keemstar for president. Now that a candidate I would vote for* *when I'm drunk

[@SsnakeBite]

Wait, I Hate Everything worked on this?

[@sarabrown159]

@@SsnakeBite He was part of it only as a voice actor, and had things to say about it after. There's an entire video that came out where he talked about his experience.

[@rogofos]

I think they played dying light or mirrors edge and went "damn that parkour is fun, we should add that to our game" since the animations are very reminiscent of those games without realising that in those games parkour works well because the entire game was built around it from the start

[@jeanvictor8178]

And metal gear solid 5 ... can't forget that

[@brandemon6667]

the animations (and probably the code itself) are ripped from a Gmod addon

[@ModdedProp]

​@@brandemon6667you can't copy the code from a gmod addon and just put it in the source game, gmod addons are in lua and source SDK is in c++

[@MathematicalVoid]

The fact that the Full-Life Consequences-styled parody of this game is considered to be better written than the game itself speaks volumes.

[@johnt.190]

You thut this was good game? Ha! You are foool like baby so!

[@psga5555]

Can you please tell us more about this parody?

[@M.F.Hafizhan]

Where can I find this parody? Sounds like it could be fun

[@mewnani]

@@M.F.Hafizhan This is incredibly late, but you can probably find it on KZbin by looking up Half Life Side Story Gaiden HUNT DOWN FREE MAN and subsequently HUNT DOWN FREE MAN 2 by a fellow who goes by the name DAMN SON. It's comedy gold.

[@GreatFox42]

@@M.F.Hafizhan For those asking for the parody, search up "Half Life: Side Story: Gaiden: HUNT DOWN FREE MAN" by the channel "DAMN SON". There's a part 2, simply called "HUNT DOWN FREE MAN 2". You're welcome.

[@devilmikey00]

I like how this dudes entire purpose in life is to hunt down a guy who gave him a beat down once. Holy hell dude, move on. I know it probably sucked but to dedicate your entire existence to hunting down this one guy who beat you up this one time is some insane character motivation. Also, G-man somehow knew that he would dedicate his entire life to revenge if he got hit with a crowbar a few times and set it up? What?

[@MegamanXfan21xx]

And Gordon only attacked the soldiers in self defense, since they were ordered to kill all the Black Mesa staff to cover up their screwup, so swearing vengeance against him is even less justified. If you attack a stranger and they wound you while fighting you off, you have no right to hold a grudge against them.

[@devilmikey00]

@@MegamanXfan21xx Yeah, the main character in this one really is just an irredeemable asshole. Willing to recruit a child army to hunt down the one guy who attacked him in self defense years prior lol

[@angrymokyuu9475]

Right or wrong, it's human nature. Even the soldiers' chatter in the first makes it clear they already do(even before you get thrown in the trash compactor).

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

He didn't even do it because of any misunderstanding or difference in ideology. He just did it because "YOU FACKED UP MY FACE!!!!"

[@MegamanXfan21xx]

@@angrymokyuu9475 I suppose it's understandable during HL1, where Earth is still mostly normal and it's only the first day of the invasion. But in the present day, when the planet has been conquered by an oppressive regime? I think I'd have bigger things to worry about than some dude who roughed me up once.

[@thomasraines1396]

I will say this: Mitchell has to be one of the most petty characters in existence.

[@sorrenblitz805]

Cause he's an anime edgelord

[@ImmaLittlePip]

They did mess up his face

[@natsoy1786]

Bro, but they fucked up his face

[@gailengigabyte6221]

I don't think he's Reverse Flash levels of petty, but he is up there.

[@ImmaLittlePip]

@@gailengigabyte6221 I'd say he's a little bit underneath the YiiK MC's level of petty

[@dustyfox6511]

To be fair, the fact that Rerez managed to actually complete the game without using no clip means they played a patch version to begin with. Originally it was impossible to climb over a dam as they put an invisible wall infront of the path you needed to take by accident.

[@SheepUndefined]

I thought the issue with that section was that the parkour key was unbound by default?

[@ZorotheGallade]

The train sequence could also be completed just by jumping on the windscreen in front of the train.

[@neoqwerty]

@@SheepUndefined the fact they put in a parkour key at all is stupid, if you're gonna do it just make it the interaction button and don't put interactable objects near the parkour walls.

[@skelebonez1349]

It was kinda obvious they played the patch one considering the old one didn’t have a tutorial, but the new one did because of the controls were bogus, but the controls still were kinda lies so

[@jenz113]

@@SheepUndefinedIt was but after you do the parkour there is an invisible wall which you cant get passed without noclip

[@Sir_Bone-Head]

From what I remember hearing, that patch was actually a genuine attempt by the former dev team to go and fix what was released without the guy Berkan involved. That graffiti that says "where's our money Berkan?" was because as far as I can recall, many people who worked on it weren't even payed.

[@redjed100]

They just removed sections of the original version that they couldn’t fix, which only creates more problems. I totally understand why they’d _want_ to do that, but all it does is prove how FUBAR Berkan’s vision was.

[@KaraokeNig]

@@redjed100 That is too simplifying it, this developers team did not just scratched parts and called it update. It took lot of work to improve the pacing of the campaign, levels were ditched yes but they were also reworked, shorten made easier to navigate, some mechanic were added or improved, events were changed, even guns received polishing and some new cutscenes and voice lines. It is far from fixed or their job done yet it's good improvement. The plot is huge mess that could never be corrected though.

[@redjed100]

@@KaraokeNig My comment has been edited for clarification.

[@KaraokeNig]

@@redjed100 All right

[@CombineHgrunt]

That sounds just like the kind of talent we at sony really want as senior designer, you're hired, Berkan.

[@tsukasa19]

So let me see if I'm understanding this. Mitchell gets separated from his brother, joins the military, gets his ass kicked by someone in a suit SIMILAR to Gordon's in the first game, holds a 20 year grudge over him, gets labeled as cursed by a guy he's known for less than an hour, winds up in Alaska for... reasons, creates his own child army, takes 17 years to defect to the enemy, learns the person who beat his ass all those years ago is some dude that pops in and out of his life seemingly out of nowhere, and is headed to Borealis, a place that formally isn't in a Half-Life game for again... reasons. Also he may or may not be the sibling of the main character of a spin off game. Am I missing anything?

[@spysappinmysentry000]

this is what we call a real Mary Sue character moment

[@ashwolf2006]

When you mentioned he created an army of child soldiers my mind immediately went metal gear solid V phantom pain. I mean even the character design is obvybased on Venom Snake who's face took a faceful shrapnel

[@TheSleepiestPlurals]

yeah, I mean, is there really no better motivation for wanting revenge than "they beat me up?" "Freeman" didn't kill his family or cost him anything majorly important, just kinda kicked his ass that one time and he devotes his entire life to hunting him down?

[@RyleeStrange]

Drill sergeant: "the first and last words i want to hear out of your mouth are Sir, do you understand?" Soldiers: "yes sir!" Drill sergeant: *facepalms

[@ddjsoyenby]

"CAN'T YOU MAGGOTS FOLLOW ORDERS........YOU ARE THE WORST PRIVATES EVER!"

[@GatorRay]

After the training Drill sergeant: ALL OF YOU! YES EACH & EVERY ONE OF YOU! GET OUT RIGHT NOW! Except for you over there. You actually passed. Main character: *Honk sounds*

[@nickfifteen]

Don't you mean _"SIR! *facepalms SIR!"_ ??

[@11_ignatio_claudio64]

Soldiers = SIR WE ARE MARINEs!!!

[@MattnessLP]

There's that drill seargent scene in Eddsworld's "Moving Targets", and I always just kinda assumed it was based on the movie Full Metal Jacket, with its super famous drill instructor. Now, I am not too sure anymore. Edd and his friends were all massicmve nerds, and must have known/played the Half Life series before they created that animation in the mid-to-late 2000s

[@Emeraldneomon]

the fact that this game took the intro from Half Life: Full Life Concequences and used it for a twist hidden in a nonstandard game over still makes me laugh to this day

[@krsmanjovanovic8607]

I had to kill fast and bulet to slow

[@ahniandfriends123]

He then punched the science out of him and watched as Gordon fell limp and dead.

[@Dinosaurianationazation]

Wait wat are you serious

[@Emeraldneomon]

@Dino-MYT G A M I N G "Mitchell Shepard who was Adrian Shepards brother"

[@Autokendo17]

It is a good day to do what has to be done by me

[@ComradeVenus]

I think a more accurate valve pillar than "always be in first person" is actually "Never take control away from the player" All half life games hold this philosophy, throughout the entire game you always are able to move your player or move around your camera, no cutscenes to take you away. The only exception is when the g man talks to you, who is shown to have otherworldly powers so it makes sense. It's done very intentionally. Hunt down the freeman has awful immersion-breaking cutscenes that force the player to sit back and watch, while also being in third person and with awful lighting that contrasts in-game

[@kemby9037]

the one and only time control is removed from the character in the original Half-Life, to my best recollection, is when he is literally knocked out and dragged to a trash compactor half-unconscious. I.e., only when control is physically taken away from Gordon Freeman does the player lose their control.

[@JohnPeacekeeper]

Oh man, I often feel really involved even since the original Half-Life, like when something is dragging a poor scientist through a vent, I try to shoot the glass, but it doesn't break, and I have to watch them get eaten

[@CyonisCyberFox]

This game is one of my mortal enemies. Half-Life is a game series so much love and care put into and has one of the most passionate communities there is, and to see this excuse of a game try to latch onto it actually makes me pissed

[@crashthedarklordplays2668]

This game really makes it look like half baked (a bad half life mod meant to be a meme) is actually a good game.

[@massgunner4152]

Valve is partly to blame since they licensed this.... thing without a second thought too.

[@rooknizan2923]

Well you mostly have Berkan to blame for that. He basically makes all the cash off of it now and he just plopped it on the desk of some Royal Rudius devs (notably M3SA) and just told them to do unpaid dev work on his game.

[@kaimacdonald3006]

well valve didnt know how their progress was going, they just thought they would actually have played a half life game before making a half life game

[@crashthedarklordplays2668]

@@kaimacdonald3006 the main villain of this anime is actually the director of hunt down the refund who legit didnt know wtf he was even doing tbh .

[@NexoNefarious]

Here's an interesting history of Hunt Down The Freeman development and release: In 2016, Hunt down the freeman was originally a mod/demo for Half-Life 2. But it was an unbearable mod and became the laughing stock of the Half-life modding community because of its poor level design, story, and voice acting. The backlash did not discourage the Hunt down the freeman director (Birkan Denizyaran or Frank called by his friends). Since he was so confident about the project he started a crowdfunding campaign asking for $10,000 but it earned $12 instead. Royal Rudius Entertainment used bots to greenlight the project. From there, Birkan needed to hire talent to create his project. One of the developers claims that 60+ people were working on the game. Various creators came out and gave their insight into the game but also the attitude of the director. One disgruntled creator (Telvy) told his side of his interactions with Birkan on Reddit by saying "I'm going to say it here and I'm going to say it now, I don't care if I get in trouble with Birkan because everyone else on the dev team is probably will back me up. The reason why Birkan delayed the game for the fifth time was for a publicity stunt. Birkan believed for a fact that the extreme backlash from the 2016 demo was going to be great publicity for the game and now here we are. Birkan delayed the game countless times as a publicity stunt. Not only did Birkan delay the game pre-planned but he also embraced all the memes that came out of the public discord un-ironically, enjoying himself with them while probably not working as hard on the game compared to the poor sods in his inner development team at the LA office. Frank, or should I say Berkan, is a shady developer who has no clue how games are made let alone how teams are organized. He came here from Turkey to make Hunt Down The Freeman convincing people like me to make stuff for his baby. Don't get me wrong, there was so much-wasted talent that went into this game. The developers who have worked on assets be it SFM cutscenes, maps, textures, models, animations or whatever have done so much and it was all for nothing at this point. Our moderators on Discord were pressured to say things without knowing they were lies for damage control, convincing people (like me) that everything is alright and under control. I, unfortunately, believed everything was going to be alright and that the final game was going to be A-Ok. Communication between developers and the director was vague and synergy between everyone else and the things we made was practically non-existent. He speaks broken English and makes little sense with his explanations. The entire project was a massive oligarchy with Frank and his inner circle consuming everything we made with no proper connection. I was wrong, and I feel so guilty and humiliated as to how this ended up. I feel guilty for the poor guys at the LA office for countless sleepless nights on the game, working 24/7 non-stop with little breaks. I feel guilty for freelancers like me, who took time out of their schedules just to commit to this game. I have skipped an entire college semester just to work on this game alongside other personal projects and endeavors, making myself more available when Frank needed me the most. Btw, Frank posts dead memes from 9-gag in our general chat from time to time, so one more reason to despise him." When its first release came on steam it was $25 on its first day.

[@EnforcerX71]

Little tip, if you're gonna post a large message, break it up into proper paragraphs than a giant wall of text.

[@crapshot321]

So sorry to hear all that, I hope you are doing better now.

[@mattc7420]

Guys will literally write the history of Hunt Down the Freeman before going to therapy...

[@horusreloaded6387]

My favorite fact about this game is that one of the developers argued with dev of another commercial Half Life fan game(which was well recieved but was kinda mixed bag) and talked about how their game is superior. One of the topics they criticized about? The other game had voiced protagonist lmao. Devs werent allowed to play their own game apparently.

[@allcapsdown]

tldr

[@Corpcake]

How to play hunt down the freeman correctly: Step 1. *Don't.*

[@CrAzYpotpie]

As a massive Half-Life fan, modder and mapper of it since Half-Life 1's release, I can proudly state that not only have I never played it, this was the first I ever really watched video of it. What an embarrassment for valve, totally makes sense why they made it harder for people like me to get mods on Steam. The worst of the bunch always gotta ruin it for the good.

[@Oliver_Penguin]

Step 2. Go through several years of learning how to hack into stuff for the sole purpose of using such skills to erase every single trace of the game from existence.

[@podurt2557]

Fun fact: At launch there was no tutorial and in order to do the parkour that's required for parts later on in the game you had to toggle it with a key which btw was unbound by default.

[@GatorRay]

WOW! That's the textbook definition of EVIL GAME DESIGN to me!

[@candylide]

Sorry, I don't quite understand, what's "Toggle"? And what does it mean that the key was unbound? That it wasn't in the map?

[@podurt2557]

@@candylide So in order to do parkour originally in the game you had to holster your weapon which was toggled by a key (kinda like how you swap to another weapon in the other Half Life games) and by unbound I mean it's an action that's not set to a key by default, so even if you pressed every key on your keyboard to try and find which key it was to holster your weapon, you still wouldn't be able to find it because it's not set (aka bound) to a key in the first place

[@candylide]

@@podurt2557 oh, OH, I GET IT Sorry, I really thought you were talking about an actual key, not the keyboard kind Thank you! English being my 2nd language had nothing to do in the end, I'm just dumb

[@jmal]

@@GatorRay "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor

[@JuanAndresDiazTorres]

7:11 I absolutely love how the kitten’s eyes are looking at the dead body from the right, that is a great attention of detail right there!

[@EEVEE_fan16]

Thats more attention to detail than in this game

[@sorrenblitz805]

You forgot to mention that in the cutscene where Mitchell sees Adrian again, he's in a train car with like 7 different Gordon Freemans. So he did hunt down a Freeman, 7 of them to be exact.

[@nguyenquyetthang1326]

*Freemen

[@sorrenblitz805]

@@nguyenquyetthang1326 it's a proper name though, so technically Freemans would be the right form.

[@oz_jones]

@@nguyenquyetthang1326 *Fremen

[@icravedeath.1200]

@@oz_jones secret dune Easter egg?

[@gracekim1998]

@@sorrenblitz805wait there’s 7?!😮😅

[@uhoh6706]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention during the “spiders with v@ginas” cutscene that the whole point of that cutscene was the mechanic was warning you that there was gas in the upcoming rooms and you couldn’t use any guns which is why the player picked up a wrench to use as a melee weapon yet as soon as the cutscene ends, the mechanic literally goes “Oh never mind just ignore that whole cutscene we just forced you to watch, you can use your guns now for the upcoming rooms with no issues lol”. It’s so hilariously bad even for this games standards

[@GatorRay]

A wrench as a melee weapon? Is this Half-Life or Ratchet & Clank (Then again. Those games did have first person aiming for guns starting with the second game Going Commando. But I digress)

[@1Thunderfire]

Probably getting over the shock of that particular sentence to be honest.

[@uhoh6706]

@@GatorRay It was done as a subtle reference to the main games because the mechanic actually did have a crowbar but didn’t want to give it to him. It’s like the tiniest amount of “heh….” you would have gotten from this games writing

[@GatorRay]

@@uhoh6706 Okay.

[@randominternettoaster7859]

​@@uhoh6706and also as a reference to Opposing Force, where the main character uses a wrench. it's also very """subtle""" foreshadowing

[@TheIshikawaRin]

I still love how Hunt Down The Freeman is just one man's attempt to be Hideo Kojima and give us Metal Gear Solid V in the Half-Life universe, Mitchell is supposed to be Venom Snake.

[@PosthumanHeresy]

He is to Hideo Kojima what Snake's Revenge is to Metal Gear.

[@davidmckupo3097]

On one hand we got Black Mesa, a great fan project that redid HL in Source and the other, We have this stinkbomb. I think the creater of HDtF had a good idea, got people on board, then it turned so hard into a vanity project that he burned every bridge and alienated everyone it just went down in flames.

[@ZorotheGallade]

"On one hand, gold. On the other, painful, agonizing failure"

[@AngryTrafficCone]

Luckily the mesa build exists, however the build here is just why why?

[@Rokabur]

Black Mesa, a reimagining of the original game MADE and SOLD with Valves blessing. Just imagine if Nintendo would just treat fans like Valve did.

[@terriblyterrified8742]

on one hand, black mesa on the other hand, black *messa*

[@vidmastereon]

The Xen section in black mesa is miles better than the original It is a marathon though especially interloper

[@_Obey_]

Pyrocynical having like two sentences of voiceline in this game makes it a 100% masterpiece, no cap.

[@grunions9648]

...and both sentences are delivered appallingly

[@dnkakusei]

@@grunions9648I guess you can say that their effort was *compromised*

[@IAteChocolate789]

Oh ​@@dnkakusei...We are so fucked.

[@jamesd2021]

My favourite part is how the trailer directly lies about the game. In the trailer you can clearly see Gordon beating the snot out of dirt bag here. They did this to drum up interest. In the game it's very clearly not Gordy since he never had a helmet.

[@WeirdCon]

After all these years of knowing about this game’s existence, I just realized that the reason Mitchell’s scars look so weird is because he was hit with a crowbar. Visual storytelling at its finest.

[@crackerjack0349]

Do you even get those scars from a crowbar?

[@Cheezitnator]

I feel like most damage incurred from a crowbar would be bludgeoning damage, not cuts. They only have a tiny edge if any and usually not sharp.

[@GenericProtagonist7]

​​@@crackerjack0349Potentially, but only if they hit you with the claw end in a swiping motion, so you'll get two parallel cuts along wherever they hit you. Course, the cutscenes clearly shows him being battered with the blunt potion of the hook.

[@MetaFanWing]

@@GenericProtagonist7 Not to mention getting hit in the face multiple times with a metal crowbar being swung with murderous intent is likely to, y’know, murder you?

[@ootdega]

@@MetaFanWing *BUT DEAD HE DIDN'T, BECAUSE GMAN WAS THERE*

[@Deikaeus]

was part of the dev team for hunt down the freeman in 2017, i would leave the team to work on zero g arena instead. Still happy i made the good choice. Berkan, the guy who started this project reached me out on steam because I had a portfolio of making stuff on gmod and recruited me to compile models into mdl files for this game. He gave me some simple to stuff to compile such as props. Then at some point he told me to align this viewmodel for a m9 pistol to fit with the fps camera and there were a lot of animations to align. At some point I got so bored with the project and felt like I was not utilizing my full potential that I left the project to work on a different game called Zero G Arena where I was the sound designer for that game. After finding out all the crazy news of stolen assets and my friends coming out saying that the direction was all over the place, I am glad that I made the right choice. During my experience with working on Hunt Down the Freeman, I remember asking Berkan some questions about how he managed to get the funds to start this project (because if you really think about it, must've had a big budget such as acquiring a commercial license for the source engine, the rights to half life and paying the devs for the game) and he said that he had a business in Turkey selling electronic devices (if I recall from the skype calls) and with the money he saved up from the business, he went to California to start the project. When I spoke to him on the skype calls, he seems to be a very nice person, but sometimes kindness cannot fix a game from being what it is.

[@firefly56embers33]

My dude you deserve a medal attempting to work on this game and as a aspiring game dev what insights can you share.

[@cellperfecto421]

Thanks for the data: I've always wondered where the money to fund this thing came from.

[@bluegum6438]

I'm firmly convinced Valve sold him the IP sarcastically because someone thought it would be funny to watch the project crash and burn. It's not just about the money, you don't want your IP slapped on just anything. Strange decision.

[@tehcooler]

Was there somebody you did for the game but it never got in retail?

[@Deikaeus]

@@tehcooler no I don't think so

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

Given how Mitchel is, or tries to act, the nickname "Dirtbag" is very fitting.

[@vahlok1426]

Ah, the game so infamous that even the KZbinrs they got to voice act for them (I wish I was kidding) turned on them.

[@lumirairazbyte9697]

The aliens are coming!!!

[@vahlok1426]

@@lumirairazbyte9697 Ohhh, Colonel... we are sooo fucked...

[@qty1315]

I mean, it's Keemstar and KSI, you kinda expect that from them.

[@jorymo4964]

Even the other devs are mad about it, as they were given poor direction, and many still haven't been paid. There's even graffiti in the game added in updates reading "Where's our money, Berkan?(the creator)"

[@Sevenigma777]

Did they happen to turn on them because the voice acting was poorly managed and many of them didnt get paid?

[@konversion]

The editing on G-man's stutter at 10:21 deserves an Oscar.

[@austinmorrison6953]

17:45 that’s some good Rick and Morty dialogue

[@crashandcynder]

one thing that really bothers me is during the "seven hour war" part they have fast zombies and hunters when i'm pretty sure they didn't exist yet. especially the hunters since Alyx didn't know what it was until later

[@TheAlamore]

You're right. I think the fast zombies evolved over time from regular zombies or were the results of experimentation by the Combine a while after they took control of Xen. They couldn't have existed during the Seven Hour War. As for the Hunters, to me, the Hunters are more specialised rural area units, not units used for urban warfare or as part of the main Combine invasion force. It makes sense because we only see Hunters in rural areas like White Forest and the Arctic, and their moveset and equipment make them perfect for wild terrain. It also explains why Alyx hadn't seen them before, because she's never ventured that far out of City 17.

[@chiken8760]

If im right,alyx was still a baby when the 7 hour war happened

[@Adrian2140]

@@chiken8760 She was, yes. She lived with her dad somewhere in the BM complex.

[@genesis4322]

Really cool of Valve to give their blessings to the fan-made remake of HL1. Often in those situations they get shut down because the original creators won't allow it.

[@Rokabur]

Not just blessings, Valve gave the devs of Black Mesa the guides of everything Valve learned while developing Half-life 2.

[@genesis4322]

@@Rokabur That is honestly incredible that they would do that. Good on Valve.

[@CVPRCR]

Yea, Valve may have been hidden behind a great-wall-of-China-sized pile of money till Alyx, but they're still one of the best companies out there. They understand their fanbase and the fans' love for what they built, and instead of acting like a spoiled little brat (looking at you, Konami! Take-Two, you too!), they not only allow people to let their creativity flow homageing and using their IPs, but they also give support to the new creators *AND* help them get monetary returns for their effort. Truly an example. Truly a company that understands people's love for games, their passion to create, homage and expand stories and universes that would otherwise be copyrighted and off-limits to everyone. It's not like they _just_ allow people to expand their beloved franchises without literally shutting everything down as if that would hurt the company. They fucking licence the IPs and sell the fan-made spin-offs on their own fucking platform. Valve is like that collest uncle everyone loves. They may not be able to come to all the family parties, but they make everyone feel great, treat everyone incredibly well, and even if the party's a specific birthday, he brings everyone a heartfelt, individually-picked gift. Not because he has to, just because he can and enjoys making people happy. Money isn't the issue. He's just cool and really loves everyone.

[@KasumiRINA]

Valve is... neutral. They're still a greedy megacorporation that swindles devs on Steam and kills franchises harder than EA... they're not actually good, but the bar is set SO LOW, that they look like saints compared to various Ubictivisions.

[@DairunCates]

@@CVPRCR Yeah... no. Valve releasing a single game doesn't make up for a decade of refusing to fix game community feature issues, introducing lootboxes into mainstream western games, letting a child gambling ring run through one of their games for years because it was making them money, and inconsistent moderation practices that remove some games from their platform just because someone at the company doesn't like them (while leaving actual Nazi propaganda on the platform). Their biggest sin, by far, is not merely refusing to make games. They have plenty of skeletons.

[@Damn_handles_cant_be_short]

Fun fact: Valve couldn't attach sounds to certain objects. So, instead of re-working their engine, they just attached those sounds to entities. And that can be seen everywhere: from a security guard entering pin in a pin pad while making "bop bop bop-bop" Noises (lip movements can be seen) to Gordon Freeman himself speaking for the HEV suit (which can be seen through multiplayer. So yeah, Freeman isn't completely mute, he can say "pip pip piiiiiiiiiiiiii") Anyways, employee who came up with this deserves a raise (which they probably got, because Valve are really cool)

[@FriendlyKillbot]

This game does something that always bugs me about "Basic Training" scenes. In this game, the Drill Instructor clearly tells everyone that "Sir" needs to be the first and last words out of everyone's mouth. They all say, "Yes, Sir!" Instead of "Sir, Yes Sir!" as he just instructed him to do. Opposing force got it right, Freeman didn't. This is the exact thing that these instructors train for, picking up on these tiny discrepancies. If one person in that room had said it wrong and just used one sir while everyone else used two, that instructor would have been all over him despite normal humans like us not being able to pinpoint such a thing like a word NOT said in a huge crowd of people with your back turned. The fact that everyone in this room did it wrong, and they didn't all get instantly dropped to the ground while that instructor lost his mind on literally everyone at once? No way.

[@genericname2747]

Someone killed the instructor and is pretending to be him

[@green_boot6042]

also i love how an expansion packed released in 1999 actually has mouth movement in the privates while Hdtf doesn’t.

[@MineplexVLOfficial]

The fact that the va who voices the main character in this went on to voice Abbachio in Golden Wind is just insane

[@sunzet4640]

Anime Redemption Arc

[@DestinyZX1]

That is nuts

[@corrinflakes9659]

@@sunzet4640 More of an arc than Golden Wind’s protagonist in fact. Golden Wind is my favourite JoJo Part btw, but with my least fav JoJo, just about everybody else carried that narrative, and I don’t want Bruno to be the protag. He was meant for the torch bearer role, I just think Giorno could’ve been improved with more clear inner conflict to get to overcome.

[@corrinflakes9659]

That aside the Golden Wind dub cast slapped. (And I’m the guy who is underwhelmed by Dio’s voice direction and plenty of other early 1 to 3 direction) But me crapping on Giorno the character in that last comment, I’m still amazed how Phillip Reich managed to still keep up with the 7-Page Muda scene, even hitting that “Wry”. As for Abbacchio he has a very nice emotional moment in the later half I like how Mich Lauer pulled it off.

[@mixmaster112]

the va for mitchell didnt do a bad job i thought he was pretty good

[@lunondisposable5382]

"Held together with unlicked envelope glue" is more clever and original than anything in this game, lmao

[@annenoname3442]

10:40 - This needs to be a real mod or something for most video games. This needs to be implemented somehow for NPC dialogue. This is amazing. I love it.👁👄👁

[@KOSMOS1701A]

i like how the main character's plot armor was so thick that even a crowbar to the face only left him with a couple scratches, not even a single bruise.

[@nendymion]

I had always assumed that the four scars across his face were from the crowbar. I don't think we ever saw the main characters face prior to that point.

[@PosthumanHeresy]

"So the protagonist is going to be beaten across the head with a crowbar? That sounds like it would leave him in intensive treatment, maybe permanently disabled if he survives at all! How hard is it going to be for him to survive and escape?" "Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience." "Oh really? Wow!" "Yeah, I figured it would just give him a few facial scars, just something that really makes him look way cooler and not an all like a massive loser."

[@neonmenace1592]

I was gonna mention how Half Life: Alyx broke the first Gordon rule, but you mentioned it. I believe that Alyx doesn't work as a character without the voice acting, and it was worth breaking the rule.

[@dummyyogurt5375]

and it makes sense. rules, in writing, aren't there to be followed unconditionally, they're there so that, when you break them, you break them with purpose, so the viewer/player/reader looks at that decision and goes "if they had done that differently it would've made the entire work not as good" which is something hunt down the freeman doesn't understand, as it just barges through all the rules like the kool aid man and ends up with an incoherent mess of a game where the plot and gameplay are so disconnected they have different area codes.

[@MariktheGunslinger]

Props to Ricepirate/Mick Lauer, he is giving his all voicing Mitchell, despite the terrible script. Don't feel too bad for him, he fortunately got to play Abbacchio in _Jojo's Bizarre Adventure,_ a dream job for him.

[@Montesama314]

I didn't know some Internet personalities got some big roles until I heard that Yong Yea got to be Enrico Pucci in Jojo Part 6. Pretty cool.

[@1marcelfilms]

whats the pic sauce

[@ImmaLittlePip]

I guess you can say playing Mitchell was a power move

[@Dramilos]

​@@1marcelfilms🤓🤓🤓🤓

[@delusion5867]

@@Montesama314 Yong also voiced Kiryu in the English version of Like a Dragon: Gaiden and upcoming Infinite Wealth (that's the yakuza series btw, they changed the name). That's pretty big

[@ultgamercw6759]

Oh I've been waiting so long for this. As a huge valve fan and as someone who beat hunt down the freeman after foolishly promising "If valve makes another half life game I'll play it." this is going to be good. I actually wrote a list of games id love to see you guys cover on the last Just bad games video when you did the compilation. This was one of them :)

[@vetreas366]

Could have skipped it by justifying "well Valve didn't make it so..." but I respect you for sticking to your guns and enduring this.

[@ultgamercw6759]

@@vetreas366 I have a lot of respect for half life and it's world. I have played every played half life game except for decay due to it being ps2 exclusive. Even Hunt Down The Freeman as a bad game is still new half life content and that's sadly rare these days. There is value in playing the game as a fan of half life to an extent. You can laugh at the bad writing, look at the levels to help you understand what not to do as a mapper and even enjoy the surprisingly good sound track which is way better than the game it's in. As bad as hunt down the freeman is I am still not angry it happened. The game still provided me with value through it's memes and acts as a strange note in valves history. In a way it still entertained me, just not in the way the developers intended.

[@WitchSon]

@@ultgamercw6759 Pretty sure someone has made a Decay Mod for Halflife or Sven Co-op

[@ceptemzorpus]

@@ultgamercw6759 you dont have to settle for garbage, there are a lot of actually good source mods out there based in the half life universe

[@survivalcraftstudio]

So do are you hating the video or not

[@bruh101t]

15:12 Random Alien: So you have summoned the lift Me: Um excuse me who the actual fu-

[@CasualYtUser]

That vortigaunt clearly knew how powerful the lift was!

[@StateBlaze1989]

I found it funny how this game was so messed up in design that they mixed up Mitchell's model placements, making it look like he got younger after the time skips.

[@MiyaMam948]

Benjamin Button

[@alienhunter3061]

Glad to see someone actually taking about this game way after the launch

[@alienhunter3061]

Dang my l key

[@tobywilliams1474]

Well dljadow did it before it was cool

[@jonfeddersen8445]

There was the Mind Pulp episode

[@qazhr]

The right opinion did the behind the scenes look the game.

[@tajuja417]

​@@alienhunter3061 tri Team er war trotzdem sehr robust erreichen und sie richtig er hat es RTR treffen treffen r und sie er ist richtig er erzählt hat er Retter und Retter und Retter Terrasse mit treffen richtig treffen treffen uns am besten am Tag und sie hat es mit dem Wetter und eine Rechnung mit Rechnung und sie er hat es richtig gut es richtig gut es geht Terrasse TT und sie TT er hat es mit rrrt

[@Ausieck]

i just love the “CON GRATS YOU PASS” at the start

[@kankeydong2500]

It's such a massive shitshow that this will still be remembered for years to come. If it was it's own standalone game it wouldn't be infamous. But when you associate it with a franchise that is carefully crafted, has a massive cult following, works on an established formula (that the dev disregarded for some fucking reason) and charge money for it, your product is bound to become a laughing stock..

[@estherstreet4582]

The fact that this project was mainly driven by one person explains an awful lot about it. Having more people to manage, oversee and just offer different perspectives goes a long way in any project.

[@sinjin8576]

It always impressed me how thoroughly they managed to break the Source engine in this. From what I understand source is rather easy to use and modify

[@g_freakman]

the source engine has given me nothing but pain and agony, so i dont think its easy to use and modify

[@massgunner4152]

TF2 spaghetti code

[@abalyon7043]

It's the opposite

[@skeletontamir]

have you ever animated in SFM???

[@tonypeppermint5329]

18:56. The train being still while the environment isn't actually moving isn't the game being weirdly built, just normal game design. It can be seen in RE2 Remake.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Yeah, but it shouldn’t be so obvious during an easily-triggered death animation.

[@Darklordjadow1]

My only disappointment from this review is that the legendary meme- the game's one contribution to pop culture- went unused. When Mitchell has his true nemesis Adam cornered, best friends turned bitter enemies by secrets, the climactic final moment of the game with emotions at their peak: "You fucked up my face." Right before quoting Bane from the Dark Knight Rises. Again. Top tier game writing.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

The children slave factory is actually interesting as it’s based off cut content from HL2, it’s even got them carrying the heads of a cut enemy from HL2 which is something they did in the HL2 prototype. Also, maybe I’m just misunderstanding from the way this video is put together… but the “administrator” didn’t seem that evil to me. It didn’t seem like he was choosing to run a child slave factory, the combine was running it and forced him to be in charge and he was just doing it to provide for daughter. *EDIT:* After Chapter 3 I now see why you thought he was evil.

[@tonypeppermint5329]

Ah.

[@kjm3672]

"The children slave factory is actually interesting" is a wild start to a comment without context 💀

[@HydraSpectre1138]

Gearbox made a third Half-Life expansion called Decay, but it was a PS2 exclusive. Blue Shift was originally going to be a Sega Dreamcast exclusive expansion (with Opposing Force being exclusive to PC) but they had no choice but to port it to PC after the Sega Dreamcast version’s release was scrapped. Decay does have an unofficial PC port and it’s really good.

[@valance10]

I have decay on my ps2, tried playing it with my wife but the controls are so fucking horrible we kept dying in the first part of the first mission

[@Alpha-oo8]

I appreciate the use of the tardis cloister bell, which for those that don’t know, is an alert that plays when a catastrophic event/disaster is about to occur. Rather appropriate when the three Gordon rules are broken. That sounds like an imoemding disaster

[@sorrenblitz805]

Love the cloister bell

[@Brittanian]

BRO THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING

[@ELSTERLING]

There's so much about the design choices in this game that is baffling but I'm going to pick on just one as the same fault applies to the whole game: The first action being chasing down a literal first aid kit to insta-restore your injuries is so meta it hurts. Good games do their best to allow suspension of disbelief by either letting you mentally disconnect some little box from curing serious bodily harm by just making it an unspecific touch-and-done affair you don't need to think about or giving you an in-universe hand-wave like magic or, in Half Life's case, the extremely advanced suit Gordon wears. To actively lampshade it is a terrible idea and to have it be the first thing a player does absolutely draws you out of the narrative immediately. This is compounded by the fact _you are literally in a hospital seemingly undergoing extensive rehabilitation_ so you're actively thinking about such things. (That's not to mention that a literal explosive apocalypse is going on and you can neither hear nor see any traces of it until you get to DESIGNATED ACTION ZONE 1.) This whole thing could not more obviously be a game produced by people who have played a lot of games but not really understood why they are the way they are. In dialog surrounding games, books, music - y'know, art and criticism in general there's this oft-used retort by creators and fans who feel defensive of the product that goes 'I'd like to see you do any better' or 'let's read your movie/book/see your game!' By being such an obvious fan-made experience _Hunt For The Freeman_ unintentionally shatters those by demonstrating that the tools needed to appreciate a medium as a consumer or even a professional critic are very different to those needed to conceive and produce one. It's easy to have strong feelings about something on many levels without ever understanding fully or even partially why it is the way and that lack of understanding does not necessarily invalidate those feelings. There is a necessary disconnect between art and artist and thus artistic intent and audience such that fan works often just end up aping aspects of what they loved clumsily without knowing what made them work.

[@Resi1ience]

Okay. Mate. You need to work on your sentence structuring. These are 2 very big blocks of text and a lot of run-on sentences, I'm having trouble following you.

[@jakeplaysgames_A]

My eyes hurt. I am proud of you, child

[@limalepakko6074]

@@Resi1ience sounds like a you problem

[@_G.C]

The only thing worse than meta commentary is meta commentary with acknowledgement of how bad it is in universe

[@PosthumanHeresy]

There's a lot of proudly illiterate people in these comments.

[@FlSKMASTER]

"I don't think these guys are scam artists, I just don't think they're artists at all." -Pyrocynical

[@isabellamorris7902]

TehSnakerer has done an absolutely brilliant, detailed, synopsis of the whole game and the history/drama behind it. I recommend it fully

[@thegamingprozone1941]

I love his yakuza videos

[@Greil9]

Having seen his video, I could also tell this one was inaccurate about the plot. Yea the plot is crap, but at least be accurate about why its crap.

[@ddjsoyenby]

yes tehsnakerer is awesome!

[@spinyjustspiny3289]

I still love the opening monologue and how he wrote it to be a description of the entire game based on a single environmental piece where you're told to watch out for crumbling footing and falling rocks. It's a series of misused design cues and false details that try to cover up how uninspired the game actually is. "We know what to look for, both above and below. These rocks never fall."

[@TheAlamore]

@@spinyjustspiny3289 That line alone was just... Chef's kiss

[@jjoshaugh]

The guy who was behind this was later hired hired by Activision, for their marketing division I believe. I'll just leave that fact standing there, to be contemplated and appreciated in all its glory.

[@0uttaS1TE]

Can't wait till Ghost shoots Shepherd in the gut and says "You fucked up my face."

[@jmal]

@@0uttaS1TE "BUT NOW, REVENGE!!!!"

[@massgunner4152]

Wasn't Berkan assigned to the COD mobile division?

[@RudoMike21]

A fate worse then death

[@andreworders7305]

11:58 ah, the source engine “you can’t do that” sound effect. Memories.

[@MegamanXfan21xx]

I think the main guy behind this (the one the "Where's our money?" graffiti is directed towards) got a job at Activision after this and basically walked away from HDtF. Any updates afterwards were made by devs who wanted to fix his mess.

[@GatorRay]

Yeah. He did.

[@stevethepocket]

Well, I bet he fit right in there.

[@mrrselfdestruction1077]

Drill instructor: first and last things I want to hear you say is sir. Soldiers: yes sir. Drill instructor:

[@meem6154]

No it would be Sir yes Sir.

[@Huss_D]

I know, I noticed that too. They missed the first sir. Not a great start to the game.

[@Huss_D]

@@meem6154 I think that’s what he’s saying.

[@mrrselfdestruction1077]

@@Huss_D ya they messed the line up in "chase down the freeman"

[@anueutsuho7425]

26:30 I am so used to HUNT DOWN FREE MAN I was completely taken aback by him not being Wallace from Wallace & Gromit

[@vmfighter-ryze]

The second I saw the title, I knew this was going to be an amazing watch. HDTF is an amazing example of what NOT to do in game design

[@9another632]

Maybe that's why it's still on Steam despite being a scam of a (fan)game

[@GatorRay]

@@9another632 Just like Rogue Warrior.

[@dragonsteamworks6675]

As someone trying to learn Unreal Engine 5 to do game development in my free time, I now know how to avoid SHARTs. Thanks Rerez!

[@Vlumpty_Vonty]

7:11 i love how the cat is looking at him in a worried way

[@geardog24]

Dirtbag: Alright Joe let's save your friends from spiders with vaginas. Joe: 😦

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

22:46 This is where IHE's character is! Poor guy didn't deserve to be in crap like this, he's a great dude.

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

I don't think he even wants to remember this. For good reason

[@gracekim1998]

Ah ….that is probably why the scar faced guy is familiar…. Other than marketing

[@hakai1014]

IHE?

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@hakai1014 I Hate Everything, he's a KZbinr.

[@lach7324]

Also, its such an odd start to the game's story to have you swear an oath of vengeance for getting beaten up by a random guy. Normally in revenge stories its for something pretty extreme. Last of Us features a bunch of revenge killings over family, Dishonored for the murder of your partner, the kidnapping of your daughter, and your unjust imprisonment and torture, Count of Monte Cristo for a deep personal betrayal and over a decade in a cell, etc etc. In this you get bonked on the head by a ramdom dude and devote your life, killing hundreds and raising an army of child soldiers to kill a guy you don't know whose attack you survived without lasting injury. Kinda speaks to a sociopath of a protagonist.

[@SuperVoodude]

After years of hearing the game lambasted without anyone saying specifically why other than bad voice acting, there was a lot more to take in than I imagined. Great video!

[@monkaWGiga]

It gets better. On release Civvie had to cheat to beat certain stages because the level end triggers weren't actually placed.

[@MadameSomnambule]

So... they went the Portal route. Making a game telling an original story taking place in the Half Life universe. But I'm pretty sure Portal had a much better and more immersive tutorial. This game though? Not so much. Also, that game also obeys the same three rules as the original Half Life games. Silent protag, everything being in first person, the works!

[@KetwunsGamingPad]

Portal was built as purely a puzzle game, and left enough clues and enabling the player to deduce based on trial and error. Even if you knew what to do, it was still a challenge sometimes to ensure the physics were in your favour, but that was the fun of it. Turing Test was like that too...mostly (some of the puzzles were a bit broken or unfairly difficult in the end I had to cheat ha).

[@nthgth]

@@KetwunsGamingPad Been so long since I played the Turing Test but I do remember the twist ending! I remember really liking that game - not as good as Portal but good enough not to be denounced as just a "Portal rip-off"

[@ShadowChozo]

Portal also had a far more self-contained story which didn't require prior knowledge of Half-Life.

[@TaliZVasTyria]

10:39 that gman render with live lips are terrifying...

[@ExUSSailor]

The protaganist is allegedly a U.S. Marine, but, everyone in the tutorial sequence is wearing U.S. Army uniforms, and, covers (hats).

[@jmal]

Complete with awful ACU patterns, no less. Was there a license for using MARPAT that they somehow couldn't get a hold of?

[@AlmyTheAlien]

9:07 Now I'm not a firearms expert, but if the recoil from firing a pistol managed to not only knock our brave protagonist down but flip him backwards over a chest-high guardrail, he might uh... not be built quite as solid as he lets on.

[@hola-gy8te]

what’s even funnier is that later on in the video you can see him using a shotgun and it doesn’t even have any recoil

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

In fact, this Half-Life fan game killed Valve's interest in allowing Half-Life fan games to be put on Steam altogether. (37:18)

[@jemuzu926]

random fact: from what I heard there used to be an issue where they somehow put an invisible wall in the way of the path you were meant to go which made the game actually impossible to beat without cheating

[@rickwong9049]

I remember when this 'game' was released in 2018. It generates a lot of memes and hilarious review videos. Probably the biggest positive aspect of this disasterpiece.

[@daviroblox0089]

"That one time gordon Freeman moved a thing into a thing" 13:37 best line

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Now *THIS* game is a modern legend. Right along side the pantheons of gaming like Rogue Warrior, Popeye, Ride to Hell: Retribution and Battlefield 2042.

[@jacobxiaolong9104]

and also CoD Vanguard.

[@HankJWimbleton-v1m]

Hunt Down the Freeman (alongside many others) is without a doubt, one of the games ever made.

[@oz_jones]

I read that as Popeye: Ride to Hell and then got disappointed :(

[@BMofficialvids]

Rogue Warrior was actually entertaining though. Shitty? Yea. But funny.

[@j.c.denton2060]

Hunt Down the Freeman has earned its status as a legendary bad game. It's amazing. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@jadedheartsz]

Yup, Yahtzee called it the worst game he'd ever reviewed, let that sink in.

[@gracekim1998]

just the fact that i recognise scarred face guy

[@someguy3752]

@@jadedheartsz Besides Ride to Hell.

[@ExtremeWreck]

At least it has that going for it unlike Limbo of the Lost, another similar game in terms of being based on other games from other developers & publishers. Not to mention HDTF was made with the permission of Valve whereas LOTL was made without the permission of *any* of the developers that made some of the assets used in that game.

[@j.c.denton2060]

@@ExtremeWreck Limbo of the Lost is like the Room of bad games. Even more legendary.

[@josephchambers2000]

Did I hear the cloister bell from Doctor Who at one point?

[@rerez]

[@mattheworabone1317]

After watching to the end of this video, there was one line at the end that made me come to a horrid realization about this whole fiasco that for some reason never occurred to me until it was done. This game cost MONEY!!

[@jmal]

Even if it was free of charge, you'll never get back the time you wasted playing it. It's a loss all around.

[@monstercombo007]

16:53 It still baffles me how the director of this game though casting Keemstar as the President of the USA was a good idea. In fact, nothing about this game is a good idea.

[@DefiantPunk0810]

They lied in the promotional material. They showed Gordon pummeling the main character in a cutscene, but in the main game it's someone wearing the same suit with a helmet! Not Gordon.

[@DoktahDoktah]

My favorite part about this game is that the guy really really liked MGS5 and it really shows. I also believe this game is the entire reason Alyx VR was finished. Valve didn't want this being hte last official Half Life game.

[@HENNETT_JAMES]

Official?

[@isabelortiz1230]

You can spend money on steam to buy it, so it counts as official