The Combine Occupation of Earth

The Seven Hour War is lost. Earth has surrendered. The Black Mesa incident is a distant memory.
Experience the horrors of the Combine alien race's totalitarian and brutal regime over the Earth and all its inhabitants, from the fallout of the Seven Hour War to the spark of the Uprising upon the return of Dr. Gordon Freeman to City 17.
~
What follows is the soundtrack of this video, listed in chronological order:
01. DEFCON Official Soundtrack - Alistair Lindsey and Michael Maidment (2006)
02. Sounds of Saturn - NASA Voyager Recording - NASA (1977-)
03. Sounds of Mars - NASA Voyager Recording - NASA (1977-)
04. Sounds of Jupiter - NASA Voyager Recording - NASA (1977-)
05. Half-Life 2: Episode Two Official Soundtrack - Dark Interval - Kelly Bailey (2007)
06. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Calabi-Yau Model - Kelly Bailey (2004)
07. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Highway 17 - Kelly Bailey (2004)
08. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Broken Symmetry - Kelly Bailey (2004)
09. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Suppression Field - Kelly Bailey (2004)
10. Half-Life 2: Episode One Official Soundtrack - Infraradiant - Kelly Bailey (2006)
11. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Industrial Suspense 2 - Kelly Bailey (2004)
12. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Train Station 1 - Kelly Bailey (2004)
13. Half-Life 2: Episode Two Official Soundtrack - Extinction Event Horizon - Kelly Bailey (2007)
14. Portal Official Soundtrack - Party Escort - Kelly Bailey (2007)
14. Portal Official Soundtrack - Procedural Jiggle Bone - Kelly Bailey (2007)
15. Portal Official Soundtrack - Taste of Blood - Kelly Bailey (2007)
16. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Dirac Shore - Kelly Bailey (2004) *1
17. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Lab Practicum - Kelly Bailey (2004)
18. Portal Official Soundtrack - Self-Esteem Fund - Kelly Bailey (2007)
19. Portal Official Soundtrack - Stop What You Are Doing - Kelly Bailey (2007)
20. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Escape Array - Kelly Bailey (2004) *2
21. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Industrial Suspense 1 - Kelly Bailey (2004)
22. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - No Cake For You - Kelly Bailey (2004)
23. Half-Life 2: Episode Two Official Soundtrack - Shu'ulathoi - Kelly Bailey (2007)
24. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Negative Pressure - Kelly Bailey (2004) *3
25. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Triple Entanglement - Kelly Bailey (2004) *4
26. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Our Resurrected Teleport - Kelly Bailey (2004)
27. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Probably Not a Problem - Kelly Bailey (2004)
28. reprisal of "Calabi-Yau Model" (06)
29. Half-Life: Alyx Official Soundtrack - Radio 1 - Mike Morasky (2020)
30. Half-Life: Alyx Official Soundtrack - Radio 2 - Mike Morasky and Kelly Bailey (2020)
31. Portal Official Soundtrack - Android Hell - Kelly Bailey (2007)
32. Half-Life 2 Official Soundtrack - Echoes of a Resonance Cascade - Kelly Bailey (2004) *5
33. reprisal of "Train Station 1" (12)
*1 also known as "Dimensionless Deepness" in the Half-Life Official Soundtrack (1998) by Kelly Bailey.
*2 also known as "Electric Guitar Ambience" in the Half-Life Official Soundtrack (1998) by Kelly Bailey.
*3 also known as "Steam in the Pipes" in the Half-Life Official Soundtrack (1998) by Kelly Bailey.
*4 a remix of "Sirens in the Distance" in the Half-Life Official Soundtrack (1998) by Kelly Bailey.
*5 also known as "Space Ocean" in the Half-Life Official Soundtrack (1998) by Kelly Bailey.
I claim no ownership of the music used in this project; all rights go to their respective author(s).
~
The map used in this project is from the website mapchart.net.
~
Thanks for watching!
~

[@Neinfeld]

User "macdrown" uploaded this (kzbin.info/www/bejne/m16Zf5ytlL-HgNE) video and forwarded it to me, which appears to be a short covering the reactions of different world leaders at the onset of the Black Mesa incident. They cleverly used AI-generated audio of contemporary political figures to flesh out the bewildered reactions of the global community in far more detail than I had been able to with my previous project. I would highly recommend checking it out and their channel. Apart from that, see "read more" for a description and background of this video. This video is a fan-made interpretation of the events between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. It is also a followup to another video on my channel, "The Aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident", seeking to show the events of the Combine occupation of Earth from a global perspective. I was interested in making a successor to the previous project because I was interested in seeing how the Combine shaped the ruined world in the aftermath of the Seven Hour War into the totalitarian terror state it is in Half-Life 2. In this video, you will see my attempt to shape that into place. All events are based on Half-Life 2 by Valve Corporation. Enjoy!

[@Gabriel87100]

I love your work, dude! You contributed a great deal to my fascination with the Half-Life universe!

[@deloreandmc88]

Amazing, simply amazing.

[@alfietaylor5786]

So will there be a follow up to this? A video focusing on the uprising?

[@buttslayer699]

@@alfietaylor5786 Yeah I would really love to see that

[@Neinfeld]

@@alfietaylor5786 I will consider it, but it would help if Valve were to release another Half-Life game that will continue the story in some way that would make it easier for me to flesh out the Uprising on this kind of scale. We don't really know what the world outside of City 17 looks like, even at the end of Episode Two. I think it can be assumed that the downfall of the Citadel led to other revolutions in other Combine cities, sort of like how the destruction of Nova Prospekt sparked the Uprising in City 17. Apart from that, though, I am not sure what else I would cover: everyone knows what happens in City 17 since that is the basis of Half-Life 2. So the answer right now is I'm uncertain about it. I will definitely keep producing content though, whether it be in this format or something new.

[@ulture]

Would be very cool if there was one final slide with the population going up by one as the Freeman reappears

[@cj-3810]

How would freeman instantaneously make people fuck

[@throwawaytrash33]

@@cj-3810 Dude what?

[@cacokid1489]

​@@cj-3810 the population would go up by one because Gordan just popped backed into existence basically.

[@Bandyink]

When Gordan gets off the train the suppressive field is still active, maybe after the destruction of C17 When Kleiner says everyone can reproduce.

[@cj-3810]

@@throwawaytrash33 there wouldn’t be an instantaneous population increase; it would actually go down because believe or not; WAR KILLS PEOPLE

[@benjybrasington9508]

starting with over 6 billion on earth in 2000 and ending with 5 million in 2020 really turns hl2 into a horror game

[@teamont5]

wasn't the population in 2000 is 6 billion? even with this response, it's still terrifying, i can't put it into words

[@sumsarsiranen]

It is lmao

[@benjybrasington9508]

@@teamont5yea mb

[@abdullahtshabal9522]

watching the global population in 2017 literally drop to below the population of my hometown johannesburg in 2017, really puts things into perspective. and it continues to drop ever and ever further, the city in question in the HL2 universe as portrayed here would drop to well below 1,000 people, less than the amounts of people that live in a single apartment tower.

[@Meritania]

For context that’s 999 per 1,000 people alive in 2000, has died.

[@sarminder4357]

I appreciate the fact that you kept real events such as the 2004 Indian earthquakes on this timeline.

[@user-ry5uo9cx6q]

where is yr profile pic from? asking for my car technician

[@badlaamaurukehu]

Stunami.

[@eybrr8928]

i half expected 9/11 to happen lmao

[@infamouspotato2028]

​@@eybrr892826/11 for Indians 💀

[@Cloama7]

@@eybrr8928 unless the combine did it, 9/11 technically didnt happen in the half life universe because the world was too busy getting invaded

[@keinzue]

48:55 so proud of GLaDOS for keeping the facility combine-free

[@Alfredo12]

I'm sure that after Gordon Destroyed the Citadel the Forces combined Iran with everything towards Aperture Science.

[@epsilon752]

@@Alfredo12 In Portal 2, in the far future, the facility is still standing, so the Combine clearly did not succeed

[@_TheDoctor]

@@epsilon752 Wheat fields are also floruishing outside the facility with no indication of Xenian overgrowth, so its entirely possible Earth, and maybe humanity, has recovered.

[@Alfredo12]

@@epsilon752 unless located before those events

[@monmky]

@@Alfredo12 The Combine never made it into Aperture Science, they only found the Borealis. Portal 2 confirms this lmao

[@Alfredo12]

"And remember folks, the Combine are full-dimensional conquerors, the Force they used to subdue the Earth must have been very tiny for them, almost nothing, and they only left small Garrisons on Earth."

[@JakeLuke716]

😗

[@spritedoesit1777]

I see ppl say that a lot, but where is that actually said in game?

[@minecrafter_old]

@@spritedoesit1777 dude, the alliance is an interuniversal state, which means that they are a type 5 civilization, and humanity is not even a type 1, but a type 0.7 civilization

[@alperferik4040]

@@minecrafter_old And it gets harder and harder to grow 1 civilization type. Getting to type 4 from 3 for example, is harder than reaching to 1 from 0.

[@heliothrax7716]

I think the force they kept on Earth was an occupational force, and they took most of their military back for other campaigns. Thats how real world militaries work too, and it also explains why puny resistance forces can fight off the occupiers if Earth fell in 7 hours even though it had an organized army

[@thedawkturr4481]

" Are you trying to escape? Hahaha... Things have changed since the last time you left the building... What's going on out there will make you wish you were back in here. " -- GLaDOS, Portal 1

[@C0II0SUS.X]

Chills.

[@evildude2135]

I think glados also said 'I have superhuman intelligence and not even I know what's going on outside' or something like that

[@FaultlineSurfer]

"I'm the only thing standing betweeen us... and Them."

[@Stephanie-mv9iy]

​@@FaultlineSurfertheres nothing still inside Aperture that would really interest the Combine. GladOS is probably just good at hiding.

[@stone4651]

@@Stephanie-mv9iyborealis documents and portal gun in question:

[@halosammy14]

More than three hundred million people died from the point Dr. Breen started making empty promises about making them immortal one day.

[@guyuscoolius2326]

can't grow old if you're dead

[@tarquinvictus1182]

If I recall correctly, during Breen's speech in Nova Prospeckt to the prison guards, he mentions that if the Transhuman Soldiers fail as a whole, they are screwed just like the rest of humanity. As Breen put it "I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the alternative, if you can call it that, is total extinction - in union with all the other unworthy branches of the species." This always struck me as evidence that the Combine simply plans to synth-ify as many people as they can and everyone else goes extinct; a fate that likely befell all the other bio-mechanical constructs the Combine likes to field.

[@azunkor422]

​@@tarquinvictus1182 The Supression Field itself already indicates that they don't want to get rid of any species that is not assimilated into the Combine. Also about Breen's Immortality speech he says as a species immortal is within their reach and how the Supression Field will be deactivated when there is no need for it anymore which is when all remaining Humans are assimilated into the Combine

[@AdvanceAU]

This video is the greatest sequel since Half-Life 2 itself.

[@yeoss]

this video impregnated me 😍

[@ryan_908]

@@yeossayo?

[@deloreandmc88]

Very true

[@keinzue]

unfortunately, the supression field prevents that@@yeoss

[@Samson16667]

​@@yeoss I feel this is a rare human we have here. I must subscribe to her.

[@UnknownOverwatchSoldier]

A disturbing fact: The human population on Earth in 8,000 B.C. was approximately only 5 million people according to the Population Reference Bureau, just like at the end of the video. So, the human population has been reduced back to 10,000 years ago, and this probably includes the transhuman soldiers of the Combine. If the population on Earth at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is 2 million, then the human population has been reduced back to 52,000 years ago.

[@UH-60_Blackhawk]

thank you, random overwatch soldier.

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

Well that’s “good” to know considering the wildly depleted resources

[@cornmanstudios6450]

-1000 yard stare-

[@hiyves9880]

earths only 5784 years old bud

[@haziqhaha]

​@@hiyves9880Where the hell you getting your facts from?

[@BaronPraxis8492]

I remember when I first played Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and I came on the big cave where the extract was. That was when it really hit home for me that even if the Combine were somehow booted off earth, the planet would never be the same. Videos like this show how even the best possible case scenario for the Half-Life series, there is no undoing the damage done and native earth life is irrevocably - and perhaps terminally - changed.

[@ADos27578]

The more I look at the world of Half Life 2 (and sequels), the more I realise that the reclamation of Earth would be hard-fought. That water isn't coming back once it's been shipped out of our planet 😕 it'd be a hard road ahead with reduced precipitation and agricultural yields.

[@Ayranenjoyer]

I like to assume with the way valve conducts this Half Life business and how Laidlaw writes, Half Life is not about saving the day or happy afters. you see, they do this stuff so perfectly, so subtle you never notice until you sit and think everything that ever happens. like in freeman's case, every emotion gets suppressed under by the sheer pumping of emotions almost streaming right in by all parts, stopping his mind for every attempt it takes to give attention. not letting him think anything but his own survival. if freeman stopped a time to caught up with everything amongst all the chaos that were happening that day and the one followed, he would've go insane. but he did not, it's almost beatiful, symbolizes humanity in every sense. after the most faithful of happenings, the tear opened to the land that exists between worlds and makes them stay together, the day whole world gone to hell but not by the paintings and the prophecies, freeman crawled over the whole facility in hopes of being under the sun again. to only wonder about taxes and underpaid wages, he avoided horrors that he could only read in the works of craziest of writers. like the first man ever left the forests and their caves to embark into the unknown world, beyond confinement, a totally foreign part. horros of black mesa avoided, so he can go ahead and venture to a world he never heard of beyond few experiments they done in the path of gaining further knowledge, curiosity, strongest of factors that push souls forward. fire of a civilization being put down, a star falling so humanity could live. end of nihilanth were just a different path opening in the finite sea of possibilities. when freeman put down to rest, not to reflect or gather breath but to be a toy, trial of humanity began. guess it's about being a human, fight took place since men first stood, and it will take place until the last of humanity gave away their breath. even if citadel falls and remains of combine gets consumed by the fires raised in the furry of a race that already paid their sins by going through all black mesa brought, there will never be a salvation. every resistance fighter knew that, every CP rogue or not were aware, even Breen knew that humanity had no chance he tried to the last monument of man, perhaps combine would spare him so there would be at least something left of this race that tamed the fire to power their lands and built up towers reaching the domed ceiling of the world. earth is nothing to the combine, or the air and the water they are draining is any form of value to such force like universal union. perhaps but a piece of info in the archives stretching into horizon in the greatest of data centers owned by the Universal Union, maybe they are beyond that too now. end of episode 3 summed up everything about Half Life, such a shame they never delivered.

[@codemancz798]

@@ADos27578 Unless it's a mistake on Valve's part, water does return to Earth in the far future. We see the water levels in Portal 2 (though it's also possible the water didn't recede enough to be visible from space).

[@ADos27578]

@@codemancz798 I'd wager a lot of that water is aquifer/water table bleed (insofar as the caverns) and precipitation that has leaked into the exposed facility (insofar as the early chapters); but stories as large in scope as Valves surely have one or two oversights that the rest of us are conjecturing

[@loomhigh]

it would be hard fought, but the means to thrive are there. A lot of combine technology introduced would make stable consolidation fairly easy. Antlion thumpers, artificial food paste, and Advanced rail infrastructure will give the miniscule remnants left on earth time and resources to focus on rapidly rebuilding their population and form an industrial base. after 20 years of uncompromising authoritarian rule its very realistic to imagine a poweful central human authority making use of every resource to recover the population before setting out fixing the planet.@@ADos27578

[@KiwoZuri]

Australia being one of the most dangerous places on Earth is really not that different from our universe.

[@staleshortcake9442]

I mean, what are a few leggies gonna do? rummage through my bins?

[@ADos27578]

They're trying to tell me to bugger off to Tassie to make a living? It's cold enough as is down there! 😅

[@TheMufloni]

Xen life prolly didnt do much to the aussies, except distracting them from the real danger, australian wildlife that finished aussies off :D

[@ADos27578]

@@TheMufloni I challenge an ichthyosaur to take on a freshwater croc. Those buggers haven't evolved in millennia; peak evolutionary adaptation.

[@Colddirector]

@@TheMufloniThe emus took advantage of the their mortal foes distracted state and launched a vicious assault to eliminate the detested Aussies once and for all.

[@icanplaytehdrumz]

This, along with the Black Mesa Incident and Aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident videos, have got to be some of the most high-effort and detailed pieces of fanfiction to ever exist. The insane attention to detail on existing lore and the realistic portrayal of this devastatingly cruel empire and humanity's response to them is mind-blowing. I never thought it possible to turn blocks of news-like narrative exposition and bleak statistics into an entertaining video genre, but you've done it. Bravo 👏

[@giovanniprovost]

I love all of these, the sterile nature of the presentations really hit home when (though fictional) something beyond our hopes and abilities arrives to completely annihilate us. It's a chilling thing to witness, let alone for 2 hours straight ;)

[@svijj_]

​​@@giovanniprovostJust like in the game DEFCON (of which the soundtrack is used here), I think the detachment from these events paradoxicaly makes them more terrifying and depressing

[@munastronaut8147]

Hi binkus

[@AMAON_Official]

napkin story

[@nolanwilson5652]

The fact that they added real life events like the bird flu and 2004 earthquake/tsunami into this half life world and showed how it would play out was top notch attention to detail

[@Nenerii]

Now I truly wonder how humanity got itself back together AFTER the Combine's "departure". Would humanity go back to their old countries' territory or would they establish themselves in the same areas they're in and expand further outward?

[@Milk-jy1kn]

How would humanity even go about going back to their own countries?! Countries don’t exist anymore, the nation state has been abolished and whole continents have been rendered inhospitable. Humanity as we know it is fucked and will probably live in small comunal settlements

[@keinzue]

or better yet, what the hell happened to earth and humanity in portal 2's ending?

[@MickeyMouse-lx3nw]

They’ll probably stay in the area’s they’re already in and slowly expand further out once the population climbs back up, they’ll probably repurpose Combine tech to prevent or even clear out Xen infestations. If the ending to Portal 2 is hundreds or thousand years after HL2 then we’ve already seen the result and that humanity has recovered and have established farms in Upper Michigan.

[@BoogieBrando]

​@@keinzuei like to think that in Portal 2 its set not too far away from Earth's liberation. With the amount of overgrowth we see in Portal 2 i would say its probably a few decades after the fact. (While AS is overgrown, the wheat field we see at the end doesn't seem too unkempt, and the overgrowth only consists of foliage rather than dust or dirt from decay/collapse).

[@user-fo8ff2gl8n]

There would be no 'going back to old countries' - the terrain was changed almost completely and old boundaries that were mainly defined by natural boundaries would be inadequate, the resources that once were are now either gone or displaced, every area is basically as demographically diverse as it could be - due to constant population transfers perpetrated by Combine, most of the areas are left completely deserted, polluted, irradiated, flooded with hostile alien life and unpopulated even in Eurasia and population is so small that spreading out makes you more vulnerable to outside threats and thins you out. What we would most likely see is the return of city-states. same as in Antiquity, but now probably allied (or maybe even confederated/federated) to each other as Combine may inevitably return and the state of affairs the humanity was left in requires cooperation of all for survival of all. Ironically, most influential of these city-states would probably be erected in the cities built by Combine as these would be the main spots with mostly intact industry and infrastructure (Unless Combine managed to do scorched earth in all of the cities they lost control over).

[@NexusApollo]

The scariest part about this scenario is the IRS being the sole surviving and functioning Pre-War government institution. Even with a political, economical and social collapse on a global scale, taxes will always be due.

[@CadetGriffin]

The same thing can be said about Waffle House.

[@drxtale9446]

What about H&K? I mean, they made the weapons for the Combine.

[@juniorsilvabroadcast]

@@drxtale9446 all weapon technology and design is on Combine hands.

[@L30GH05TDUD3]

I mean how else is the Combine gonna get money and resources from the new population they’ve just conquered?

[@Twiddle_things]

Least dedicated Half-Life fan: All jokes aside this is amazing. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took to make 😂

[@Neinfeld]

Thanks! Beautiful profile pic by the way

[@MrNage]

@@Neinfeld fr though how long did it take to mak

[@Neinfeld]

@@MrNage Not sure. Maybe a thousand or so hours spread over the past year dedicated to research, script writing (the lengthiest part; took 7 months), generating the visuals (like the maps) and audio editing. Not to mention the fact the video took seven hours to render. I also once tried to make this project during the summer of 2021 but was sorely disappointed with how it turned out, so this is actually the second version of it. I was also in my final year of high school when making this cut, so there were weeks where I couldn't work on it due to assignments, exams, etc.

[@paulbenis830]

@@NeinfeldBro you’ve been making all of these videos while in HIGH SCHOOL? Goddamn dude, you’re one talented motherfucker.

[@IBETHISNAMEISTAKEN]

@@Neinfeld This is great work regardless. Since you made a Black Mesa Incident video, and now have a Combine occupation video, do you think you'd finish with a video recounting the events of HL2 and the episodes? It would probably be easier to make than this one was.

[@olbradley]

The DEFCON soundtrack never fails to instill a feeling of sheer terror and despair.

[@DylanDude]

I love how the Combine already have everything about the occupation figured out. They know how to turn humans against each other, how to make it as hard as possible for resistance cells to form, and how to eliminate them when they do. It shows that they've done this all before, that they've crushed thousands of resistances, and that makes them all the more scary.

[@An_Imperial_Guard.]

Having in mind how bad Gordon flexed on the combines in just a week, there is a high chance he will flex harder on them by time traveling and preventing their entire empire to begin with.

[@FlorenceSlugcat]

That would not be possible. Preventing the combine invasion by going back in time prevent the events making gordon go back in time to prevent the invasion in the first place. Effectively, if you can go back in time to prevent something, then that thing also never happen and you never went back in time in the first place. This is basicly dictated by the physical laws of causation, where every event is caused by a previous event. Causation happens in every scale of the physical world, from atomic particles colliding, to stars collapsing on themselves. Essentially, this is why backwards time travel is physically impossible, as any chain of event leading to backwards time travel will interfere with that event chain, resulting in a different timeline. Since this interference would occur every time backwards travel were to occur and never when it isnt, even with billions of alternate futures, none will achieve it, as the possible variations of the future is infinite. However, travelling towards the future is theorically possible. The only downside is that there would be no going back for whoever or whatever fast forwarded into the future, nor any possibility for them to send back information. It would however be theorically possible to observe what people are doing on earth today, in the distant future. However, you could only observe, from very far away. For example, from the perspective of any civilization that could be living in the Lambda Saggitari star system, who’s star belong to the Sagitarius constellation, assuming they had sufficiently powerful telescopes to see us, humans are currently experiencing world war 2, it is 1945, and the fall of berlin is near. In fact, when you look at the sun, you are observing the sun as it was 8 minutes ago. You will never see it in real time. It could disapear forever and you wont know until 8 minutes after its disapearance. Even the effect of its gravity will not disapear until 8 minutes after. Earth would still be pulled by its orbit for 8 minutes before finally losing the gravitational pull of the sun and heading straight forward As a result, even the speed limit for causation is limited by the speed of light The black hole at the center of our galaxy could have randomly vanished when mammoths still roamed our world, and you will still not know in your lifetime, as even its gravitational waves and our solar system would still be orbiting it, aswell as every star in between us and the black hole, despite thoses stars being closer. That is because while yes thoses stars will stop orbiting earlier, that still wont happen until gravity is gone for that star, and its new trajectory will take the same ammount of years to reach us as the ammount of years for the gravitional wave disapearance to reach us And that reveals the other phyiscal limitation: that no information can exceed that speed either. And all this togueter reveals that causation, is actually just simply information “Hey, stop orbiting, im gone”, says the sun

[@swatinmates8828]

@@FlorenceSlugcat 🤓

[@FlorenceSlugcat]

@@Pillowcase8 except that is not time travel. You are travelling at very high speed away from earth for example. You will never see the past. Everything you will see will have happen after you left. What you see however will not be happening at the same time as you saw it..

[@defenestrationismyfavoriteword]

@@FlorenceSlugcat tl;dr, grandfather paradox.

[@paperclip6377]

​@@swatinmates8828 🤡

[@tassadar101r]

It being so realistic and detailed is what makes it terrifying.

[@deathtoll5000x]

Most staggering: the known human population being reduced to roughly the size of Washington DC

[@ardrialban511]

Crazy that millions died in a single month, several times. That's catastrophic.

[@hunterketch989]

The population of North America is probably less than the average decent sized town population right now.

[@sudonim7552]

Combine rly said billions must die

[@deaththekid3998]

Humanity was below that number for most of our history

[@naitoo37m63]

what's staggering is the number going from 3 billion to just 5 million@@deaththekid3998

[@BoSPaladin-102]

I like how you mentioned why nukes weren't used in the Seven Hour War because of how the Portal Storms disrupted the electronics for both communications and guidance systems. And that Civil Protection and eventually the Transhuman Combine Overwatch were established as the years went by with riots, acts of rebellion and the Xen Infestation becoming more severe especially after the destruction of the Vault in the City 17 Quarantine Zone which caused the Combine to become more strict with the civilian population. EDIT: I only just noticed that the font for Cities 14, 33, 28, 30, 31, 29, and 32 changed as time went on to signify that each City is either abandoned by the Combine due to resistance activities or is still in the midst of various uprisings and skirmishes.

[@Colddirector]

I’d totally watch a short film about the Combines attempted expeditions into Aperture Laboratories. It does feel a little odd that the Combine would just give up that quickly, though.

[@desmondng5375]

I like to headcanon that after retrieving what turrets they managed to destroy the Combined realized that the tech inside is already available elsewhere (another planet or perhaps their own past tech) and saw no point wasting manpower.

[@prorandocopier7945]

GLADos, if given access to all combine tech would fucking annihilate them, then make humanity test subjects

[@Colddirector]

@@desmondng5375 That's actually part of my personal headcanon on how the Combine invasion ends - the Combine decide they've taken enough resource from Earth to justify the venture, and that trying to reconquer this dying backwater planet just to suck up what's left isn't even worth the cost of getting there. As for the teleportation technology - the Combine have like a dozen other better leads elsewhere, and the only reason they even bothered with Earth is because they could make the humans look for them. In the end, even the Combine occupation force finds itself chewed up and spat out by interdimensional politics like Gordon was.

[@nathanpierce7681]

@@Colddirector so they literally lose reputation among the rest of the union like the operation does to the international community in rebel inc holy crap. the combine trying to occupy earth is literally rebel inc on a global scale

[@leaveeeevee5762]

They probably would've had alot of trouble dealing with a super computer that has eyes everywhere in the facility that at point, they're just in a sunk cost fallacy. Wasting too much resources and synth man power

[@kenjamago3977]

For those who're wondering which cities are used as a designated operational cities by Combine Occupations : 1 : Vienna, Austria 2 : Aljezur, Portugal 3 : Andorra la Vella, Andorra 4 : Murcia, Spain 5 : Toulon, France 6 : Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 7 : Syktyvkar, Russia 8 : Baghdad, Iraq 9 : Marrakesh, Morocco 10 : Tehran, Iran 11 : Djelfa, Algeria 12 : Jerussalem, Israel & Palestine 13 : Cairo, Egypt 14 : Gölcük, Turkey 15 : Yaroslavl, Russia 16 : Baku, Azerbaijan 17 : Yermolovgrad, Russia (fictional city) 18 : Lviv, Ukraine 19 : Karaganda, Kazakhstan 20 : Yekaterinburg, Russia 21 : Samara, Russia 22 : Helsinki, Finland 23 : St Petersburg, Russia 24 : Geneva, Switzerland 25 : Copenhagen, Denmark 26 : Venice, Italy 27 : Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine 28 : Nanjing, China 29 : Zhangzhou, China 30 : Busan, South Korea 31 : Wuhan, China 32 : Hong Kong, China 33 : Beihai, China 34 : Ahmedabad, India 35 : Karachi, Pakistan 36 : Delhi, India 37 : Hyderabad, India 38 : Shenyang, China 39 : Mumbai, India 40 : Kolkata, India 41 : Bangkok, Thailand 42 : Chattogram, Bangladesh I'm surprised that you didn't picked Varna, Bulgaria as City 17 since most of Half-Life community agreed that City 17 is supposedly a coastal Bulgarian city (Varna is deadset accurate for the description & alot of stuffs from contemporary southern slavic countries like Serbian Parliament building from Belgrade for Overwatch Nexus, etc) since theres several bulgarian cyrillic scattered across City 17 ingame. But i guess the location you've picked upon could also accurate geography wise since in Ep2 we're in the forest with a tall snowy mountains in the distance indicate a Caucasus mountains but then again Carpathians could also be the possible location for White Forest. And another note i also love you also incorporate those natural disasters that still happened even after 7 Hour War (2004 India Ocean Earthquake + Tsunami & 2011 Tohoku Earthquake + Tsunami) also 1:25:28 RIP last survivors in Japan

[@abdullahtshabal9522]

The 3D map of City 17 in HL: Alyx matches Sofia, Bulgaria pretty accurately. Also Viktor Antonov (the lead designer of HL2 and Dishonored) is from City 17

[@Neinfeld]

@@abdullahtshabal9522 In the first version of the script I drafted for this video, City 17 was Sofia. But there are some significant geographical inconsistencies with City 17 being Sofia: first, it is nowhere near the Black Sea, and there are no rivers that directly connect Sofia with it. Secondly, we know that the coast is to the southwest of City 17, whereas the nearest sea is due east of Sofia. While there is a mountain range south of Sofia, Alyx says White Forest is north of City 17. I decided the Caucasus matched City 17's geographical location very well (the radar in Episode Two in the White Forest launch room even suggests this) and went with the fictitious Russo-Caucasian metropolis of Yermolovgrad.

[@johan13135]

@@Neinfeld Setting City 17 in the Caucasus is totally nonsensical and incorrect. Valve specially based City 17 upon many different eastern European cities, especially in Bulgaria, but never in Russia itself. The geographical inconsistencies are due to Valve not wanting City 17 to be based upon any specific singular city, sp it would be a fruitless effort trying to place it on a real map anyway

[@Tufeoo]

isnt city 14 supposed to be istanbul

[@kenjamago3977]

@@Tufeoo i was intended to put City 14 as Istanbul but upon close zoom of the map, i found out the City 14 itself isn't on East Thrace but it's around Izmit Bay. So i picked Gölcük for City 14 instead

[@bigmike1444]

This is probably one of the most depressing videos I've ever seen, and I mean that in the best way possible. It's insanely detailed and the ambience along with the population visibly decreasing sets a uniquely distressing mood that I've never felt before. Christ, if I were in NA and I was one of a dwindling population of a dying race, trying to find clean water and survive in ever-worsening winter, watching even the worlds plants be replaced, I'd probably off myself too.

[@derpey_kong]

Half-life Alyx starts at 1:36:22

[@cacokid1489]

This really puts into perspective how evil the Combine is, and how bleak the condition of the world of Half-Life 2 is. Even though the beta was visually darker, the retail game got it across without being too in your face with it. Oh also I loved how you worked in the ending of Portal 1 in there, that really blew my mind. Not only that but when it said the Combine planned to drain the Earth of it's oxygen felt reminiscent of the Air Exchange, my favorite cut location from the beta. I would hope that eventually a sequel or other types of videos could go over the impact that Gordon left. Would be nice to see a bit of a comeback story with the event's of HL2 and the episodes on a global scale. Might have to get a bit speculative on the future of the series, depending of if you want to take things like Epistle 3 or Breengrub into account.

[@Exuberant-323]

It'd indeed be quite lovely to see a continuation to this at some point tracking just that. Seeing how the uprising unfolds across the globe would be spectacular.

[@Wikchsawa]

There is no such thing as evil only perspective... The Combine have their own priorities, and interests they don't really care about humanity's well being and they don't call themselves evil.. You step on ants everyday, you don't care about their fate, you can pick up and bully one by putting bricks to trap it, but you won't care about it, does that make you evil? no because you're a human a complex organism which is way way way too above the simple animal, the human is not considered a animal in terms of sentience and that's the perspective of the human so in this case consider yourself the ant because they're of no importance, they're insignificant, inferior and underdeveloped so we are just another insignificant creature in the universe that is inferior to the highly developed species so they don't care about it. A good example of perspective is the fact we see animal abuse in dogs very bad but when we kill rats with poison or any other animal in any other way we don't care..

[@mattjk5299]

I wouldn't describe the Combine as evil. That ascribes a moral character to them that they frankly might not even be capable of comprehending. I'd sooner call someone like Breen or some metrocop collaborators "evil", but I'm not so sure you can use it to describe the Combine at large. It's more like a system. A machine. It's automatic, not a series of bad moral acts. The combine isn't even an "empire", not really. More an enormous organism that spreads through dentrites and nerves and spores through space and through dimensions. It synthesizes with or destroys anything it comes across. Stalkers, soldiers, striders, gunships, drones, advisors. It's just adding stuff to its network.

[@onemorescout]

Check the top comment, he says he'd prefer Valve to continue the HL story before making a sequel to this video

[@levershredder]

any state dont operate according to "evil" or "kind" things. This means exists only in human-to-human level, even human states in all history of mankind make decisions only by materialistic/geopolitical means, just like combine. Which you can easily conclude if you are somehow familiar with amount of human wars, genocides, burned cities, etc.

[@pyroshilov8474]

I had it in my head to rewatch the vids you have done throughout the years about the Black Mesa Incident and it's respective timeline and then this drops there's no expressing the appreciation you go through to give us these absolutely uncontested works of effort and art. huge kudos to you for giving us these.

[@Robzdefheadz]

Excellent work, I cant believe I just watched the whole 2 hours in one go, very enthralling. I kinda expected the last lines of the video to be something like "Gordon Freeman steps of the train in City 17"

[@maciejkamil]

That Breen voice at 10:58... I'm just amazed. This is wonderful. Terrifying yes, but wonderful.

[@mrboezio]

"The seven hour war all over again only that this time it won't last 7 minutes" -Eli vance

[@antenoelle]

I actually just rewatched the definitive Black Mesa timeline the other day and was wondering about the followup. absolutely impeccable timing, and thank you for all the work you do

[@swatchbox6789]

Gosh, you’re probably the most dedicated and creative person in the Half-Life community. I’m yet to watch the video, but this looks like it’ll be just as good, if not, even better than the “The aftermath of the Black Mesa incident.” video.

[@Virchl-C48]

This is so good and well put together to the point that i consider this to be the canon events after the 7 hour war in the Half-Life universe, you're an artist mate.

[@yannick2509]

Fortunately, with half-life 2, episodes 1 and 2, and plus the ending of portal 2, it makes me smile again with a glimpse of hope, to think that even after all this, both of the remaining humanity and earth may have both survived and recovered from all those horrible things 🙂

[@kablooey60]

Forgot how much I needed these videos. Without even having much time spent in the games I can picture Earth vividly, which speaks to the attention to detail that is put into these videos.

[@quickstergamestutorialsgam3899]

Quite potentially the absolute best half life content creator ever. No youtuber comes close for me when it comes to how much I enjoy your videos. After seeing that "Aftermath of Black Mesa" video I instantly subscribed and thought that was the best half life video I have ever seen. And then you come out with this....

[@srangospodnya1383]

I almost teared up. This is masterpiece. Thank you for this amazing video, love you!

[@keinengel266]

Both this, and the Black Mesa incident timeline videos inspire chills unlike anything the games themselves could give... Genuinely fantastic work, the attention to detail is so real.

[@juanjosealmanzar6330]

The amount of effort you put for making this is insane, my respects

[@ChimeraGilbert]

Great work making this. I really loved your previous video of the black mesa incident. It really makes the whole story more immersive thinking about how the world would actually respond to such events.

[@NCRRANGER2448]

Patrolling the Mojave almost make you wish for a nuclear winter

[@Barneyfromhalflife1]

Wrong timeline NCR

[@suspiciouschicken]

SOLDIER GET BACK TO YOUR FRANCHISE!!

[@lorddarkness351]

id prefer a deathclaw over the combine any day of the week

[@zalupich514]

Ave, true to Caesar

[@quickstergamestutorialsgam3899]

@@suspiciouschicken sometimes i like to think fallout might be post combine America, but xen has evolved and changed a lot to form a lot of the mutants and shit in the game. Not realistic but still fun to think about

[@TheBreadPirate]

I can't take my eyes off the news headlines. You did a phenominal job making each story seem realistic, and each quote fit the person who it was coming from.

[@marvinarellano3087]

FUNI ZELDA MAN??????

[@hunterfranklin1948]

Loved this! I always love seeing the numbers behind things like this and trying to visualize the big picture situation going on. I also liked seeing the quarantines and cities going up. I liked that you italicized the cities after they were abandoned or lost. What would have been great was a minute at the end giving a short summary of a "miscount" in City 17, followed by gunfire, Dr. Breen's speeches all at once and an explosion with all the cities going dark on the map as the Citadel network goes down. But don't take that as criticism, I'm just all excited thinking about Half Life now. Excellent work!!!!

[@TroTLF]

The part with the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 really gave me goosebumps, cause you know, that the death toll of said event in our timeline was already imense and would probably be even higher, if the international community back in those days wouldn't have rushed all kind of help in the affected regions immediately after the extent of this disaster was clear. In this scenario there is simply no one left who could or would send help in those affected areas and to top it all off, the disaster regions are packed with countless refugees trying to get as much distance between them and the Combine, increasing the death toll even more. So in the long run, according to this scenario the whole Black Mesa event turns one of the worst natural disasters of the first quarter of the 21 century from a devastating catastrophe into an absoulte cataclysmic event, that eradicates human presence in parts of Asia and the already fractured ecosystems of complete regions.

[@thehalo2guy638]

the gunshots/screams fading in at the end of the video is a nice touch :)

[@warhawk758]

The part where breen basically said that the suppression field will never be turned off, is where humanity snapped. Realizing that they have nothing left to lose.

[@enocescalona]

my brother, i thank you for writing Breen absolutely well here. Hell, i wouldn't mind if you made a AI Breencasts video compilation or such. You really get the character. I clap in approval, great work.

[@Trollolololdad]

As a long time Half-Life fan! I can say without a doubt this is, along with the Black Mesa Incident aftermath, are certainly one of the most wonderful pieces of storytelling that I honestly consider canon, as you kept it in line with actual events that would have happened even without the Combine invasion. Such as the 2005 Mumbai Earthquake and the 2011 Tsunami that struck Japan. Truly, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the magnificent storytelling that can no doubt inspire so many content creators. However, there are some things I don't agree with. For example, Japan being absolutely and completely devoid of life. I understand in the previous video and in this that Japan (and along with United States Forces stationed in Japan) continued fighting even after the ceasefire. But there would've been villages and cities that would've held out due to their geographical location and lack of importance that wouldn't interest the Combine as much. Sapparo, Fujiyoshida, and Kumamoto are the three cities that stand the best chance at being the ones being where the Japanese would hold out while they try their luck with fighting diseases now without the commodities such as medicine and the issue of Japan being resource poor. If your goal was the the Combine was going full scorched earth on Japan and not targeting specific cities, I guess I could understand. Interesting to note is that the Combine started draining the ocean 2 years before the 3/11 earthquake, so I'm not sure if the tsunami would have been as devastating with the lowered sea levels as it was in our timeline. If there's one country that would've been worse off than Japan, it would have been the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. With the delay of communications with an already isolationist nation with a cult mentality, they would've also been another hold out continuing their effort to resist the Combine's invasion. I'm honestly surprised at the lack of mention of them. If you were going with the scorched earth, the destruction of Pyongyang would've decapitated the North Korean government, and the people would've probably fled south, braving the booby-trapped DMZ and the hostile xen fauna to try and seek refuge (just imagining that is sending me chills). North Korea is also resource poor and with the past sanctions, hardly have tools to farm what little land isn't overrun by hostile xen creatures, and the rampant diseases would've made life there extremely difficult if not impossible. But like Japan, I'm sure there would be some North Korean settlements who might be surviving with the Korean winter being a good barrier against the Xen wildlife. TL:DR if Japan is going to be a dead-zone, North Korea would've also been one. It's just my two cents. You should honestly have a discord if you don't already. This is top-tier stuff and I'm excited for whatever else you have in store.

[@Neinfeld]

Thank you very much for the kind words. I won't speak much about Japan since I addressed it in a few other viewers' comments, and since you understand the chronology and circumstances regarding their state. I agree with you on North Korea, but didn't mention it because in the video I made mention of the fate of another country led by a similarly belligerent and despotic leader. Specifically, the part where I write about the fate of Iraq after Saddam Hussein ordered his state's military to continue fighting during the Seven Hour War. I could have also mentioned Kim Jong-il, but I feel like it would have just been a repeat of the aforementioned case, only with different leaders in mind. You could easily write such a prompt about countries like Iran, as well. I guess my work is circulated around the Internet to the extent it could be worth making a Discord for viewers interested in my content, but I feel like I am not active on KZbin to warrant one. My current rate seems to be 1 video per year, and I'm surprised I have as many subscribers as I do with such a low posting rate. In any case, I do want to make videos more frequently, so maybe this is something I could do in the future. Thanks for your advice.

[@Gustav_Kuriga]

@@Neinfeld Doesn't North Korea have a vast underground shelter system? Couldn't they have just retreated underground rather than directly fight the Combine?

[@flarerik]

@@Trollolololdad Given the fact that it's stated elsewhere in the video people in Africa, Australasia and the Americas decided to stay behind rather than live under Combine tyranny, it's probably likely the Japanese holdouts are a similar situation where they refused to leave or fled. A similar fate to Japan would probably be met by those aforementioned areas later down the line (or at least would have, since Half-Life 2 happens and the suppression field is destroyed with the Citadel although it's anyone's guess what happens afterwards with how long it's been active).

[@geometra634]

It is also the same case in Haiti after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck south of Port au Prince in 2010, which cause the most disastrous humanitarian crisis in there century. Now in this scenario with the destruction of modern society and the dissolution of the United Nations thanks to the combine, the few survivors of Haiti which they had to deal with the harsh conditions brought by the xenian species and the destruction brought by the combine they wouldn't have any chance to survive the earthquake Imo I'd say that Haiti is also a zone devoid of human life.

[@Trollolololdad]

@@geometra634Damn, didn't think about that one.

[@Pulsar047]

Astonishing work, loved every bit of it 👏

[@andyw386]

This is a fantastic interpretation! Normally, I'm not much of a reader, however this had me hooked for the whole 2 hours the moment I became aware of it! I can tell you put a lot of thought into it, thinking about the kind of things that might go on during this time period, such as rebels in other cities, and what became of humans on the abandoned continents. I like the references to real world events like the tsunami that hit Japan, and how that effected a world that was already ravaged by the Xen invasion. The other videos on the Black Mesa incident and it's aftermath were fantastic too!

[@Scripps-on2nx]

I love how the real life major earthquakes or other events really occurred, very good attention to detail!

[@brianirwin8111]

Your content is simply the best fan-created work in the Half-Life setting. The scale and quality of your worldbuilding is at least on par with what the original team came up with, and the presentation is captivating: it doesn't feel like a chore reading all the text when the main visual focus is on the incredible cartography. I'd happily take your versions of the HL context as canon. I can't think of a more genuine compliment than that. Thank you for sharing this incredible work of research and theory crafting with us.

[@SpanishDio]

I absolutely LOVE your videos man.

[@mlgsnip3rv291]

First the Black Mesa Incident, now this, you sir are amazing

[@alucarda4357]

This comment might get buried but I just have to say, this had me hooked from the very beginning. This was excellently put together and, as a pretty big fan of the Half Life lore, I desperately need more of it. I really really hope you make a possible follow up video detailing the timeline of Gordon Freeman's arrival.

[@TV-jf7nl]

This 2 hour extravaganza of maximalist detail and solid, insightful writing is proof the HL community is the GOAT

[@gentlemen.7621]

You deserve way more views for the amount of work you put in

[@Viper-ft3tk]

Oh hell yeah Always incredible when Neinfeld gives us an upload!

[@AD3PTUZ]

Great! A well made and thought out timeline as always! A future video on the uprising might be neat, if there's enough info to go off of for one.

[@Bneboy]

Something about this is uniquely terrifying, I can't put my finger on what it is though. Good video as always

[@FelipeFritschF2]

Harrowingly detailed and impressive work, congratulations.

[@Ph.C]

I appreciate the effort that went into this. Thank you. Great primer right before diving into Half-Life: Alyx for the first time.

[@somerandomgamer2054]

dang no wonder kliener told everyone to have a child this is tragic

[@AveriV1]

HAVE SEX! -dr kliener

[@BananaPhoPhilly]

@@AveriV1not you, boykisser

[@vladiverse7516]

That's quite fascinating. I would be interested to see Your take on humanity trying to restore the earth after Combine was cut off from Earth and suppresion field was no more. I would assume COmbine remnants would not go down without a fight and would try to restore connection with the rest of their Empire. It would be a thorn in humanity's side for years to come. Trying to reclaim parts of earth that had been taken over by Xen lifeforms would be a long and hard process but humanity might be quite motivate to get their planet back. How would relations between humans and vortigaunts go? Would their alliance remain strong after combine stopped being a threat or maybe humanity eradicating xenian lifeforms would be a cause of tension? WOuld humanity's old conflicts reemerge once the conflict is over? WOuld humanity devolve again into petty squables or remain firm together knowing the greater enemy is still out there and might not want to keep humanity alive any longer? Well, just an idea. So far You did really good job. :P

[@ennui9745]

I would hope that the alliance between humans and vortigaunts would remain strong.

[@LaGuaridadeChaz]

My best guess is that they would have some sort of primal revultion against vortigaunts by human instinct, but it would be counteracted by being forever grateful to the vorts for helping them not only fight the xenian fauna but also the combine, and being there all the time to help them through it all.

[@Dewtart]

by far my favourite channel on KZbin

[@Vienna3080]

I really wish you would have shown the sea levels dramatically decreasing as the years go by

[@notascientist709]

I dont think it wouldve had enough of an impact on the coast to chance the map from such a high up distance

[@vanguard6498]

This makes those who choose to carry on and try to fight in this world extraordinarily brave and heroic. If the events of HL3 play out in humanities favour, Gordon and those who fought in the uprising would be eternal heros of mankind.

[@perchancethishandleiswens]

This was absolutely horrifying to watch.

[@Markuse82]

13:00

[@GordonFrenchman]

Amazing video! It's fascinating to watch! And most of all it retains the saga's sense of realism and credibility. This must have been quite the hard work! I hope you will make more of them!

[@ZaiketsuKumori]

Man I love this, finally a followup to the Aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident video

[@retardedstudios4375]

1:56:42 Dear fucking god only 5 million people. We had 6 billion at the turn of the 21st century now we are down to only 5 million.

[@SpahGaming]

why did the video start with 3 billion?

[@warbosspapasmurf]

@@SpahGaminghis previous video on the black mess incident and the seven hour war killed about 2 and a half billion over the course of 2-3 months

[@SpahGaming]

@@warbosspapasmurf is that cannon? the death toll of humans from all wars and famine combined(heh) in the entire 20th century was agreed to be roughly 200 million people. also that would be killing 35 million people (an entire tokyo or delhi or bejing metro area, or the death toll of ww2) EVERY DAY and youre telling me the combine just killed 12 times that, in a span of time 500x shorter?

[@warbosspapasmurf]

@@SpahGaming in the video the seven hour war killed roughly 600-700 or so million The after effects did the rest But also you kinda have to take into account that earth is completely ecologically fucked, it essentially is going through a mass extinction event with most wildlife rapidly dying off due to xen wildlife

[@barghest94]

@@SpahGaming 1. No, it's not canon... to this guy's videos it is though. 2. We have literally no clue how advanced the Combine are, they are from an entirely different universe from us. The occupational force on Earth is just that, transhumans put there to kind of keep watch while they drain Earth of all its resources... their invasion force could be a million times greater than any we've seen on earth.

[@Ozz2021]

I'd love to see an 'aftermath of the city-17 uprising'. Idk if you're looking to continue this project, but I feel it'd make a great video.

[@exogen211]

I love Half Life, and this is amazing! Very good video! Keep it up : )

[@LeoGraham]

These videos are always super immersive

[@uja11]

wow, never expected a sequel. I made myself a reminder to rewatch the previous one annually, guess I'll have to add this one too

[@roamingtheinternet5799]

This video gives a great sense of scale of how brutal and apocalyptic Half Life really was for the invasion survivors.

[@Krox_JUK]

This channel is massivley underated

[@hendrihendri3939]

2:00:08 It was at this exact moment, after Breen's disgusting monologue One man, steps out from the train One man, unaccounted, alive, and well An *I N D I V I D U A L* that would soon become the Combine's one true, worthy, adversary. It was on this day, November 1st, 2020. On a bleak, sunny day, in City 17. *Gordon Freeman fights back. In Earnest*

[@liquid_oxygen]

Glad to see you used the term "universal union" as a descriptor rather than a name at 47:10

[@vanguard6498]

combine, is that like the n word for combine collaborators or something?

[@Majorasmp3]

The way this video presents itself I believe is very interesting, as it is terrifying. As the video progresses, as time moves on, the human counter continues to decrease as the Combine Occupation prolongs, I get this feeling of dread, as if humanity, as we know it, comes to a close in the history books. You have created an excellent piece of artwork, that, in my opinion, showcases just how existentially terrifying an actual Combine Occupation would've been. Absolutely phenomenal work here!!

[@johnnyvonjoe]

Let me start by saying that I really liked this interpretation. I normally don't watch lore videos that run this long but I can picture a good number of these things happening in universe. I do agree however with what several people have mentioned regarding the population figure, which is way too low. Humanity is basically dead with these numbers Freeman or no Freeman and the 2070 estimation for extinction is frankly too generous. I felt it should have fallen into a stable decline around the half billion mark. Also, the fate of the world leaders could have been explored more in depth. I thought it was a missed opportunity to not use the hunt for the remaining leaders as part of the reason for the creation of the Transhuman forces. It would have also explained how the black mesa team survived for so long as the combine's attention was on capturing the rogue world leaders first then turning its attention on the black mesa folks. But overall this was a great video. Keep up the good work!

[@MXProductions2024]

Ay, new video! I was hoping one of these to show up again!

[@degtyarev6208]

The ambientation on this timelapse is insane and so is the attention to detail. Easily the best timelapse I have ever seen,this should be an example to other fictional timelapses.

[@maciejkamil]

Breen: "And that day of transformation is close at hand". Freeman: Here I come! This is one of the best videos on youtube ever made.

[@agnogh1]

Combine doesn’t look like bad guys after all. They solved ever elusive job market and housing problems when they brought those numbers to 5 mil people left on Earth 😊

[@appledrawss1353]

i am so happy to see you uploaded again, these are genuinely entertaining and well put together powerpoints (which i do not mean offense with) i just think its neat :)

[@bonczek_studio1290]

Great work my friend!

[@AlistarTheBird]

3:05 Geneva is the Administration Capital 6:25 The Suppression field is set 8:10 Japan enters quarantine zone 9:30 Civil Protection is created 13:00 The Combine creates numeric cities (Geneva is now City 24) 16:40 First expedition to Aperture fails 17:45 Brittain enters quarantine zone 20:10 South East Asia enters quarantine zone 26:55 The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami 43:06 Influenza virus emerge from East Asia 46:35 Transhuman soldiers are introduced 47:55 Breen's water reserve is introduced 48:55 Second expedition to Aperture fails again this time with transhuman soldiers 52:35 City 17 is the Administration Capital 1:08:30 The Combine begins to drain Earth's oceans 1:16:00 Explosion at Aperture (Portal) 1:19:05 The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami 1:25:28 Japan enters dead zone 1:34:10 Construction of the cidatel begins 1:36:22 The Vault Incident (Half-Life: Alyx) 1:37:50 The Aftermath of The Vault Incident 1:42:02 Construction of the cidatel ends 1:49:45 Uprising at City 14 1:52:44 Ravenholm raid 1:55:12 Kleiner's teleport device is finished 1:56:22 Gordon Freeman arrives (Half-Life 2)

[@stoneklint3191]

good

[@AlistarTheBird]

@@stoneklint3191 ty

[@codemancz798]

Really smart to use Odell as Russel's surname. I wouldn't have thought of that.

[@dr.sonicv2]

The most real explanation on the 7 hours war aftermath, fantastic!

[@jakeg3733]

Creepy. I was alive and (almost) grown up in 2000. I remember all the things that really happened. It is so unsettling to see how different things _might_ have been, and how unlikely any of us would have been to survive this invasion. Well done

[@TacBans]

loving your videos on the worldbuilding of Half-Life! keep it up. One question, are the Dr. Breen quotes AI synthesized?

[@long_chin_man]

Sunday, first of November, 2020: *A nerd gets off a train...*

[@timbukdrew4262]

You mad man, killer stuff as always!!!!!

[@CSRLaunchpad]

I admire your dedication to the Half-Life universe. Thanks, Neinfield.

[@imnbah]

Beautifully crafted video, insane work. I only disagree with the final population being just 5~ million people, saw a video where the estimated population was around half a billion. But except this small nod, everything else is perfect.

[@SunnyBlam]

Link to that video?

[@Alwyn2112]

Which video talked about that?

[@shadowspringtrap3122]

I dunno I believe like 100-300 Million makes more sense.

[@derpmcmaster4248]

"...a common belief among citizens is that the gas masks CP officers are issued provide better protection against infection than the fabric face masks that have been issued to citizens." I love the social commentary!

[@CarterBlackburn]

Only about 15 minutes in as of this comment, but this is fantastic. Well done. This kind of fan-fiction is wonderful for HL fans, and I'm glad this video exists, along with the ones before it.

[@BASTBrushie]

You created a deep universe perspective of Hal-life. And i like it !