The Combine's SINISTER Secret | Quarantine Zone | FULL Half-Life Lore

[@Skyrionn]

Would you stay at The Northern Star Hotel? The algorithm gods haven't been too kind lately. Any interaction would be highly appreciated! I'll get you some cheese.

[@ServeraServera0]

Too many bugs for my liking

[@inkedthedemon]

Ehhh no

[@Skyrionn]

@@ServeraServera0 I'm sure they'd offer a reduced rate.

[@Jahoo418]

only if freeman is watching my back

[@Capitalismiscool]

Give the cheese now

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

Alyx got it really rough for having to navigate the Quarantine Zone without even wearing an HEV suit or any other proper hazmat equipment.

[@Hally-oc8ry]

Yeh but she covered her mouth.

[@aaaaaa-lt2tl]

Dont forget the occasional traffic cone or bucket hat

[@Itsmeiplayz]

There were gas masks scattered throughout the map, they usually found in yellow crates,I assume the gas masks and any other equipment was deserted by the Infestation Control units

[@johnynoway9127]

why didnt alyx ever use one?​@@Itsmeiplayz

[@QueerDisasterKitty]

​@@johnynoway9127You totally can use them in game

[@alidashti2633]

What I love about half life lore that at the begining it seems its little but the longer you look into it the deeper it becomes .

[@Skyrionn]

It goes so deep

[@inendlesspain4724]

The Half-Life and Portal series do world-building in such an organic way that you don't even realize when you're learning more about its world. It's a shame not that many games since tried to learn from its way of telling a story in a video game.

[@ryanwielewski5192]

It goes so deep it put my vortessence to sleep 😴 wait.. what?

[@magma5267]

​@@inendlesspain4724 Because this way of story telling sucks for the player, you have to watch youtube videos online or play the game multiple times to understand the basic lore/story of this game No wonder games like "the last of us" are more revelant nowadays than half-life, you just play the game and you just get the story. no need to watch 30-40 minute videos explaining lore

[@stonemanofgardnerville1162]

Yeah nahhh half life is still relevant and igniting imagination in many kids to this day...the last of us objectively had half a good game​ and flopped for its sequel@magma5267

[@Mr_Scoopy]

I love the narrative detail of other scavengers living in the QZ. The idea that some people would rather take their chances with the xenian life than live under the combine rule is a really interesting concept. I especially like the room of the “combine killer” that is talked about a bit in the developer commentary. It shows that even though we play as only a few people, every person can be a “protagonist” in their own story.

[@DrW33kend]

It's one of my favorite things about half life. Gordon is a bad ass. But, those rebels were already resisting- making gains, building a future. It's the best of humanity on display.

[@Skyrionn]

The "Combine Killer" was fascinating. I loved what you said too. "every person be a protagonist in their own story".

[@UndeadGhostGirl]

The Combine always felt like they were *going* to fail to me. Like they were always on the edge of collapsing, but always managed to take *just* enough from everyone else to make it to the next invasion. Them being unable to keep peace *and* deal with Xenian infestation just reinforces my head canon; displace enough people in enough places and you've built the revolution's army for them.

[@jankington216]

I wonder how they managed to get started at all, even the advisors are a conquered race

[@miguelzavaleta1911]

Is there a source taking about how previous combine invasions went? I always figured they probably just miscalculated the amount of resources needed to occupy earth and didn't send enough. That's why they're trying to open up a portal again when shit goes south.

[@UndeadGhostGirl]

@@miguelzavaleta1911 The problem wasn't a lack of resources, the problem was how sterile and rigid the Combine system itself is. It's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness; a system designed to easily integrate into others is *by design* going to be easy to study and easy to plan around.

[@oatmealman1586]

Essentially, the combine are the USSR if they were an alien empire that knew about dimension hopping, and we are just one of their many satellite states. That's why they were always declining and extracting as many resources as possible; they're trying to be the winners of their own cold war and they're getting desperate.

[@alanmichael5619]

@@UndeadGhostGirl It always feels like an overextended empire to me. They have a huge amount of resources at their disposal which, in many ways, makes them a formidable force that could wield a lot of power. But it meant they were really slow to react to new threats.

[@bluefoxbrawler]

The resonance cascade happened in New Mexico. The quarantine zone is located in eastern Europe somewhere. Given that these two locations are so far apart and have had a heavy influence Xenian life invading them makes me think that Xenian flora and fauna are already capable of traveling and adapting to the world with little to no issue. Who's to say there not already more "quarantine zones" all over the world already?

[@sergiofonseca2285]

City 17 means there are at least 16 others

[@VladMcCain]

The portal storms where a global problem. Tho most of the portals where, yes in and around the black mesa NM area.

[@brycephil4668]

​i think in a line from a citizen at the beginning of hl2 they mention "city 10"

[@geoteam977]

City 14* ​@@brycephil4668

[@elsimain]

Seeing the word "quarantine" in the most aesthetically dystopian looking thumbnail ive ever seen made me activate fight or flight

[@Skyrionn]

You're welcome haha

[@UndercoverAnims]

2020 moment

[@Spartan_Tanner]

i always hear Unyielding and feel the need to drive a spectre whenever I see the words quarantine zone,

[@MBSteinNL]

... Something I didn't realize is that Valve recycled the QZ for HL Alyx. So basically both the leaked beta as well as HL2 live existed, just in different timeframes. Minus perhaps the air exchange and some other stuff.

[@ryszakowy]

they put airex in nova prospekt as well while i would like to see it citizens comment about air being different when prison explodes

[@Archman155]

@@ryszakowy did they? i thought it was just the depot included in the final game

[@WolfyStudio115]

I love the mention of the Qz being more of a time capsule which now seeing it from that perspective brings a whole new meaning to the Quarantine Zone, and near the end where you mentioned city 17 exploding which could also indicate the Qz was still active but abandoned, we can only assume the combine did there job to exterminate all creatures within the zone which is why we don't see any of those creatures in hl2, which can also indicate it to the combine sending the soldiers, recources, and equipment to another place in need of cleanup. Maybe when you cover these soldiers you can dive deeper into the differences and similarities? Or the fact that the grunts yell out guilty lines of code upon death, so much about them makes them so unique and diverse, I love them!

[@Dj_met_real]

Hi :3

[@Nic0reda]

Thank you for the subtitles on video release! It helps a lot when English isn't your main language

[@Skyrionn]

I didn't realise how important it was until I actually did it! It seems a lot of people use the subtitles!

[@coobk]

​@@Skyrionn i dont have any hearing impairment or similiar but having both auditory and visual text can absolutely help with knowledge retention

[@EtherealWonders1216]

It's helpful for my adhd, like coobk373 said, it helps me learn easier

[@markgrehan3726]

Another great lore video, they really did a good job making the side effects of the invasion creepy as hell.

[@black_foresst]

Thank you for the great videos on the lore of this series. These games are extremely popular but no one seems to do proper lore videos unlike you. Keep up the good work!

[@Skyrionn]

It just comes from a love of the series. There's still more to explore too!

[@KarkofNorheim]

Best lore vids for sure

[@ShaktiChaturvedi]

Possibly one of the most horrifying areas in all of Half-Life. The fact that it came out when many of us were in actual quarantine zones due to COVID-19 (like me and my family) made it somehow even more eerie. A weird case of the real meeting the virtual (of course, reality does not have headcrabs.... thank goodness)

[@theenceladuschannelcool5777]

What do you mean it doesn't have headcrabs? I made them real

[@enemy8497]

^doesn’t have real headcrabs *yet*

[@origami83]

Every time you post a half-life video Iam thinking it must be the last one, since you covered pretty much everything already but yet you keep surprising me with new videos! Keep up the good work sir!

[@mohamedmiloudi6455]

i can't believe that you uploaded this video 30 mn ago i started watching your series on half life Lore today and i finished it and i was like when will be the next upload and here you are Great content a lot of information in it keep up

[@Skyrionn]

Welcome aboard! I'll be happy to see you every week!

[@kevinanjos6519]

gordon doesn't need to hear all this he's a highly trained professional

[@ava_ava_ava_ava_ava]

but i do

[@SeriousApache]

That's happened because combines didn't have cremators.

[@Skyrionn]

They could've made a huge difference

[@bbvsbbdsdnv]

True

[@Datch99]

I truly enjoy these Half-Life Lore videos. Something about your voice makes it even more interesting and fascinating. Amazing work man! I little question: Could you possibly check out or consider doing lore videos on the Lost Planet franchise in the near future?

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. I didn't realise there was more than 1 Lost Planet game. I may look into it if there's enough lore?

[@Datch99]

@@Skyrionn You're welcome man. There is a lot of lore and I believe you would like the game yourself.

[@bankaiiibankaaa4573]

I love the lore, but most of all I love your extremely calm and beautiful voice👍

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks so much!

[@AdamMi1]

I really like your Half Life lore videos! Keep up the great work, i can't wait to learn more.

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks, will do!

[@Apes_TogetherStrong]

this is literally so alyx

[@Skyrionn]

100%

[@ThommyofThenn]

It's the G-man she can see

[@elidatkitty1694]

YEAAAH ALYX MENTIONED

[@AnTOnioOOo_24]

Am I the only one that find the universe of half life just incredible ?

[@SDCored]

Love these lore videos. I like to think I'm a pretty knowledgeable half life fan but I still always end up finding something new

[@R4ndomUser567]

Same lol

[@Skyrionn]

There's always something new to find

[@Robloxplayer456-kk3wv]

One of the things I theorised is that the headcrab had adapted it’s “beak” it uses to crack into skulls and controls them was evolved by possibly infecting the alien grunt due to it being too strong for it to naturally take down, later using it for humans.

[@raulportela3039]

As powerful as G-Man is, it truly speaks to the terrifying might of The Combine that they managed to build an effective prison for G-Man.

[@Skyrionn]

I know right. What is more terrifying is what the G-Man hides. If he is just an employee of "something", imagine just how powerful they are.

[@Mfmfmfmr305]

I like your funny words magic man!

[@Skyrionn]

I like your comment

[@dukenukem3dfx572]

Man the level of detail and knowledge that go into these videos. Well done!

[@ImperialEmbers]

How did you get the scenes of Alyx without HUD and on free cam mode? Maybe it's something really obvious and easy, but I'm really interested in the topic. Great video as always.

[@MBSteinNL]

Probably mods

[@Skyrionn]

I used the Half-Life: Alyx novr mod :)

[@saschaberger3212]

​@@Skyrionnsmart

[@brickrigsandstuff3981]

Finally, a great lore update with some of the best detail!

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks!

[@NoahGooder]

some points when i played hl:alex and got to this part (these points were taken using the novr mod) First thanks for bringing up the zoo/tanker yard area more I always wondered what was going on the but due to the antlion spawns I really didnt want to stick around for too long. the zone almost reminded me of chernobyl in a way with how stuff was preserved (outside of the xenian infestation).

[@captainarch11Roblox]

i love this dudes videos ngl, especially half life lore. ty for making my day every time you upload

[@Skyrionn]

I love that you watch them. There's more to come :)

[@HR15DE]

it hurts to love half life. already been 4 years huh. who knows when we gonna have another half life entry

[@breakthecycle5238]

Lol i listen to this channel to sleep occasionally and here is what it sounds like b4 i nod odd off...... ....... ... ................ .... ... SO ... . .............. .......... AND .............. ... ... ........ ... ..... HERE .... ... .. ......... BECAUSE ... .. .. ...... SO 😅😅😅

[@DecimeCuba]

almost 4 years and i still have not been able to play Half Life Alix :(. Hopefully by the end of the year my PC will be ready to do so. Great video!

[@Skyrionn]

I hope so too!

[@ValentinaDiNapoli-bh7ds]

I played it for the first time, a week ago. It's soo good. It exceeded my expectations by far

[@Kopust1237]

Beautifuly told story. Half life is my favourite game and stories of all times. Love your videos!

[@BilabaLabiba]

you know xen creatures were a force to be reckoned with when they gave the combine a run for their money

[@ryszakowy]

the fact that combine went from destruction of the zones to mere containment speaks volumes about their inability to deal with xen fauna and flora if not for gordon nihilanth might have stopped combine empire

[@6l1t3h_Official]

Sure do you realise why the Nihilanth fled to Xen in the first place? It's because of the Combine, they almost destroy all of his species leaving him the last of his kind and fled to Xen where he went with and enslaved the Vortigaunts and alien controllers probably brought many alien flora and fauna with him for defences way before the events of Half Life oh also the Combine don't even care about Earth and left their garrison force to deal with the Xen flora and fauna, this is why it took 20 years for the Combine to clear off the Xen infestation.

[@philippenkov5622]

I always enjoy your video. They are awesome with a lot of detail about the game and are perfect while I eat dinner. I did try this mode that you play Half Alyx with, but I was stuck in her room not being able to take the call, so I uninstalled the game :|

[@abandoned_green]

Keep up the good content man 👍

[@pinkjelly6014]

Half-Life Alyx has such amazing graphics, and in vr it's actually so horrifying. (I've screamed out loud because of it) Even if vr headsets are buggy as hell, and you need at least 10 minutes to boot up the damn game; Alyx is worth it.

[@Skyrionn]

Source 2 is stunning. I'd love to see the other HL games in the engine

[@gamertypeawesome]

​@@Skyrionnhalf life source 2 😨

[@sometimesidreamaboutcheese]

During this video I caught insight of my thoughts (that I didnt got before)... that the Vault atmosphere and population lived there reminds me of great, dark and gritty anime Texhnolyze where.. humanity meets even worse fate than in Half-Life. I love this anime and can highly recommend it to any HL fan. Also, i like how author of this video using Kelly Bailey soundtrack. This shows Kelly Bailey's importance to HL world again and even more, because HLA is way more weak without his genius talent as composer and sound designer. Lack of Bailey's work in HLA is so obvious when you can hear his soundscapes with this environment.

[@CSXBoys]

Mannnn you posted this right as im sitting here playing through half life two for the first timeeee

[@Wojtek_Ch]

My man's about to become a man. I'm so proud I could cry.

[@CSXBoys]

@@Wojtek_Ch i liked them so much that i got the original lol

[@starsjosephfrost]

I think the G-Man could’ve escape if he wanted to, all he wanted was to trick Vance into sending Alyx to “safe” Gordon Freeman.

[@6l1t3h_Official]

Isn't the Vault powered by vortessence? Because this is something that clearly can counter G-man himself as shown in EP1 no way G-man can easily escaped the Vault especially if Alyx failed he would be trapped there forever.

[@LastArchangel01]

Do enjoy your lore videos. Thanks for the hard work.

[@RainBird88x]

I like the theory that the Combine were originally trying to help earth, but eventually became disillusioned with the constant interference from humans, and so turned earth into a prison planet.

[@Skyrionn]

Your welcome haha

[@withoutaims9379]

Would be a lil weird but kinda neat to have another Half-life episode containing the activity and characters of Black Mesa East or even White Forest lol

[@empireniko3458]

Keep up the good work!

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks, will do!

[@kruxxme5372]

Great content as always! Looks like you're playing Alyx flat screen¿

[@georgemen]

Damn, bro, wth's up with the youtube. Been so long since i've seen a video of yours I forgot how much I enjoyed this. My expectation is that if I subscribed to you, KZbin would recommend me your videos. Gotta use that notification button.

[@czechcrusader6461]

Awesome video as always, would you be interested in making Crysis content? The lore is surprisingly massive with the addition of books and for me its also one of the best alien species ever designed for media.

[@ValveBoi-ps8zx]

It would be cool to see a half life 2 mod were they did a makeover kind of like black mesa

[@male07447]

Finally, my ideas has been made into a video :D

[@dmoney8602]

Loser.

[@late_reg_adorer]

I have been waiting for the day Skyrionn ( half life lore guy ) would talk about the Quarantine Zone

[@Skyrionn]

Half-Life lore guy. I like that.

[@usamaryan7910]

I remember when I was a kid I used to call antlions zucchini crabs 😂😂😂

[@zeckfive7574]

Another upload from Skyrionn, another reason to live.

[@Skyrionn]

We're just holding out until HL3

[@zeckfive7574]

@@Skyrionn Hope

[@WiggleOcto]

Hell yeah, more Half Life Lore

[@Skyrionn]

And there's more to come

[@that_one_fucking_idiot]

@@Skyrionn bro has whole half life 3 worth of lore

[@ImAHumanThatExistz]

@@Skyrionnyay!

[@melvinschrab505]

Can you make a video focusing on the razor trains?

[@张文钊-s7m]

"Did you kill or save Jeff?" - I thought they were the same option🥲

[@berkeokur99]

Nice renders as always

[@Skyrionn]

Glad you like them!

[@MufMof]

Love the Xen spores!

[@Skyrionn]

Although horrific. They're pretty nice to look at.

[@Dovah2798]

I think that the cmb succed at the qz since hl2 shows 0 flora at the whole city zone that we visit, there are only headcrabs that are there as the result of using them as a weapon. And as always the cmb didnt have problems with the qz since they used humans which have 0 value for them, thats why the use them, so the planet can be rule with the local species meaning that the do not even need to be at the qz to deal with it, like humans using robots or tools that cause 0 human losses

[@ugipse]

I wonder how many years it would take to get the world back to a reasonable normal. Portal 2 suggests that 999 years had passed and no one had yet found the massive underground facility. Although the computer could have glitched when saying 999.

[@XOFInfantryman]

It did glitch, or well people misunderstood what it was actuallying saying can't remember which it was but tldr its been like 20-40 years into the future for Portal 2

[@DrMedicsGameSurgery]

i stil lthink the reviver seems more liek an evolved/mature shock roach in its nature than anything related to a headcrab personally

[@Skyrionn]

Oh great theory

[@eodinoow3051]

always a work of art from the hands of skyrionn

[@Skyrionn]

I appreciate you

[@eodinoow3051]

@@Skyrionn genuine happiness

[@eragonbromsson1122]

All 8 Vortigaunt Pods were connected to the Vault. Once Alyx destroyed one, the Vortigaunts destroyed the other 7.

[@thiagovidal6137]

Say what you want... but HL Alyx is the best HL game and the coolest story of all of them. The amount of context and environmental story telling is beyond any video game I've ever played.

[@Skyrionn]

It does have a pretty great story. The environmental storytelling is peak in Valve games too. Probably why people love this series so much.

[@natecolbert7782]

Thank you for your videos !

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks!

[@Johnny-zi6lw]

Commenting to support Skyrionn

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks for the support!

[@juliusmalcovsky4092]

Good video, thank you ❤

[@ebonhawken574]

I love Half-life lore videos, I also love Half-life too haha

[@memirsultan1227]

We need sawmill lore

[@Skyrionn]

I don't think there would be enough lore there haha

[@ELASPED]

They need to make a hl3 just so he can keep uploading lore videos

[@drawingmonsters2721]

i love this series im a big fan of half life🙂🙂🙂🙂

[@Skyrionn]

I appreciate you watching! It's a great series to explore.

[@x_hibernia]

alien empire= universal union, capital persecution=civil judgement, ones a tech demo while the other is a full fledged game with two dlcs and a later added tech demo, also combine regime=combine overwatch?, they really have both nothing to do with each other than a brief appearance of being Gordon freeman which was the whole selling point that they might give a demo of hl3 in about 11 more years based of of the realise date of the last entry if you can even call it that, if it was up to me it would have been at least three or four times larger, like we get huge chunks of lore in half-life 2 that has her driving the scout car? or how she held the record for the fastest speed run to black mesa east?, of course valve hadn't a clue of what to do, what was the excuse oh yeah they were waiting to finish the new engine, half-life 2 after the German leak spent only six months and made hl2, I believe they spent 2 years based off there little documentary, so wtf were they doing for 18 months.

[@32BitJunkie]

I'm kinda concerned that Alyx is going to turn into a Jeff after coughing up all those spores...

[@natalialuca]

Great Video Also an Idea i got maybe Fallout Lore Videos Only an idea

[@Skyrionn]

Cool idea but the algo didn't like me making Fallout sadly. I have a couple Fallout videos on the channel :)

[@natalialuca]

@@Skyrionn you have? I will Check them Out thanks

[@thomasmundy9398]

This was fantastic!

[@Skyrionn]

Best comment

[@thomasmundy9398]

@@Skyrionn best reply!

[@AmericanMephistopheles]

The lightening headcrab looks more Race X than Xen, honestly.

[@MisterCake]

how Cool would it be if VALVe made another early HL2 storyline where you play out Barney's Story & perspective

[@kermitclassified]

Half-Life: Calhoun

[@Kurisu343]

since the release of hl alyx i always wondered what happened with the QZ, exists in the timeline where gman didn´t was imprissoned? :O

[@redcrysis123]

THE G man is you, the player.

[@SaintJamn]

Keep up the good work.

[@Skyrionn]

Will do! Thanks for watching

[@andreworders7305]

8:36 how would those dangers differ at all from those on Zen

[@Skyrionn]

Earth has a different atmosphere.

[@nocturnalsimulacrum6385]

I wonder what a Head Crab Tiger would be like 😂😂

[@le_bungus]

love the content, it would be really nice to listen to this on spotify. Would you consider uploading there too? 😅

[@Skyrionn]

I have considered it. Maybe in the future. Currently, I just don't have the time

[@le_bungus]

@@Skyrionn no prob, thanks for the reply!

[@Bnery34]

“Babe, wake up. Skyrionn uploaded a video.”

[@Darkmatter105]

We finally get another half-life game, and they make it VR..... not all of us have access to VR. I want a PC version!

[@VerkrKoS]

Skyrionn plays a keyboard version in the video lol

[@BungieStudios]

SKYRIONN IS BACK!!!

[@CSXBoys]

sorry i know i already commented once but like, imagine a multiplayer game where you and your team are deployed as combine "disinfectors", and you are tasked with trying to clear different areas in the qz. do something similar to lethal company, quota, different areas, blah blah blah

[@Skyrionn]

That'd be cool

[@topcat59]

Cool vid bro.😺

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks :)

[@jooniin262]

just from the title i can see this is cool 👍

[@Skyrionn]

I hope you enjoyed it

[@CrysisYaDig]

ahh I love half life lore so much

[@Skyrionn]

It just goes deeper and deeper

[@michaelmcgowan7779]

Amazing how all the HL lore reminds me of the SCP Foundation.

[@Skyrionn]

SCP is top tier

[@riseuplights5017]

I’m sorry, Skyrionn, but I watch you’re videos on 1.25x. You sure take your time speaking, mate

[@chrisbishop5561]

Thanks for the tip dude. 👌

[@JacobWiggins-p1w]

Could you make a video on enotropy 0?

[@Skyrionn]

Maybe one day

[@koskettaja609]

so excited for this

[@Skyrionn]

Enjoy

[@Ezrahite]

"hold on babe Skyrionn just posted"

[@CrumblinerCrumbine]

great video.

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks!

[@5969destiny]

Love the videos

[@Skyrionn]

Thank you :D

[@calebbowen667]

finally found you again