The Combine's Horrific Prison | Nova Prospekt | Full Half-Life Lore
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- Nova Prospekt is one of The Combine's most guarded and feared locations across the wasteland. After Gordon Freeman returned for stasis, his actions led to the fall of this prison which then ignited the spark to begin The Uprising.
What horrors occur within Nova Prospekt? Why would The Combine chose an old prison to become one of their strongholds and how important was Nova Prospekt to The Combine's occupation of Planet Earth? In this episode, I explore the horrific Nova Prospekt in the Half-Life universe.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Before the Invasion
03:21 The Combine Occupation and Adaptation
07:14 The Horrors and Technology of Nova Prospekt
13:20 Xenian Influence
16:06 The Fall of Nova Prospekt
21:09 Legacy
22:48 Development of Nova Prospekt
25:53 Closing Thoughts
27:05 Ending
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AUDIO USED
Half-Life 2 OST: Lab Practicum
#NovaProspekt #Lore #HalfLife - Ігри
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Should the next Half-Life be another VR exclusive?
Can you also make theory from the lore
no because i don’t think that’s they will make another vr exclusive game, due to unfair reasons of people not having a headset (alyx was a prequel, so its more understandable)
third
In an ideal world the next HL game can be accessed with normal pc or vr
Its is amazing how valve added 2 enemy types that only exist for chapter 9 and 9a only
The way you describe the all your Half-Life lore videos is almost like watching a History Channel Documentary on Black Mesa and the 7 Hour War Events. Keep up the good work.
Facts.. He is really good at telling a story..
And.. the uprising.
This is a fairly consistent comment I have been getting and I guess you're right. Thank you :) It's a huge compliment. I do like these these as mini-documenaries on an amazing universe!
This basically is a history documentary since the game came out 18 years ago
❤️
You should do "The Lore Behind: The Quarentine Zone" or the units that patrol it.
On the list my guy! Coming soon ;)
@@Skyrionn ;)
Good shout... I always wondered about the QZ!
Yes good lore
You mean the one from Halo 2?
Seeing Gordon in 3rd person will never not be weird.
It was at first for me. But, I got used to it after a while!
Especially his posture
Valve knew they would eventually need to put the player back into some remote, concrete installation with lots of ventilation shafts, automated security sytems and security checkpoints, and various hazards he would have to navigate through. At the very root of it, this would also have to be a place where the _soldiers_ , an iconic enemy from the base game, would seemingly be in control and use their advantage against the player, who up until this point, should be sufficiently adapted and equipped, to tackle such a challenge.
From my personal experience, I'd say that they exceeded all expectations and executed everything absolutely masterfully. From the previous chapter, where the player is forced to breach the installation firts in order to even beginning with his mission, fighting off humanoid enemies, that are well armed and well organized, even rocking in their own unique uniforms, to the eventual gunships, which arrive as a measure of last resort to neutralize the player's attempts to enter the prison, it is very clearly signalled to the player, that this will be the fight of his life.
What happens later, is a sequence of very well thought out and executed mini chapters, with the second Antlion Guard boss-fight and learning how to disable security system.
But it's not until the first security checkpoint with automated sentry turrets, which Gordon is able to place down, that the chapter truly shows what is yet to come. Eli is still far from the player's reach and by the time Gordon arrives to sector D8, the actual main event begins! I love the holdout segment and played through it dozenz upon dozens of times, and to this day it is easily my most favorite combat segment out of all HL games.
When i think of nova prospekt that one side hallway always comes to mind thats right after you turn off that big fan. I like how there are four combine soldiers there, two are firing behind the corner where you cant see and two are hiding in front of you. Then the other two retreat into your view and a huge swarm of like 30 antlions slaughters all of them in 10 seconds. It does a good job of portraying how dire the situation was for the prison guards in nova prospekt
His name is falloutgamer, he has a halo pfp, and he is commenting on a half life video.
@@GunsAndAmmo3 i sure am
Nova was amazing and creepy at the same time. If the prison walls could talk. Great work as always.
Nice to see your name again bud! Thanks for being a Patron too!
If only the walls could talk of the horrors
The walls would say nothing, they would only scream
I really thought it was cool how nova prospect was foreshadowed at in the very first scene of the game, right before you meet Barney. In smod tactical, I like it even more as it utilizes invisibility cloaks on the combine, and equips them with pulse rifles that are instead laser rifles. The music is really iconic too
It was perfect foreshadowing. Absolutely loved it. Thanks for the support!
As someone under exposed to HL lore Nova Prospekt sounds really interesting, and involved with the world from your description
I'll probably be in for the 3rd Nova Prospekt video :j
I think I covered it well in this one so this should be the final video on Nova Prospekt. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I do try to add how it impacts the world around it instead of it being solely about the location. Thanks for the support )
I think it's difficult to tell whether there's something worse than being turned into a stalker, as we don't know much about their nature, specifically, whether any consciousness remains, because if not, it's functionally the same fate as simply dying but having your body be kept working artificially. Either way the one fate worse than that is probably being the original writer for HL:A and have the whole team be like "yeah no it's not half-lifey enough, scrap all that".
If' I'm allowed to give a bit of criticism on this otherwise very well made video, I feel like it's this slight bit blown out, with details like "they had *special terminals* to control the force fields", as if it's noteworthy that the force fields can be shut down, as opposed to walls, or what feels like a solid minute explaining the what trains are.
The first half of the video is almost as if you're trying to sell the idea of Nova Prospect to the Combine XD
It's one of those things where I'm trying to add depth to the location and how I felt when exploring. It's the little things I guess. I like to go deep.
What if I am a part of the Combine...
Thanks for the support my dude
Actually there is a worse fate.
Being used as genetic material for future Synths.
@@Skyrionn I really much prefer this kind of in-depth analysis of mundane stuff like Combine trains and terminals. Keep up the good work!
I personally think being turned into a headcrab zombie is worse since you are conscious throughout the whole thing.
I agree the video is kinda bogged down by description, like up to this point in the game every single piece of tech he describes we've already seen before and know their purpose, he talks like this is the first location to feature terminals. everyone in ur replys was saying they like hearing someone describe what a door is and I wanted u to know ur not alone, still a awesome video tho
What's interesting in this chapter is that a Combine train goes past when you get to the depot. When you meet with Alyx there is banging on the metal door. When the teleportation is happening elite guards come during the last few seconds. It's as though the elites were sent by train from the Citadel and arrived only to have to find a way into the chamber
You first see overwatch elite on the security cam when Dr. Breen is giving his speech about the overwatch's failure in capturing Gordon.
@@Viviana088 you're right, m8
i wonder what happened to the remaining guards within the nova prospekt after the destruction of it
Probably off-world assignment lmfao
Or they died with the blast, the teleporter exploded. I am sure it sent the whole prison down to the bottom of the ocean along with some of the cliff.
If anyone survived they would have gotten one of those off world assignments
They had to hold off against the antlions until they ran out of ammunition. They were completely cut off due to the explosion.
Antlion food I suppose
I think what made this part great in this game was the fact it was at night, the dark vibes were awesome
You are the best UA-camr, for Half life, this is better than switching TV channels where you want to eat
That is super kind! Im glad you enjoy them bud
The some kind duality of half-life 2 plot, I mean at first glance player think that is saving the humanity or at least creating some kind of rebellion, but after deep thinking each action against combine costs tons of humans life. Genius lore and Nova prospekt is this very moment in game where consequences are really catastrophic for common citizens, Combine is pure genius creation.
I've been waiting for so long. This is better than cake and ice cream.
yes
I had ice cream and cake yesterdsy
No.
It's more than that.
A high compliment. Cake and ice cream is one of the best things.
its not feasible to rescue each and every person in nova prospekt. their fate was already sealed there was nothing gordon could do for them
A sad thought, but likely true
I am pretty impressed at the time making all of the shots, edit them and telling the whole story! Nice work!
Sandtraps has always remind me of HL1's Surface Tension, both have the following similarities;
1)Both chapters are surface/outdoor levels, then become indoor/underground missions with close quarter combat in the next chapter. (lambda core)
2)Walking around a cliff.
3)Fighting air assets with a rocket launcher.
4)Trying to find your way into a mysterious complex, which was mentioned several chapters before, and the game builds its story during your fight your way into unknown.
5)Both chapters have following chapters which include teleportation.
6)Both teleportation parts put the player into last stand situation, he must survive long enough to escape the overwhelming enemies.
7) There is no coming back once the teleportation completes, both places get destroyed forever. The teleportation fields are prepared by an another character.
8)Both are relatively long but fun chapters.
I wholeheartetly agree, but at least I enjoyed _Surface tension_. Sandtraps on the other end wasn´t fun, since you can just choose between running from the Antlions (spawn indefinetely) or hop on crates to stay of the ground (which took over 20 minutes of lame tedious gameplay).
@@howtomundane3109 I agree with Surface Tension being more fun than Sandtraps, but Half Life 1 was overall better than HL2 and its episodes anyway. The Combine are not even challenging compared to HECU and their arsenal.
@@tychusenfieldlarsson206 I mean yea I get that HL2 is easier then HL1, since for some insane reason they didn't adapt the maps to work with the combine ai.
But episode 2 is better then HL.
Both also get extremely intense. Overall Surface Tension and Sandtraps are serious Half Life highlights for me.
That's a good observation. I find sandtraps to be far easier, and surface tension to be more grueling, insane, and more of a slog when I get to thinking about it. In the past, I equate the Follow Freeman and Anticitizen One combo to surface tension, because those chapters together always felt equally grueling as the single chapter of Surface Tension in the original game. Water Hazard always felt to me what On A Rail should of been, While We Don't Go to Ravenholm and Highway 17 we're in leagues of their own and brought something to the series that wasn't present before.
I really love your videos, your dubbing is super good and I actually really like all the info these have, which I didn't expect. Thank you so much
One of the best storylines of any FPS game I've ever played, I wish we had a Half Life 3. I also wish I still had a PC so I could play Black Mesa and Half Life: Alyx. 😢
It was a great storyline!
I love listening to these videos before sleep, the way you narrate to the story is fantastic, super immersive!! 10/10 keep it up
This has been my longest stay on the throne but... I can't say it wasn't a very interesting one, loved the video!
I played half life 2 when I was in 3rd grade and that prison was always so spooky to me at the time. Had weird childhood memories watching this😂
Not to be "That Guy" but you used the wrong Nova Prospekt guard for the thumbnail, I have goofed with stuff like this when making crap in Gmod, it happens to the best of us, it's very unnoticeable, it took 3 months for me to discover, keep up the good work with the Portal and Half-Life lore.
We need "Evil" Skyrionn.
That says "Now, Combine Member, would you-"
.... one day....
I love your videos about Half Life 2.
I’m learning a lot about it, and I’m definitely a half life 2 fan!
You keep up the good work, I can’t wait for more to come out.
What an amazing storyline to this day half-life 2 is still among the best games I've ever played
My new favorite Half-life content channel ❤️ I have loved Half-life since i played it for the first time back in 1998 on my old Olivetti computer 😅 I found my best friend through Half-life, I have spend thousands(!) Of hours playing every single Half-life game (every game by Valve set in the HL-universe) and i CAN'T get tired of them, they mean so so much to me.
Even if i know most of the lore and BTS of everything, i still love to see videos like this. Thank you man for making these videos! You rule!
Listening through I'm haunted by the phrase "Failure will result in Permanent Off-World Reassignment".
I used to imagine a civil disciplining and shipping off to some awful work camp
Until I realized one day it actually meant execution.
A terrible fate.
Amazing description! Can wait to see what's next, sub earned.
nice video als always, plz never get rid of this song.
Also the reason why the combine want to know how local teleportation works is because this knowledge is the key to find out how traveling through time works, like when Gordon and Alyx were send to the future by accident or what happened to the Borealis. This is the only reason the Gman interferes
Your voice is absolutely heavenly, you should be narrating audiobooks, my guy. Sheer brilliance!
Oh maybe one day. I appreciate that! Thanks for over a year of subscription here!
Amazing video, it feels like i'm watching a documentary made like 100 years after the combine rule or something, to teach the new generations of what happened
Wow, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it
barrack freaking obama
I’m still amazed with your resonance cascade explanations the variations. I hope to see very very many more of them in the future
So many different ways to tell it. Super short this episode.
Ahh yes, it's evening, done with work, I made a nice cup of tea and watching your videos. The little gems in life.
Glad I can bring some happiness to your life bud! Hope you enjoyed
as always, excellent work. thank you for continuing to contribute to the HL2 community. ❤️
Thanks for the continued support! There's always more to come
Nova Prospekt story finally here! Nice one Skyrion!
I hope it was worth the wait!
This, & your other videos, are very high quality! Wow!
Excellent video, man! You covered Nova Prospekt and its implications quite well, it really is an eerie place with nefarious purpose. I have to agree with you as well- I'm not sure there's a fate worse than being a Stalker save maybe being turned into a grub.
Speaking of, a video on Epistle 3 would be quite interesting! It's a LOT to unpack for such a short story, to say nothing of how it perfectly wraps up Half-life- and how it now appears to have been retconned.
Thanks bud!
I'm currently writing the script for Epistle 3, and I figuring out what should be included within it. I'm considering covering all of Breengrub too but we'll see how important it is to the story.
@@Skyrionn Looking forward to it whatever you choose, dude! I will say, at the least, that I'm quite looking forward to when Project Borealis ever comes out, Valve time of course.
Originally I was happy to see Nova Prospekt destroyed, but watching this video and realizing that countless prisoners were also killed just makes it a tragic event. At least their deaths were not in vain.
i love the lore in valve's games so much. your commentary and cinematic editing make it 100x more cool
Nova Prospeckt is one of the few places in a video game that honestly creeps me out. No matter how small the crime, you'd be sent here to the literal middle of nowhere. Where even if you did break out, you'd have to contend with the wildlife outside. As the coastal areas are so under populated, the combine will find you fairly easily if you escaped.
I may be stating the obvious but: The prison is like Alcatraz... but 100 times worse. Its only when the player ventures inside that we see torture of vortigants, but strangely, not of humans. This could hint at humans being turned into Stalkers or being sent off world to Xen or another planet altogether. That, or its a processing facility for combine soldier recruits who are seen in this location through a monitor near the end of the chapter.
Maybe its not a prison at all, but it's used as a guise to keep the general population under control, seeing as we do not see every single area. Seeing as its only described as a prison, it can be assumed that no-one really knows of this places true intentions, afterall, the place is largely devoid of convicts or detainees altogether, if there were detainees here... are they in those pods we see near the end of the chapter, or are these not prisoners at all but rather from other cities across the globe awaiting their fates? We'll probably never know as the location is destroyed.
nova prospekt was based off alcatraz
The teleporter in Nova Prospekt is so underrated it looks so cool
Half Life Dark(est ) Theory : The Combine came in peace and we did this to ourselves
No one is certain how much time Gordon Freeman spent on Xen after the Resonance Cascade scenario , but it was enough time for head crabs to convert scientists into zombies and other Xen captured creatures to escape their prison cells in Black Mesa and reek Havok and all the phones where out . When doctor Rosenburg sent Barney Calhoon to Xen , he had a minimum of control and ensured that there is a device for Calhoon to return to Earth . Gordon had no such device . He was meant to be stranded to an uncertain fate . Perhaps Gman s plan all along was for Gordon to enter Xen and start from Xen his journey to defeating the Nihilant . but the Vortigaunts sent him to his point of origin after he was safe from harm . The G man could do nothing but watch and tried to lead Freeman to his path back to Xen
Gordon had a unique attribute above fighting skill and intellect : He could never tell The Truth and he was always there to listen
The entire Black Mesa incident was to prove to a higher authority , that humans are intelligent enough to capture animal like creature and put them back if should they escape . It was an invitation from Earth , for the higher intelligent species to come to Earth and talk business . It took Wallace Breen 7 hours to send a message to the combine that stated Earth Surrender to the xenian life forms . And what the combine did was to capture all or most xenian life forms that caused panic through out the world . As a thank you , The World Leaders offered to have their minds probed but in fact it was a transfer of conscience where The world leaders minds took over the combine minds and created Half Life 2 Utopia. Finding new ways to punish humanity and challenging them to fight and be obedient , accepting any kind of reality they see fit as in air exchange or joining Civil Protection just to eat
Gordon Freeman was spared to participate in sick mind control games , However , The G man is doing the same to Gordon while trying to find another way to stop them for good
im sorry but i dont really get the theory so if you could provide an shorter explanation i would be very grateful
@@potatolover4203 Gordon was not supposed to return from Xen to Earth . g man wanted to test his skills in Xen only but vorts rescued him and sent him after Black Mesa was damaged . After a few hours he went back to Xen . Meanwhile Breen sent a message that they surriender to Xen . Black Mesa is nuked , Combine come in takes care of the problem world wide and world leaders trick them to probe their minds but become The Combine , enslave Earth because everything was planed from the start. World leaders became Combine through mind controlling other species
@@ambrusraul2297 thank you
Hello headcanon that i will accept above all
@@mpcrauzer excuse yourself ?
Been waiting for this one. Thanks for the content.
Thanks for watching. Too kind! Any suggestions are welcome!
I always loved the fact that the player could almost tame the antlions to fight with him
Very well done and nice dialogue!
You just make the best content IMO :) I hope people find your channel!
I appreciate that! I hope so too!
back with a great video!
Hope it was worth the wait :D
man, ur videos are priceless. keep it up!!
I love your videos, been watching then a lot, HL lore is so good
Thankyou so much for these videos
No - thank you for watching and supporting the channel!
Your style with these videos are really dang professional... I'm not jealous or anything
Fantastic video! Great explanation.
Thank you :) I appreciate the support!
My time at nova Prospekt was terrible, it’s a good thing your doing a video on it!
Nice vid, i hope to see more
Ah yes another Half-Life Lore video. Keep up the good Work!
Awesome - glad you enjoyed it!
Good work, thanks for sharing!!
Too kind. Thanks for watching!
Holy shit, the resistance symbol at 5:05 - i just realised that the Half-Life Lambda symbol is an arm holding a crowbar. I've never noticed that before.
Hold up, you absolutely cooked here. I nvr noticed either but I love it
Watch, The colony on Netflix.
Serious half life 2 vibes.
Colony?
Man I love this channel.
great video bro
"They say a trip to Nova Prospekt is a one way trip."
A place you'd never want to visit.
@@Skyrionn or break into
I can tell this video is going to be great
And I hope it was for you!
I think The CItadel would be an interesting Lore Subject!
this is kinda why I dont find the epistol 3 ending makes much sense, like the whole series we see the combine has weaknesses and can be beaten, and then epistol 3 is like "actually the combine are too big to stop cuz they made a dyson sphere" like it was really a limp ending
Cool as always :)
Thanks my dude!
Absolutely love HL2 Lore stories great job
Thank you! I really enjoy making them. Thanks for the support
I've just finished Half-Life 2 for the first time and now i'm on a binge watch of hl2 lore videos.
fantastic stuff!
Thanks bud! I'm glad you enjoyed it
Finally another video!
Loved the detailed Lore.
I love this channel as of recently discovering
I'm glad you found it!
excellent video!
I think all of them bc first it was a new prospect after that it had a new perspective and lastly it was a hope
This channel is awesome, Half-life 2 is one of the coolest games ever.
For a fate worse than being a stalker, possibly becoming a head crab zombie comes to mind
Stalker is worse.
@@OaksieDoaksiewell we don't know if you lose consciousness or not , so for now im gonna go headcrab zombie because their consciousness is still there
I love your Videos, thank you.
Best to COMBINE with my food.
Thanks bud!
That pun should get you locked up at Nova Prospekt!
you are so severely underrated
Too kind. Thank you!
You can see that you put some effort into these videos.
I don't know how to make a decent video but i know for anything that is a finished product there's a lot of work put into it...
(Im in a band that's the only reason i know that)
Dude i just found you out and i subbed after the vid can you do a lore over the combine overlord and chains of command? Its gonna be interesting too find out how they operate and work
love Ur lore video's they explains so much to me
Eh man this is really well put together d2_prison_01 -5 are my favorite maps
All amazing maps. What is more amazing is what you can find when you noclip...
Valve are so good at making game universes that feel immersive. A Half-Life movie would be really cool. Wouldn't even have to feature Gordon Freeman or anything, the Half-Life universe is interesting enough on its own
23:26 knew you had a northern welsh accent! wrexham area?
Thank you for contributing to the Half-Life 2 community.
Wow your video gave me a whole "nova prospekt"
I see what you did there! Thanks for watching bud :D
Nova Prospect - Nova Perspektiva , Novi Plan (Serbian) - New way of looking at things or a new plan, depending of the context of the rest of the sentence. So it kind of fits both ways in the context of the story. I would also like to add that the architecture style used in the game is called brutalism, popular in Serbia during the era of Balkan communism. A lot of building in the game are really similar to the ones especially in Belgrade but based on the writings in the game i am guessing that its non of the countries of Ex Yugoslavia since our language does not include some of the specific characters that are in the game although most of them are the same. This includes written languages from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia/ Hercegovina and Montenegro from my personal experience and knowledge of my neighbours...
Thank you!
awesome vid thanks
Thank you!
@@Skyrionn thanks for responding I apreciate it!!!
Cant wait for the beta thingy! I love the beta so frikin much man
dude i never ever saw a guy like you know all of this about half life i thought tyler mcvicer is that guy but in comparisson with you no way you are amazing man.. ♥♥♥♥
Well that is an honour. Tyler is absolutely incredible :D
The part of ALL this, that's never made sense to me, is that The Combine couldn't figure out in universe travel, and humans "did"...they didn't, they literally hopped over to zen, setup a relay, then used said relay to instantly hop back wherever they wanted. It's NOT in universe travel, it's the dimension hopping equivalent of a u-turn. This "advanced" civilization couldn't figure that out???
Now if we're talking aperture, yeah, that one makes sense, because that's ACTUALLY in universe travel.
prospekt is also avenue btw in the literal sense of a long, wide road in a city
Useful knowledge
God tier content, You're doing the Lord's work 🙏
Thanks :) I appreciate the constant support!
@@Skyrionn oh shieeet He replied too me I didn't even notice 😂 and absolutely 🖤 my pleasure
Ok so you are the Zeltik for Half Life. I dig it.
You should have made a book because your storytelling is the best. If you had converted all your movies, following the game series, into a book it would have been a bestseller in the game franchise.
I feel like I'm good at summarising and telling other peoples stories but I don't have any of my own haha
This kinda reminds me about Alcatraz Prison, Built like the same concept
Would love a video on the beta!
Coming soon!