Half-Life's Extraordinary Lost Location | Air Exchange | FULL Half-Life 2 Beta Lore
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- The Half-Life 2 beta had so many interesting features that did not make it into the retail game. Many were cut completely while others were reworked into something new. The Air Exchange eventually became the prison of Nova Prospekt, but just how different were these two chapters? The Air Exchange was absolutely one of the darkest parts of the beta before it was cut.
What was the Air Exchange? Why was it so important to the beta story? and what remnants remain of it in the retail version of Half-Life 2? In this video, we explore the lore and story behind the cut Air Exchange in the Half-Life 2 beta.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:28 The Fall & Adaptation of Earth
04:33 The Air Exchange
08:34 Fall of the Air Exchange
12:19 Legacy
14:14 Closing Thoughts
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Half-Life & Portal Lore Playlist: • The Borealis | Half-Li...
Standard Sources
Game Manuals
Half-Life Series Playthrough Research
Portal Series Playthrough Research
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (Uncorrected Proof)
Half-Life 2 Prima Guide
Half-Life: Alyx Playthrough
Portal/ Half-Life Fandom
Dev Commentary
Old Valve Forums
Marc Laidlaw's Twitter
Marc Laidlaw Website
Breengrub Twitter
Reddit AMA (w/ HL: Alyx Developers)
Portal 2
Aperture Desk Job
AUDIO USED
Half-life 2 OST: Broken Symmetry
Black Mesa OST: Catalyst
Half-Life Alyx OST: Insubordinate Relocation
Half-Life 2 OST: Lab Practicum
Half-Life 2 OST: Nova Prospekt
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage At Dawn
#HalfLife #Lore #AirExchange - Ігри
Dark and Griddy.
Also like and subscribe. I'll owe you a beer.
omg gritty!!!! (griddy)
Dark and griddy lol
Griddy
hi skyrionn
Brilliant
The beta is like if Gordon freeman was awakened 10 years later
it's an interesting thought, because there's plenty of evidence that the combine became more and more hostile as the years went by. half life alyx shed a lot of light on this, as they showed both the world as it currently was and remains of the beginning of the occupation in the quarantine zone. in the zoo there were kids drawings of the combine, which like... means that there was a time during the occupation that zoos remained open. additionally, at the time of hla, many soldiers still have some or all of their faculties, because they can talk to each other and even taunt alyx. and citizens had access to different clothes still, not just the standardized civvies.
I think that they were initially less aggressive because they didn't want everyone to rebel or, like, just die. but as the years went by, they started caring less and less about humans, because, after all, they were aging; and there were no more kids. that is, we were reaching our expiration date. god knows what they planned for the future. maybe in the last years they'd just kill all remaining civilians just to finish the job and do whatever they wanted next for planet earth. or maybe just go away and leave our planet a sterile wasteland.
@@henrycgs I think it's a deliberate strategy. Throw a frog into a pot of boiling water and it will jump out. Throw it into cold water, and turn up the heat until it cooks, and the frog won't jump out and boil to death because the temperature is rising slowly enough. The Combine are on a 20-25 year plan here. They don't have to rush this. They can slowly turn up the restrictions "for our own protection" (sounds familiar) and no one will rebel because it's incremental
@@henrycgsI wouldnt be surprised if the goal was humanity's extinction but you obviously dont just go for the kill straight away you need to work your way into their infrastructure so when you do start you can get the leaders and then finish a civilian population that's lost and reliant on you, but then after the extinction I'd guess the goal was grow new better humans and then experiment with them until they were ready to join, end of the day if they can stop pregnancy on a whole planet they probably know how to make that same life much more efficient
@@henrycgs
I think it's funnier to imagine that Breen was just that butthurt about the vault and just completely screwed over humanity even more
Something I like about the original beta wasteland concept art, which is a dry seabed, is how you can see the large facility in the distance and that is your goal to reach that, yet it looks like the character would have to traverse at least 10km of wasteland to reach it, but there appears to be small makeshift buildings along the way that are hijacking into the power cables possibly, essentially a true wasteland setting that is so dystopic it is incredible.
Traversing this, while looking at your goal get closer, while possibly having to fight a few things along the way, getting equipment along the way, and just taking in the atmosphere of the area would have been amazing.
100% I'm all for the atmosphere and storytelling. Half-Life 2 is brilliant in this aspect. The concept art for the beta however shows how incredible it could have been.
The main problem with the wasteland is how the player should stay on track without it being too obvious or invisible walls
I think it's interesting to note too that dry seabeds and lake beds would release a ton of particulate into the air, contributing to the dark and choking atmosphere of the beta and concept art. Any scuba diver can tell you how landing on the ground underwater can kick up a ridiculous amount of fine particulate blinding you. It's more common in lake that allow the water to accumulate, but it happens in some seawater areas as well. Imagine entire kelp forests drying out in the sun, crumbling to dust, and blowing around into the sky, the amount of particulate would be similar to arboreal/terrestrial forest fires.
underrated part of this location is that it was seemingly going to be designed similar to indoor areas Black Mesa
ikr
hi guys please know that we have all did evil (sin) and we are punished to death and since we do evil and reject God we will go to hell but God lovingly provides a way out through Christ where we can be saved if we trust in Gods work on the cross. Turn from your sins and tell your sins to God as Christ makes it possible for us to be forgiven (read John 3:16 please)
Isn't it interesting, how combine have so much technology that is similar to one of Black Mesa or the Aperture Laboratories? Where could they get it?
@Twogoblbost Given the multiverse exists in HL & Portal my guess would be that they either conquered a more advanced black mesa or are a more advanced black mesa. Both are horrifying in different ways
@@thesterravehail Satan!
I know many beta mods exist but imagine if somebody filled in the blank space between the maps already in circulation and pretty much made an entire game it would probably take a very creative mind who is incredibly passionate about the beta version of hl2
noone will when current valve will just dmca it because they hate that other people still make games
@@RAN480L64 not as bad as Nintendo though
Even without watching the video, if I’m correct, the air exchange map almost still works even if it’s been stuck in the files for this long which is quite impressive.
the maps were ported to GMod by fans. they definitely don’t work in normal Source by default
you can still download the original leak engine or fixed versions of it by fans to play them as well
Basically what @jess648 said
8:42 Good lord I couldn’t stop laughing, look at Gordon’s face, the man’s crosseyed. Looks like he’s living with full life consequences from all the head trauma he endured at Black Mesa lol.
The Beta is truly dark and gritty, even Gordon’s brain couldn’t survive the Combine 😞
dark and griddy
Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 beta are like two sides of the same coin, the actual game is usually hopeful adventure dangerous experience and the beta is desperation and dark, but I still wonder what Gman think and what he is gonna do in this beta timeline.. no matter what form a HL game would take, Gman always has a role to play
I would have loved to have seen how the G-Man operated in the beta too.
@@Skyrionn bet G-man would feel even less remorse in sacrificing humanity so he can destroy the combine.
Nova Prospekt basically merged the Depot and Air Exchange
Basically yeah
air exchange was one of my most favourite things about half life 2 beta... it's just so scary thinking the combine were powerful and advanced enough to develop a factory to replace earth's natural atmosphere with it's own... i wish one day we can get the complete lore of air exchange... gosh it's really scary
Yeah my favorite location too. I'm actually trying to remade it and port to the retail hl2, but this is pretty difficult. I hope airex will make it to the big mods like raising the bar redux.
I also hope that one day, we'll learn more about the Air Exchange. I'm hoping we could explore another planet that The Combine invaded.
@@Skyrionn you know the one thing i absolutely love about valve's games is that they only tell us about bits and pieces of the in game universe's lore... the head canon we can make from them man... it's absolutely unreal... and YET YOU KNOW THEIR GAMES NEVER FEEL LIKE THEY'RE MISSING CRUCIAL PARTS OF LORE
@@thedoomguy66 sounds interesting huh
air exchange with half life 2 release assets but somehow with that beta feeling would be... interesting to look at...
Thank you for the shoutout!
Dark and griddy video. Love to see it.
hai rad!!!!!
Anytime man!
Love what you’re doing with the transitions and other editing tricks! Really cool stuff!
Thanks so much!! I'm always trying new things!
I really like the Half Life 2 Beta Aesthetic, the atmosphere of it really is fascinating.
Also, awesome video!
I think that is what I love about it so much. The atmosphere is so depressing and really sets the oppressive tone.
This is my favourite video of yours yet... Thank you, man! Cheers!
Amazing video as always! Thanks for producing so many interesting videos!
Valve could milk the shit out of the Half Life universe.
They can revisit beta's and make them alternate universe games, They can revisit stories like they did with HL: ALyx and just change the outcome of another game. They literally have unlimited potential and theyre doing fuck all with it which is a real shame. But I guess the fact theyre doing so little with it gives the HL universe its charm and mystery
tell that to TF2 players
Valve are literally sitting on a goldmine.
It is so interesting to see how dark and gritty the original Half-Life 2 was. Especially the Air Exchange that a place that basically makes the air of a whole planet toxic. Heck my Combine inspired army has a building of similar design and similar in name called the Air Trade which basically all it does is pump a poisons gas into the air. It is much weaker however as it couldn't spread the gas across a whole planet and is more of a weapon used for this Combine to take over the region they were in.
Also since we got the maps I wonder if someone can find the file for it and implement them in Garry's Mod. I mean a lot of cut maps seem to be put into Garry's Mod.
I know right. It's so dark. I personally prefer the darker aesthetic. Your Air Trade sounds interesting.
They're available on GMod :)
@@Skyrionn It would also be interesting if someone took the scripts and story notes plus the Gmod maps and using the Gmod assets tried to replicate this whole level.
@@reeceemms1643 The thing is. A lot of the storyline in the beta is rather unfinished. Since we only have the information that Ex-valve/valve employees has given us and the leak themselves. And Air Exchange itself has some iterations that changes throughout the years of developing these maps.
@@Shush959 right. I’m sure someone will figure it out or probably base it off if the most likely of things to have happened and to be fair I think I did hear something about a change in what would happen because one video I watched about cute Half Life 2 things said the Air exchange would end with Gordon jumping off of it whilst it exploded
@@reeceemms1643 Yeah, that depends on the iterations of the beta itself. There was like around 4-5 iterations.
The transitions and the narrations to them are insane!
Thanks for noticing. I'm trying new things with editing!
They could bring it back, deep deep into the wasteland possibly even the other side of the planet, they could have the air exchange running in secret until the area of the converted air slowly grows and resistance camps start to go dark for unknown reasons and you're sent to investigate.
I like this idea
You know the whole debate whether Gordon wears the suit helmet or not right? Do you think the HEV suit would have acted as his gas mask?
It could have sure.
Love your videos. You make it so interesting!
Thanks for watching them!
Never knew about the Air Exchange, sounds like a cool concept. Plus, I'm definitely checking out these channels out
You should! They're brilliant.
It's such a shame we never received the Air Exchange. I am happy with Nova Prospekt though!
''Gorden, that dropship coming right for us! ...''
''AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!''
*explodes in to a pile of guts*
best comment
Good stuff like always!
Appreciate it!
Hey, Skyrionn! Love your content. Hope this year treats you well.
This is one of my go to lore channels .
Best kind of comment. Thank you
Thanks for helping to keep this universe alive, Skyrionn!
It's ironic, while the beta is taken as darker, his ideas end with Freeman completely disarming the alliance's plans, taking down the final boss and finally saving the earth. While in the line we ended up seeing, Freeman defeated Breen, destroyed a citadel, yes, but And then? How the hell will he take down a monstrous army that is so big that even 3 games after we can't even imagine how their generals are like?
He deals with the combine on Earth after cutting off their connection to the Combine Over-World. It'd be ludicrous for him to take on the ENTIRE Universal Union. It'd be the same if you took Gordon and gave him both his suit and crowbar and told him to take on the ABSOLUTE WHOLE of the Imperium of Mankind from Warhammer 40k and not stop until every human lay dead across all of its worlds regardless of rank, posistion, sex, and age.
There has to be a limit.
Always love a good Skyrionn Beta video
Always love a great comment!
Very dark and griddy indeed. Also good job on the video! :D
Thanks! 😄
@@Skyrionn 1 thing, i put your videos on when im drawing, and when im drawing a half-life charector, i put a video about them on. So im still waiting on a video on alyx vance >:D
I reeally hope they make use of the beta idea in a future game tbh. it doesnt necessarily need to be a gameplay setting either, just hearing/seeing footage of other cities where the first air exchange factories are built, and how its affecting those areas, would be well enough imo.
I'd like to see that too
I love the HL2 Beta so so much
same
Great content ❤
I actually like the idea of the prison better.
I think visually the idea of an alien atmosphere factory is interesting but thematically, a prison is a perfect for the start of the resistance.
Great choice for the first video of the year! Also I love how you read it as it's all real and you believe in this story.
Thank you so much! I'm also excited about the next video.
It's the style that just works naturally. Kinda like a real documentary.
@@Skyrionn Indeed! It does sound like a documentary, great job man! Keep up the good work!
KEEP HALF LIFE CONTENT COMING!!!
Been watching you for a year now I love your videos man. Have you ever played entropy zero and would you consider making a video on it ?
I've played them but haven't gotten around to covering them yet. Maybe one day. Thanks for being here for so long!
@Skyrionn I LOVE your channel!!! How you explains the lore of franchises as HALF-LIFE and DOOM, my 2 favorite ones. :)
Could you make a short vid of the alternative story of HL, HL: UPLINK, the greatest demo of all times, please?!?
10:07
For more that 10 years I have been wondering what the G-man's words means: "The right man in the wrong place...". Isn't that "the right man in the right place"? If he is in the wrong place, what can he do?
However after this part of the video I think I finally get it.
gotta love the kid with the jordans in the beggining
8:46
Gordon does appear completely unaware
100%
I like your Beta Videos!
Glad you like them!
Ty skyrioon for making me lost a bet I was on a good track record of winning since the lost cost video but you have to mention the resonance cascade in this video
haha.
I know this information has been in the open since Raising the Crowbar came out nearly 20 years ago, but it really showed how much more of a compelling story HL2 could have been and how sinister the Combine are. The Air Exchange and the Manhack Arcade were always my favorite and horrifying cut concepts.
Thank you for the nice words :)
hi richter!!!
Anytime man.
@11:02 let's all take a moment to appreciate the programmer who modeled an anatomically accurate horse schlong to put on a statue in the HL2 beta.
I dont know what is about that art-piece (the thumbnail for the video) that was a concept for the Air Exchange but I llove it so much. I wanna run around in a massive open-area level based on that.
Hey! Will you be planning to do video about half life 2 beta conscripts? It will be interesting
Although all those channels covers a lot of Half-Life lore, would be very nice to see your own version of those same topics. Even a huge collab with all of them. Your style is very much nice and pleasant; relaxing, even.
Thank you for this video!
Noted!
Hey skyrion! Do you have enough material to make a video about the way mentioned by barney and kleiner on the beggining of hl2
For an idea on wich quote to put at the start of the vid you could put
"What cat?"
Alix
I love listening to your lore videos in the background while I play grindy games. Thanks for your content, man.
Glad you like them!
A modder on gMod added a short sequence of 7 Air Exchange levels, starting with entering the facility from the outside and ending with overloading the reactor, leading to the facility's demise, and it's still one of the best linear sequences I played in gMod. There is even a scripted sequence where you regroup with Captain Vance and his Conscripts inside a building, and he catches you up on things as well as tells you to go overload the reactor and how to do it. I wish more modders added scripted Half Life 2 Beta sequences like that.
You didn´t take into consideration that the grand leak of Half Life 2 might have influenced a lot of elements being cut from the game or them being changed. Great video though! And it´s cool to see that HL community Members mention each other. Together we´ll make it to HL3!
It feels more like the first game to me, visually but also thematically. Some people say it's darker but it seems like you get more of a sense of "the right man in the wrong place makes all the difference in the world" than the bleak "just barely scratching the skin of this soulless war machine" that the final retail version projects.
(Or at least gives us the idea of,when valve starts turning hostile to the notion of developing games instead of just milking them)
holy shit that was dark
and griddy
Thank you beyond English vocabulary ❤❤❤❤🙏
New Skyrionn video just dropped
We're back baby
When you think you had all the half-life lore, boom, this guy comes with new stuff!
Oh there's so much more to come.
@@Skyrionn I am more than happy to hear that.
Despite what we got with the retail half life 2 and it was amazing I atill wishwd we could experience this world of half life 2 with the beta .
Another great narration, Sky!
Thank you!
Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy rules!
It's so succulent and rich! So bowel-shakingly delicious! So comforting and wholesome!
The combine can never take that away from us!!!!!!
FAKK THEM IF THEY TRY!!!!!
How DARE you question it?!
Thank you for making my request come true.
No problem 😊
I know it’s memes a bit but 2 really didn’t hit the same level of dark that 1 did. It has its moments, but it feels bland at points for what is supposed to be a taken-over earth
I agree completely.
I really wonder how these meeting went where everyone came to an agreement that this would be a fitting continuation of Half-Life.
good video
and... keep the beer. i don't drink
Will do. Thanks for watching!
I can't think of much anything in the retail version containing traces of the air exchange and its effects, unless you count the gas masks of the Combine soldiers.
If you could talk about the dst universe it would be my new year gift
I can't say I've heard of dst
"Gordon, that dropships coming right for us. AAAAAAUUUUAAHGA"
I'm pretty sure the Air Exchange was pretty much the beta version of Nova Prospekt causing the uprising to start after it collapse just like Nova Prospekt
I believe it became Nova Prospekt after a lot of changes. I love both versions
The final parts where Gordon explodes the reactor made into Nova Prospekt, but i'm pretty sure that was the only similarities as the other parts was mainly taken from depot.
Out of all the cut elements of HL2’s beta storyline, this one always was a favorite of mine. Between the way it effected the visuals of the game with the more dramatic colors, the journey to the Air Exchange itself and the level, it’s place in the story as where the revolution of humanity truly begins, and just conceptually how horrible it is.
Personally speaking, I have asthma that tends to flair up fairly often and can get pretty bad. The idea of all the clean air on Earth being forcefully removed and replaced by a toxic alien atmosphere deadly to humans hits a lot harder than I imagine it might otherwise as a result. It’s definitely one of the more unnerving elements, and I think it would have made the later stages where Gordon’s helping lead the human/vortigun resistance way more triumphant as now not only have you struck a critical blow to the combine’s power, you literally helped restore a basic function of life to everyone on Earth. This would also be a much clearer show of progress even visually as the sickly dark green and red skies are restored to their proper clear blue.
I love the Nova Prospekt levels, don’t get me wrong they’re some of the best in the final game, but it does feel comparatively more understated. Maybe that’s why it worked though in the final game, as the entire design of HL2 got more grounded and subtle compared to how overpoweringly grim the beta concepts were (though also ironically adding probably the darkest with the suppression field). It’s definitely interesting to see how things changed there though.
Excellent
Thanks!
HL2 would have had a timeless aesthetic had they not abandoned the beta look
The retail look was brilliant. I would like to see the beta created properly though
@@Skyrionn Just has a vastly different energy, the kind you saw in a lot of games from that era and even now. A grounded environment because they wanted to prove they could do it over balls to the wall
It would explain why Gordon have to use HEV suit
This guy deserves more than 100k lmao😮
We're getting there :)
@@Skyrionn omg i didnt expect you to actually respond
The Erick's Change
very good
Thanks for watching!
How about Aiden Walker (3650) from Entropy: Zero?? It would be cool...
Maybe one day
@2:03 I woke up from a doze to see the poster I thought it said fart surrenders not earth surrenders
Gordon Semen’s dark and griddy Ice Spice bussin’ gyatt
Here's how Air Exchange can still make into the retail Half-life universe with some modifications: The plant itself would be in the centre of United States. The location itself is unrecognisable now, compared to how it was 20 years ago - it has been proclaimed by the Combine as "Contamination-source Hazardos State", which is isolated by VERY tall and advanced version of Combine force field. The "State" is basicly most unstable, even for the Combine, place on the ENTIRE Earth - it's riddled in "Xen Storms" (weakest form of Portal Storm, so weak it is impossible to use as interdimensional portal, hence why Combine didn't try to exploit them), which periodically scuddeling through wastes, sucking poorly secured objects (like Xen grenade, but it's moving and is a storm), and teleports in varios Xen stuff (mainly biological things); Xen biosphere hazardous leaks and fumes; large amount of varios advanced Xen infestations and creatures; and barely connected Human and Combine "settlements". There are major Combine-ocuppied sities (including tallest (on average) Combine city), mainly surviving big cities of old United States, but Combine never has full control, as ever present infestations and constant raides by several human groups, including United States Armed forces survivors (mainly HECU remnants) and most radical groups of Resistance united into "Revolution Hazard" shoddy union, coupled with unpredictable "Xen Storms" prevents Combine to have even a semblance of full order. It is considered second highest punishment by the Civil Protection to be sent "Hazard State"; the highest punishment, considered by Civil Protection is "Permanent off-world assighment". This place looks and pieces is essentially a mix of Half-life Alyx and Half-life 2 Beta. The plant itself is called "Contamination Cleansing Proccesing Facility" or "Combine Air Filter Plant". It is designed to replace contaminated air in the "State" on clean atmoshere with "Cleaser", which is basicly gas poisonous only to Xen biosphere.
Kinda hoping we see a mod to take on the darker idea of hl2
same
Would you ever do a video on half life 1 cut content?
Maybe one day. I think it's on the list somewhere.
DARK AND GRIDDY!!12!
Captain Vance kinda looks like Bill from Left 4 Dead
honest question
- Is there a way to play the half life 2 beta? if so how?
What s this ? Another Half Life Lore video ? It s been a while i hope you are well.
Would Gordon be wearing his HEV helmet then, because ya know can't breathe
quite possibly.
Can we get a video about the conscripts?
It's on the list!
@@Skyrionn Nice, thank you for responding.
In an parallel universe we got the beta version of half life 2
Imagine if we could go there.
@@Skyrionn i dream about it
sometimes I dream about cheese
it can dark, it can gritty, and it can griddy
real griddy
I wonder who would win in a fight, the strogg or the combine?
The HL2 Beta was Gordon in stasis for 40 years instead of 20.
Half Life could've been the gift that keep giving but Gabe be like "nah"
2:15 where is this place?
"The air excahnge was an incredibly important stronghold for the Combine. To protect it from any harm or resistance activity, the Combine ordered the human arm of their army to defend it."
Hmm... between that and the fact that they were almost completely defeated by just one man, Gordon Freeman, I'm beginning to think the Combine aren't all that and the 7-hour war was an inside job.
Skyrionn the king
thanks!
11:06 no one noticed the horse was packing? or are we still trying to forget it ever existed?
Not something I thought to look for tbh....
@@Skyrionn I heard from some obscure sources that there was a "different" version of that little detail. A more... excited? one? Dunno how true that is, and sorry for making you look lmao
In your description, it says “do many” instead of so many
whoops. fixed.
Although it's interesting to see the story of the beta, but I'm glad we got what we got instead
I like to mainline HL2 beta content.