• Nakoichi [they/them]M
    ·
    2 years ago

    HL 2 remains the pinnacle of environmental storytelling in games. And not just the way that you observe the environment but the ways in which you interact with it as well and no other game has come close since.

    • MC_Kublai [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      No other world has drawn me in like Half Life 2. I almost feel like everyone gives Half Life all the (deserved) credit and comparatively kind of overlooks the accomplishments of Half Life 2 (I know it's still one of the most revered games of all time, but I just love it so much)

      • Nakoichi [they/them]M
        ·
        2 years ago

        It's like they took "show don't tell" as a design principle and I fucking love it.

      • FourteenEyes [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Honestly the level of world building that's packed into everything is incredible. When you cobble all the little bits of info together, it's pretty fucking bleak and you actually start to wonder whether Dr. Breen really is making his best attempt at damage control because he knows that if they made an actual effort to, the Combine would wipe out humanity without even altering their overall logistics too much. They're nothing to the Combine.

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Breen always came across as a guy that was in way over his head, trying his best to work within the system to keep humans around at least in some form

          • FourteenEyes [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Also a giant nerd who probably smooth-talked his way into a cushy job administering a secret facility that gets fat government contracts and gets all of his moral lessons from The West Wing

            • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
              ·
              edit-2
              2 years ago

              all of his moral lessons from The West Wing

              More like Neil de Grasse Tyson-style epic bacon pop science

              In the office confrontation in the end he tries to convince Eli Vance by gushing about all the outergalactic intelligent fungi and other COOL science we could get to see by joining the combine