In which I attempt to make a video about Half-Life but end up making a video about US imperialism instead. Whoops. Pledge on my Patreon here! https://www.pat...
The speech from the Washington Institute of Near East Policy at about 10:14—12:10 is some distilled corporate malice, and pistachio obsession.
I love HL2 and its lowkey maoist message but when I play it I can't help but to eyeroll at the hamfisted depiction of the Combine empire as basically the US porpaganda version of the Soviet Union, down to the very subtle choice to set the game in eastern Europe. Even when libs do something accidentally right they have to fuck it up somehow.
look at this shit https://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090924182709/half-life/en/images/6/61/Consul_greater_good_poster.jpg
For real, HL2 aged like a fine wine. The god-tier art direction shapes my aesthetic sense to this day. But we gotta talk about those problematic faves sweaty 💅
So, some of the flats and the architecture were based on Sofia, Bulgaria - some redittor did a nice matchup for the locations - https://www.quarkxr.com/post/real-life-locations-half-life-alyx-sofia-bulgaria
A lot of the buildings are actually late socialism era, 70s and 80s buildings, that kinda grew dilapidated and unmaintained during the 90s and early 2000s. There is definitely a sense of hauntology. And every year when the sirens are being tested, it feels very very eery, cause it feels like Half-Life but IRL. Back in the day I used to hitchike with a couple of friends around the country and visit abandoned places specifically looking for the HL aesthetic and vibe.
I love HL2 and its lowkey maoist message but when I play it I can't help but to eyeroll at the hamfisted depiction of the Combine empire as basically the US porpaganda version of the Soviet Union, down to the very subtle choice to set the game in eastern Europe. Even when libs do something accidentally right they have to fuck it up somehow.
look at this shit https://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090924182709/half-life/en/images/6/61/Consul_greater_good_poster.jpg
The four pests are headcrabs, antlions, barnacles, and leeches
dyson sphere interdimensional imperialism is a paper tiger
yeah but you gotta admnit cyrillic is aesthetic as fuck
For real, HL2 aged like a fine wine. The god-tier art direction shapes my aesthetic sense to this day. But we gotta talk about those problematic faves sweaty 💅
deleted by creator
So, some of the flats and the architecture were based on Sofia, Bulgaria - some redittor did a nice matchup for the locations - https://www.quarkxr.com/post/real-life-locations-half-life-alyx-sofia-bulgaria
A lot of the buildings are actually late socialism era, 70s and 80s buildings, that kinda grew dilapidated and unmaintained during the 90s and early 2000s. There is definitely a sense of hauntology. And every year when the sirens are being tested, it feels very very eery, cause it feels like Half-Life but IRL. Back in the day I used to hitchike with a couple of friends around the country and visit abandoned places specifically looking for the HL aesthetic and vibe.