Half-Life 2's Scariest Beta Feature | Manhack Arcade | FULL Half-Life 2 Beta Lore
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- Опубликовано: 20 июн 2024
- The Manhack Arcade is one of the most brutal parts of the Half-Life series that was unfortunately cut during development. This region of City 17 was designed to manipulate the citizens into hunting down their peers, and in return they escaped their awful reality even for a couple of minutes.
How brutal was the Manhack Arcade? How did the Combine Empire use it to control the population, and why did it not make it into the final retail game? In this video, I explore the lore and story behind The Manhack Arcade in the Half-Life 2 Beta.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:06 The Beta & The Combine
02:42 The Manhack
06:52 The Manhack Arcade
12:20 Legacy
13:34 Versions of The Arcade & Gordon Freeman
17:26 Behind The Scenes
18:42 Closing Thoughts
Restored & Updated of Manhack Arcade by Fredbob: steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
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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: Alyx Playthrough
Portal/ Half-Life Fandom
Old Valve Forums
Marc Laidlaw's Twitter
Breengrub Twitter
Reddit AMA (w/ HL: Alyx Developers)
Portal 2
Aperture Desk Job
AUDIO USED
Half-Life 2: OST: Escape Array
Black Mesa OST: Catalyst
Half-Life 2 OST: Lab Practicum
Half-Life: Alyx OST: Severed from the Vortessence
Black Mesa OST: Xen
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage At Dawn
#HalfLife #ManhackAracde #beta 
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Would you have visited The Manhack Arcade?
Hell yea! imagine how cool it would be to control a man-hack, Though I will still kill people, so there's that..
ayo when you talking about grunts, ordinals , wallhammers and suppresors and some other enemies bro. and also manhack arcade is a classic
fr tho its neat
I'd be one of the guards
I went to it once The lines were too long I gave it a one star on combine yelp.
Something I think would be kinda interesting for a beta mod to do is implement the manhack arcade and have the ability to actually play it... Then later in the game during the canal and sewer sections, you actually come across one of the rebel hideouts you visited from the arcade. You slowly put the pieces together and realize you were killing actual people all along.
That would be brutal
Dark Interval has implemented it but its really rough. The colors are scuffed.
Alternatively there could be a part of a mod where a resistance cell manages to capture the arcade and turn the manhacks on the Combine. It could be out of a general show of defiance or maybe an effort to stop an ongoing raid of a resistance base through sabotage.
I wish we could get a high quality mod of the beta
Raising the Bar Redux is great. No playable manhack arcade though (but you go through the place). Although it's not 100% pure beta recreation, more like "Black Mesa but for HL2 Beta".
Dark Interval is also high up there, but so far it's very short - barely 2 hours. But you get to play manhack arcade.
Citizen: "Damn, I can never get past the outlands level. One of the shotgun enemies keeps shooting me out of the sky! Hopefully it's just a bug..."
The resistance member who used to shoot clay pigeons before the war: "When will they learn to stop sending those damn things over here!?"
lol, I can imagine that bird hunters would have a great time killing manhacks
14:27 another idea for a game
"Manner scanner"
You are a cartoon like city scanner and you have to fly around and find people who do things that oppose the combine. If you find such people you have to take a video of them doing said action and you get points to upgrade and what not. Bonus points for finding rebel hideouts!
"they caught your ass in 4k" simulator
@@totallynoteverything1.LMAO
Ngl i would play that lol
Pokemon Go, Combine edition
it should be like the manhack game like its real rebels and other stuff
Mixing my love for arcades with a dystopian conqueror force using videoames as an unwilling military recruitment of sorts. Combine are wicked and evil pricks but damn if they aren't creative. Wish we got more official insight of the Manhack Arcade because horrors aside, the idea is genuinely inventive!
That's the best way to describe them "Wicked". Truly horrendous.
Could you imagine if the Resistance took control of the Manhack Arcade during the uprising?
Imagine the fun we could have
@Skyrionn the D0G arcade
Basically you control one of mass produced D0G units
Controlling man hacks to kill combines sounds fun
Honestly, judging by the way the manhacks move, it might have been a collosal pain in the ass to control.
Probably
I like to think they somehow controlled it with a trackball
The issue I see with an arcade like this is that it introduces a number of in universe logic problems. Are there so many resistance members that the combine can literally resort to them being used as targets in a virtual reality game? It would be so boring to play if you just patrolled a sewer for 15 minutes and only encountered 3 zombies and a barnacle at most. So either the resistance is so numerous that they can be constantly used as targets in a game or the game is incredibly boring.
Plus, you know how gamers are. They will absolutely attempt to cause as much havoc as possible. It's just a game, after all. I can totally steer my manhack into the Combine Police or the camera drones and just restart...
No, I think the arcade is a cool concept for the vile nature of the Combine but it just doesn't work for me.
Hard agree. Interesting concept but falls flat on its face when given a bit more thought.
this
i could see it kind of working if there was an actual tangible reward like more rations or something for good play, but its definitely a flawed concept
Beta restoration mods make this work better than how it is depicted in the video. Essentially, making it more of an abstract retro game experience where it's quite clear that players are interacting with both a game AND interacting with the real world thereby blurring reality.
@@randomnerd9088 That does make it a bit better, but I still personally think it's too hard to suspend my disbelief for.
Some bits of the beta were just great, should've stayed. Still, we got a great game. And not only that, but a great new Half Life video from Skyrionn! Awesome work and great narration as always man.
Thanks bud!
The combine are creative in their ways of control. I feel like the arcade should've been internally like the first concept to really play into the idea that it's simply an arcade - make it easier to manipulate the citizens. Externally (and behind the scenes) it could still retain the very combine-esque look. Like how places decorate the areas everyone's meant to see and not the staff-only areas.
Staff-only areas must have some combine military stuff.
I absolutely adore your videos, they feel like actual documentaries of my favorite franchise ever. Please keep doing them, you're amazing!!
It's the style I go for. Thanks for watching!
I second that! The style of these videos really make you feel immersed into the series, sometimes it's like a historian detailing the atrocities of war long past, or journalist of a long-time liberated region reporting on what the combine are doing.
RE: 16:07 the building is modeled after the National Palace of Culture, Sofia (Bulgaria). The art director (Viktor Antonov) is Bulgarian which is where he drew inspiration for most of City 17's architecture. The star is probably a callback to the Soviet era. In a couple of points during HL2, City 17 has Bulgarian writing and that set the stage for these games to take place in a pseudo-real Slavic nation, moving Eastward with subsequent installments (Episode 2, Alyx). Location was never clear but this is the origin for the vague Slavic/Eastern European aesthetics.
i love how in the lore, the combine are very "competent" but also very incompetent and very "dumb". But they're also absolutely indifferent.
This was one of a few concepts I wish they included in the final game. It sets up how efficient the Combine is at manipulating the populace and how little they care about the lives of humanity.
I’m manhacking all over the place rn
Who up hacking their man
The way you explain every unit in games makes me wanna call you The All-Knowing Skyrionn
I watched the Mossman lore about 3 hours ago and was exicted to watch the there announced beta lores and was sad, that I could not find many. And now you released one. Excellent! ❤
Nice! I do have a few other beta videos. Cremators, Stalkers and The Consul. They should be in a playlist somewhere on the channel :)
now I'm just imagining someone playing at one of these and seeing Gordon just, smack them out of the air with a crowbar
GAME OVER
Skyrionn i gotta admit you're content is.......AMAZING i like how you're voice is calm and relaxed and straight focused on the context,keep up the good good content you earned a sub
hey man, good video. Anything that adds high quality depth to the half life universe is awesome
Love the version that they made for Dark Interval, looks like the most polished one yet
I've seen a few comments about that. May need to look into it.
Imagine if when playing HackMan, you taunt the Human Target or be all Friendly.
I also see some doing some Speedrun Any%... xD
Man I LOVE your videos! keep up the amazing work!!!!
I don't know what Valve thought overall, but I think a lot of the stuff that was cut made the combine a bit cartoonishly evil, like polluting the air and saying "A good citizen saves oxygen" or whatever, and yes, the manhack arcade. The final version is a lot more realistically oppressive, gray and soulcrushing
Well they could just rework everything
Well they could just rework everything that was cut
I love your videos and I’m amazed how you still find interesting topics about this universe. I mean you have made so many videos about half life, your channel is like the unofficial half-life bible :D
That's a great compliment. There are still so many topics to cover!
Taking control of a manhack would've been really crazy. That arcade sounds like a fun idea.
Man, with drones becoming a bigger and bigger part of our modern warfare, I fear that such a "game" might one day become a reality.
I would have loved to see the Manhack Arcade in the game, or even better in Half Life Alyx.
But I think, from a business point of view, the HL2 beta is too grimdark.
The game would probably have been rated R or at least mature. Unfortunately they had to tone it down for retail to sell more copies.
The manhack arcade is an interesting idea but I'm kinda glad we didn't get it in a way. The way this was made seems a little bit on the nose, even for the combine. It's a cool idea having people unwittingly serving via arcades but having it be something that is so blatantly obvious seems a bit goofy, if it was like recreations of half life 1 lets say from a breen account: "Kill vortigaunts and military!" and the military could hypothetically just be militia.
Hell you could have a "crush the castle" style game that's just firing artillery or something. I feel like having a game literally just playing a manhack is a bit too much.
Yeah I was telling a friend about it. I asked him what he thought the twist was, he instantly saw through it
a great vid as always, i love the beta content, i hope some of it gets reused in future games (if they come)
Thanks! This beta stuff is super interesting. I love covering it. Thanks for watching it!
I remember getting the equivalent of the Deluxe Edition after playing the early demo... i noticed the massive change, especially after reading the developers book... But i was not actually disappointed... HL2 felt right and still impressed.
Half-Life 2 was still pretty much perfection. There were just a few things I feel we missed out on. That book is amazing to look through too. So much information!
another great one my friend!
Thanks! This is probably one of my favourite ones I have put together in a while too!
Please keep doing beta videos there amazing.
I really enjoy your videos keep it up!
Thanks for watching!
if i was a lead developer for half-life 3 i would just make that freeman messed with time and space causing a fatal paradox that gman employed to fix it but its too much of a nudge to fix
while freeman goes trough the world of half-life 2 beta to the point manhack arcade is real and the more you play it the more difficult the manhack gets literally upgrading it yourself by playing more and more once you continue the chapter
but eventually gman does what it was tasked and halfl-life 3 reality universe reshuffles and the paradox is corrected at the end once gordom freeman disturbs the portal where the consul tries to escape
and at that part gman just congratulates freeman for making their job finish and ask gordon to forget all about what happened
sure the ending sounds disappointing but knowing half-life is dealing with dimensions that mess with time and space
"When they came upon humanity" Ayo what is the combine doing with the planets?
i remember when i encountered a Manhack for the first time in Half-Life 2, the first time i played it. the thought of something like that, doing what it was designed to do, it terrified me.
This is actually one of the best lore channels outthere
Interesting that this was in the beta. The manhack arcade idea was also used in season 2 of psycho pass. Cool concept in both
Pretty interesting
I love these deep dives!
me too haha
Triage at Dawn is so hauntingly sad piece of music... It always gets me right in the feels.
I imagine that the person who successfully manhacks Gordon Freeman would get a generous ration reward
I also imagine he is highlighted in orange during his escape from the canals
epic content bruv love your channel you're a good guy.
Thanks bud for being here!
Another excelent video, thank you
Thank ye!
So the Manhacks see in a form of pyrovision.
I'd love that
The combine took realism to another level💀
I really want to see a video about The Combine's forces vs Hell's forces from Doom, a comparison on who's worse and more powerful.
Another great video on half life
Thanks snip
Have you considered covering the "Escape From City 17" vids by The Purchase Brothers? Valve was impressed enough by them to give them a nod and its amazing what they were able to do on such a low budget.
I can't say I've heard of it. I'll have to look into it now though!
Manhack arcade is a genius idea on the combine's part i would've really loved to see it also comment for algorithm 👍
Thanks for watching!
Thank you!
I feel like if the resistance started carring around a chain 9 tail whip itd be fairly effective against the manhacks
A man hack arcade would have been dope, but there's probably some holes in the concept. I think it would have been an interesting addition to the variety of play styles though
"The words Dark & Gritty may come to mind."
Crazy, I didn't know that the beta even has so much content and lore.
Pretty neat innit?
There's so much!
ManHack: My Tummy
Gordon Freeman: The leftovers from asian take-away in the fridge
As a kid I was always terrified when I heard those horrid metallic fluttering, the fact fact they where fast and could come from any where small and compact. I was actually kind of disappointed that they weren't more prevalent in ,ALYX.
The Manhack arcade was probably removed because it doesn't make sense.
- It would be very obvious in the game and outside of it that people are controlling real drones
- It wouldn't make sense for people to be playing it during the revolution
- Seeing Gordon Freeman constantly win in the game would be a total immersion ruiner, especially if you've heard of him (he could have his appearance replaced though, doesn't make him less OP)
- It's like Microsoft flight simulator, at least a few people would bring a manhack to their communal house or arcade and they or their roommates would see it.
Woooooohhhw!! Yeah! Another vid !!
Every week! Thanks for being here :D
the combine be comically evil for this one, they be twirling their mustaches with this one, as if they were watching a broad they had tied up on train tracks or smth
wow, that is a lot of cinematic shots in this video. And all of them fit the narration. Super entertaining to watch and listen to :)
Thanks for watching!
17:57 my tesla spotting a child on the sensors
Imagine telling your homies in city 17 you got the gordon freeman secret level
The hydra from the half life 2 beta would be good to cover.
We need a video talking about the conscripts
Maybe this is a bit of a reach but the arcade idea feels a bit like what the rumored upcoming Half-Life game code name "Citadel" has been rumored to be, someone in a control station playing a top down strategy game (arcade?), and then there's players on the ground in a FPS perspective, maybe the person in the command center could play either a support role for a team on the ground, or set obstacles to stop them, the game apparently would involve all sorts of characters from Half-Life, including the combine.
"damn, that gordon freeman boss is really hard!"
Maybe you could do some lore videos on characters from the entropy zero series
I've thought about it!
So whenever I go to school I see a building callled"Citadel"even tho it's the opposite of the citadel and is very short 😂
Oh my god...
The Combine weaponized video games!!!
I gotta be honest, this is the most efficient way to kill the rebellion off. Imagine a Speedrunner or a person who like grinding for loot on games, killing hundreds to ensure the benefits of their upgrades. And virtual skins (virtual as in the player thinks a customizable skin is on their manhack, because the combine obviously wouldn't allow people to customize a manhack)
I know I'm 3 months late but here's another important about Manhack Arcade
A Half-Life 2 Beta Mod on Source Engine called "Dark Interval" fully remastered The Manhack Arcade both Location and The Arcade Section itself! With flashing lights and cool beeps and boops.
I kinda would like to see Dark Interval's maps in your videos if you cover a HL2 Beta themed video, The maps literally push the Source Engine to it's limit.
Will you ever do that video on the Combine Guards?
They're on the list :D
TL:DR
Ender's game: but reverse
Does this arcade game premise remind anyone of Superhot? Feels like an inspiration for that game.
What is the name of the music that starts at 2:43?
Best content on YT
Thank you!
This reminded me of Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas & Grand Theft Auto 4. You can play video games within a video game
Imagine how much the citizens were tired and scared.. And they found a little light in the darkness by playing the arcade.. They could have some rest and fun despite the fact they were killing their true heroes.
whats your opinion on pearl jam - even flow
Fun fact Lazlo from the coast chapter Actually has a kill trigger so you cant save him?
What map is used in Legacy part? 13:26
ayy a new vid nice
Welcome welcome
i wish somone made a browser game that is just the game from the manhack arcade from the half life 2 beta called "hackman"
1:19 RADIATION HAZARD!!!!
Drone piloting before drone piloting.
14:32 Oh no...
It seems like making 2 different games and releasing the best one is a common theme for Half-Life. They did it with 1 and 2. I wonder if there was a beta version of Half-Life Alyx that no one knows about because it wasn't part of any hack.
man i have idea talk about the rocket when we launch it in half life 1 and why or talk s about the mysterious character G-man or barnucle and bullsquid or about half life uplink what happen and why or about half life 1 alpha vision
"dark and gritty" -Rad Hazard
dark and gritty
"no wonder why those graphics were so realistic!"
Someone needs to make the Beta into a full game
Raising the Bar: Redux
The US actually had an idea to do something like this, but to stun terrorists with a flying drone. It was obviously scrapped, but it is still chilling to think that is was a real idea.
I think I unwittingly made a Creepypasta about this as a kid. One where I play an FPS game that's a bit _too_ realistic.
It appears the concept has been used multiple times in media too
Where l can find it?
Mr. Friendly was part of the early builds of Half-Life, not the Half-Life 2 Beta
whoops
Well we need to admit that it is brilliant. Slap some cartoonist shader to camera feed, connect it to drone in different city disconnect it every few minutes to simulate levels and done! You have inteligent cheap drone controller...
I feel like the Manhack-Arcade could have unintentionally introduced some interesting and disturbing meta-level considerations while playing HL2 itself; if you didn't know the Manhack-Arcade was real, how could you know that HL2 wasn't real, and if you were just piloting Gordon to kill someone who didn't deserve it?
At least, that's what I would have probably ended up thinking at some point, and there's already enough meta-commentary built into HL2 that I think the Manhack-Arcade, while cool from a story perspective, might have just muddled the waters a bit too much for me to enjoy the game as much; probably a good thing that it was "cut" in that regard.
imagine they drive it into the arcade and kill themselves
"Hey, that guy looks exactly like me! Kinda pissin' me off, to hell with yAUUGHH AAAAAAAAAAA"
The arcade was sort of an interesting idea, but it was so cliche that any player would see the _"if they die in the game, they die in real life"_ aspect from the beginning. Retail and Beta is probably the best case of addition by subtraction for game releases.
What is the uncorrected proof of Raising the Bar?
Raising the Bar is almost a companion guide that showed the development of HL2. Uncorrected Proof I believe is an earlier version without cut information.
@@Skyrionn thank you
Beta conscripts?