Stalkers in Half-Life 2: Grotesquely Recycled Human Beings

Half-Life 2 is great at describing a worst-case scenario about first-contact with an alien species, or in this case multiple alien species.  Here you won't find aliens expressing greetings from far away star systems, in Half-Life 2 humanity is still dealing with the aftermath of a seven-hour war with the Combine after they first teleported onto Earth.  That wasn't a typo, the war with humanity literally lasted seven hours before humanity had to surrender, giving you an idea of how powerful this enemy is.

In previous articles, I've covered some of the horrors that arose as a result of alien species mingling with earthlings, such as the zombies and the town of Ravenholm where you first encounter them in abundance.  Today we're going to look at another disgusting result of the Combine invasion, which are Stalkers.

Believe it or not, Stalkers were once human beings.  Through heavy surgical modifications, they have been transformed into disturbing Combine slaves whose main purpose is to maintain Combine machinery.  As you can see, their hands and lower legs have been removed and replaced with some form of multi-use prosthetic tools.

Their internal organs and gender-defining...um....features have also been removed.  Whatever form of nutrition the Combine is giving them is obviously not enough, seeing as their skin clings tightly to their skeletons.  It appears that their vocal chords have also been messed with, because the only sounds they are capable of making are hisses and growls.

At some point before becoming Stalkers, these people were either resistance members who were captured and sent in to be converted, or they lived in a location such as City 17 and were unknowingly shipped to the processing facility.  The processing facility, a level in Half-Life 2 called Nova Prospekt, is a former prison which is now mainly used to create Stalkers and Combine Soldiers (they are heavily modified humans as well).

Although they make only a brief appearance near the end of Half-Life 2, Stalkers are encountered much more frequently in Half-Life 2: Episode One.  Here you will cringe in disgust as you see these mutilated beings working frantically to repair the collapsing Citadel in City 17.  Also you will be forced into some claustrophobic locations where you're forced to see these monstrosities up close.  It is in the Citadel where you discover that the metal plate attached to a Stalker's face contains a functioning laser beam.

Note the Stalker in the background using his head-mounted laser.

Attacking any Stalkers or interrupting their repair efforts will cause them to focus those laser beams on you.  Thankfully protagonist Gordon Freeman is always armed to the teeth, so these battles aren't too difficult.  Also, these former people deserve to be put out of their misery, don't you think?

That concludes our quick look at one of the most unsettling things in Half-Life 2.  Seeing a human being who is so disgustingly altered is sure to bring about a shudder now and then.  What did you guys think of the Stalkers?

A Visit to Ravenholm in Half-Life 2

A while back I wrote about zombies in Valve games, and part of that article covered the zombie-like creatures in Half-Life 2.  Since I've already talked about the zombies themselves, how about we take a trip to Half-Life 2's peaceful, scenic town of Ravenholm, where you'll find the largest concentration of horrors in the entire game.

Ravenholm used to be a mining town before the Combine invaded, and was later converted into a refuge for City 17 escapees.  It was connected to the main base of the human resistance (Black Mesa East) through a series of tunnels for convenient and secretive access.  Things were all peachy (well as peachy as they can get with alien overlords enslaving humanity and destroying everything) until the Combine discovered this town of refugees.  The Combine proceeded to "shell" Ravenholm, by bombarding it with capsules containing the zombie-creating creatures called Headcrabs (see my previous article about Valve zombies).

A skull-crunching Headcrab.

The result was that a large amount of Ravenholm refugees were converted into zombies, while the remaining population were wiped out by these terrors.  At some point after all this chaos, protagonist Gordon Freeman is forced to journey through Ravenholm (at night!), and we witness the destruction first-hand.

Signs of the zombie battles are everywhere, from barricaded doors, to blood-smeared rooms, to zombie and human corpses littered everywhere.  Zombies lie in wait in various buildings and alleyways, shuffling over to attack whenever you come near.  Needless to say there are some great jump-scare moments during your trip to Ravenholm.

As you continue your tour, you discover that not everyone was killed after the Headcrab shelling occurred; a lone survivor named Father Grigori somehow found a way to stay alive through makeshift zombie-traps.  You'll find car engine blocks which power spinning blades, cars suspended in the air by winches (which can then be dropped on zombie hordes), and even electrified chain link fences.  You can interact with all of these toys, making for an enjoyable way to dispatch enemies without using up your ammo.

It slices, it dices!

Ravenholm is one of the best levels in Half-Life 2, due to its immensely frightening atmosphere, as well as the fun-to-use zombie traps.  What did you guys think of this level?  Did you find it somewhat frightening, or have scarier games battle-hardened you to the point where this was nothing?