This is the main base of the Combine occupation of Earth – home to the majority of the alien empire’s armed forces, and the collaborating Wallace Breen. The Citadel, a huge, towering, skyscraper-like structure – so tall it disappears into the clouds above – stands like a monolithic watchman over City 17. “Thoughtfully provided by Our Benefactors.” And right in the middle, towering over everything, is the starkest reminder of how our world has been subjugated. The alien tech is almost insect-like, it seems to be attaching itself to our world and consuming it – its shimmering force-fields and shiny black metal restricts human movement, almost choking the city. Lasting memories.īut it’s the blend of alien and human tech that really strikes a chord. Stepping out of the train stations and walking through the square reveals the sheer scale of the occupation, beatings, brutality, and alien war machines stamping through the streets. The oppression is everywhere, and City 17 is a masterclass in a game environment telling a story. It also happens to be the main base of operations for the Combine on Earth, with their Citadel forming the headquarters of Wallace Breen, the human puppet-administrator – he’s the guy on all the video screens spouting propaganda. The architecture has often been compared to former Soviet cities in Eastern Europe – very apt considering the iron rule of the Combine.
It’s a big place, consisting of a railway station, a ruined canal system, underground road tunnels, and multiple slum-like living quarters and buildings. When you eventually see daylight, the scale of City 17 is hinted at to begin with, and your adventures reveal more as you progress. “One of our finest remaining urban centres.” Source: ModDB Well, that’s a momentary bright spot in this dystopian hell of a world. Then the guard reveals he’s none other than Barney Calhoun – the guard from the first game – undercover and here to rescue you. You’re led away down a dirty corridor past interrogation rooms, and into a holding cell of your own.
One mumbles to himself about trains never leaving, two others are trying to psyche themselves up to pass through a checkpoint, one even warns you not to drink the water because “they put something in it, to make you forget”.Īnd as you make your way through the checkpoint, alarms scream into life and gates slam shut. Making your way through the station, the other passengers are a mixed bag of worried and fearful people. As you disembark, a flying robot momentarily blinds you with its camera flash, and your sense of unease begins to build. It’s big and echo-filled, an automated message booming over the video screens.
HALF LIFE 2 CITY 17 SERIES
Through Half-Life 2 you see City 17 in many states: firmly under Combine control when you arrive, in the midst of the inevitable bitter war between the oppressors and the oppressed, and finally from the air when you ascend the mighty Citadel for the final battle.Īrriving by train, after a hallucination-like introduction from the series character G-Man, your first glimpse of City 17 is the train station. The city is imposing, at once threatening and claustrophobic, and the iconic image that endures is of Combine Civil Protection squads policing the streets and suppressing the population with brutality. City 17 is the main setting for Half-Life 2, and probably one of the best-realised locations in gaming history.