Half-life: The Lore Behind Hunters
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2020
- Combine Hunters are the scouts of the Combine Army, but how much do we really know about them? I went to take a look!
I started Skyrionn to go back and look at easter eggs and the little details in classic video games. From that, I’ve moved on to looking at timelines and lore in video games.
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AUDIO USED
Half-Life 2 OST - Lab Practicum
#HalfLife #Hunter #Lore - Hry
![PROTECTORS - A Half-Life: Alyx Short [S2FM]](/img/n.gif)
If I remember, when you’re low on health, and they manage to hit you with any of their abilities, they actually let out a unsettling noise of what sounds like laughing.
Yes they also do that when they kill alyx at the start
@@Gamercap10 they don't kill her they injer her
@@FightingMachineTripod she did, when she got stomped on by the hunter and then stops breathing
@@Gamercap10 she didnt, the vortigaunt confirms she did not die, vortigaunts cant bring people back from the dead
@@FightingMachineTripod Jeff Wayne war of the worlds is better then you
"In the White Forest battle, hunters were extremely effective."
Me, smearing them across the car's bumper: What?
The most effective weapon against any foe
@@LonesomeKrow Apart from advisors.
Unless they jump out of the way XD
@@Patrickmayonaiseinstrument They can be slippery, but IIRC, they telegraph the direction of their dodge. Could be misremembering, I need to pay it again.
@@hannibalcase1100 i think that is gameplay decision to not make the palyer frustrated... if the developers of any war game like Call of Duty implemented realistic war tactics in it , then the game would be Dark Souls difficult . No enemy soldier would just appear run&gunning or even show up before an air strike
The Hunters is my favorite enemy in any game I’ve played. The sounds they make when they stalk, they communicate with other hunters, it’s multiple ways it can attack, their big but not too big health bar, their intelligence, their purpose, it’s iconic and unique design, and overall how believable and terrifying this creature is. I mean it starts laughing at you when you are about to die. It has no feelings and just dose what it has to do to get a job done. They are a pain in the butt to fight in numbers but it’s in a fun way because they are so authentic.
the double beep at the start of some lines suggests radio type communication starts
this could suggest they actually radio in to their allies when they spot you or engage
@@Ribbons0121R121 all Combine military bionic creatures have radios build-in into their cortex
I need a good *dose* of Hunters in my Half Life. It *does* the body good!
They really are great enemies to face.
I just don't like how they got used in the final fight of episode two, sure they're great on their own or in pairs, but fighting so many groups of three when they each take more than a full shotgun clip to kill in a very open environment wasn't nearly as fun. I get that some people enjoy the difficulty of the encounter, but for me it was the worst implementation of their abilities because it felt like all I could do was run them over in the car or get outnumbered
Hunters scare me to death. Those fletchett launchers (I thought those were eyes) make the hunter look like an evil camera from the 50's
I also thought those were eyes and now they are less cute
Those aren't eyes?
I think those are eyes just like strider turret
The combines way of adapting is so unique. Like how they take the already existing soldiers and turn them into super soldiers and the drop ship, it looks like it would be an animal. And the chopper, they definitely took that from the humans.
well, the drop ship is an animal, just with thrusters and stronk muscles
Actully the gunship and dropship are the same creature just changed in shape and armor
I think I remember the combines were originally going to use normal human helicopters, but it seems they made their own in the retail version.
@@ig-101magnaguard7 source? Or is this your headcanon?
@@falloutgamer347 man it would be cool to have a cannon for a head
Aren't they more of a medium-sized synth? You have humanoid synths which could be classed as small and the striders and aerial craft could be considered large.
Exactly. Hunters should go everywhere a human can go, more or less.
@@tehanureaver4299 I'd argue the closest analogue would be a horse with big guns. If a horse can make it there so can a Hunter but I reckon they'd struggle with boggy/marshy ground like horses
just call the baby spiders
Could the Hunters be connected to Houndeyes? Judging by their three legs, movements and attacks. Houndeyes curved (or how you call it) their body when about to attack, Hunters kinda act similar when they shoot or charge towards the enemy. What if those blue explosions from flechette rounds are the sound beam Houndeyes used and the Combine re-designed them?
I believe they could be from the same planet at least. Notice how all land vertebrates have the same body plan (4 limbs a tail and a head)? Maybe they are from the same planet and thus share a similar body plan, even if they aren't closely related to each other.
@@numbdigger9552 I've always wondered too if they are may be related to striders, like if striders were the T-rex of their planet then the hunters are what raptors are to them. The hound eye theory is a good one too though
greetings, my Benefactor
surely if anyone knew, it'd be you?
Maybe the Houndeyes 'The Freeman' encountered in Half Life OG were just... you know, kids?! That'd also explain their cowardly nature.
Whatever the case maybe, these Hunters are indeed remarkably similar to Houndeyes, minus the sonic boom.
I get the impression striders and hunters are from the same world, but are distant cousins.
Yeah, same basic body plan.
I’ll be honest I always thought these were robots and the guns were eyes. I hadn’t put much thought into it outside of being terrified by the weird way they moved. Them being at least partly biological makes them so much scarier tbh
This makes me wonder, what the hunters looked like before they were transformed by the combine. If their current form isn't their original form.
@Spy so, houndeyes? :D
I feel like they’ve been changed by the combine but not as much as synths like striders and gunships, looking at the way they aren’t metal or have machine-like organs. Though it’s possible the larger synths are more “crustacean” in nature while the hunters are something else.
Earth dogs.
the way the flechette launchers look and move, and the seemingly out of the way eye placement... it makes me think the combine actually replaced the creature's original eyes with the launchers.
wow I didn't know that them boils were eyes but now i look at the hexagon texture of them I can see that they are, fucking nice that
I feel like hunters where naturally an effective predator where they came from. The combine probably didn't need to adjust to much about them, opting to mostly change there internal structures to make them smarter and easier to control by the combine. I think the launchers are both launchers and eyes. I've never sat there to watch them but I thought they spat there flenchetes rather than fired form the eyes.
I think the armour, and launchers are the synthetic parts, as well as the metal augmentation to the existing claws/spikes
I think they are a synth version of houndeyes.
@@glaxxico907 That wouldnt make sense though Because houndeyes are alot less mobile than them also the design of hunters looks comletly different than a hound eye
@jamesleung2446 Synths undergo heavy genetic and cybernetic modification. Both are 3 legged pack animals with many eyes, which make similar sounds and have a charged energy attack. This is just my headcanon though.
@@glaxxico907 Yeah and hunters are more tall and have a completely different color
One of my favorite headcanon theories is that the hunters use similar or modified projectiles to that of the grunt from the first half-life game. The main differences are that the projectiles aren't seeking and that the hunter's explode after connecting with a target. But I think that in some way the weaponized xenian grunt weapon could've been used by the Combine to give the hunters deadly weaponry. I feel like the weapon connection is understandable but when looking at the rest of their body you can notice the obvious three leg trait that's shared with the strider, my point here is that maybe the hunter was supposed to be the best of the Combine's most effective units, taking most of their traits and creating the best anti-living-murder-machine possible. Not only that but they're highly intelligent to the point where they notice the Magnusson devices and shoot them on sight, plus they are collaborative and are an amazing stealth unit as they stalk and track targets within episode two. Personally they are really annoying to fight in game but are probably the most challenging enemies in the HL continuity.
I think hunters could be actually organic instead of synthetic, they're very different from other synths, they have blood when shot and can be disintegrated by energy balls, those only disintegrate organic stuff. They also do actually look like they have the armor implanted on them. They might be turned into cyborgs just like overwatch soldiers.
Good points, I agree
Dont forget about their curiosity
I believe those fly like eyes are just boils from the augmentation I think the launchers double as eyes
Yes. I agree. They literally look at you/others with them. And use them to show frustration when their hits don’t kill you. They’re not just the flechette launchers.
Also, as a fun fact, their pupils contract when you shine your flashlight on them.
Due to the similar body morphology to striders, I kinda thought that maybe the strider/hunter combo is actually male/female. In man species the males are significantly smaller than females, and the combine could have worked the males natural instinct to protect the larger more cumbersome females into the combat doctrine of the synths they turned them into.
I'd rather consider them distantly related species from the same planet.
id love to see what the creatures looked like pre-combine integration
Earth dogs.
Imagine these in HL Alyx.... almost as scary as Jeff
If they’re possibly cyborgs then maybe the gray fluid is some sort of coolant 🤔
more like hydraulic solution cuz they constantly do that piston like sound when walking
Maybe their strenght is enhanced mechanically
Its nut
@@tachikomagaming2451 I bet it is hydraulic fluid.
Don’t overthink it, it’s a video game
So glad I subscribed to this channel
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Skyrionn thank you for the quality content and good luck for the future of the channel
As someone who played Entropy Zero 2, I can't help but think that these mfs can be cute if they are on your side. It's like they put the mind of a dog into an alien monstrosity.
You ever wonder if the combine were always evil or did they become so advanced that they got corrupted by power?
Surely an agenda like that would be completely evil?
Still not once does the game explain the origins of how the combine started up in the first place. I don’t mean where they came from I mean how did they form in the first place? What where they even like before even being called the combine? So many questions when think about it.
@@TheSandwhichman108 maybe they started out as a group in another planets army and expanded after gaining too much power can became greedy after seeing they can take over there homeworld and take on there original army
Fun fact: the launchers are the eyes, not the boils on the side
Yes.
What I came for: lore
What I got: an in-game description, preluded by "they came with the Combine"
0:53 The biggest-
strider
I have a hunch that the Combine Hunters were originally Houndeyes from Xen. Here's why :
-Houndeyes have 3 legs
-Hunters also have 3 legs
-Houndeyes have many eyes
-Hunters also have more than one eye unit
-Xen is currently under the rule of the Combine's hand.
-Combine Empire would have performed biological experiments to create a hybrid version of Houndeyes and Synth, which are the Hunters..
Hound eyes have 1 eye
@@King-xe3kt Oh I see.
Combine can't access Xen, the Nialanth fled there for a reason. And G-man's employers are in charge of Xen
@@Breached18 But if the Combine can't access Xen, then how did hybrid Headcrabs such as the fast Headcrabs or poisonous Headcrabs came into existence? It is obvious that Headcrabs are native creatures from Xen and the reason why the Nihilanth fled to Xen was due to his efforts to save his species from the Combine in their previous homeworld. Another suspicion is that, how does the gravity gun only works on fast Headcrabs and poisonous Headcrabs and not on regular Headcrabs?? This is because those hybrid Headcrabs have a tracking chip inside their bodies (which is an inorganic object). Hence, this is the reason on why the Gravity Gun works on those Hybrid Headcrabs. Now the issue of suspicion is, who, how, why, and when did those hybrid Headcrabs came from?? Who implanted those tracking chips inside their bodies?? Well, combine soldiers are hybrid transhumans genetically modified by the combine aren't they?? Then, those hybrid Headcrabs are genetically mutilated versions of their former brethren. Lastly, should the Combine create genetic hybrids of Headcrabs, they must only invade Xen, hence that is the place where creatures came from. In this manner, if the Combine were able to modify ordinary Headcrabs, then how much simpler would it be for them to modify Houndeyes into Hunters??
@@King-xe3kt Sorry, but the Half-Life wiki states that Houndeyes have more than one eye unit up to a thousand.
I always thought the dart shooter things were their eyes
Your videos are great bro keep pushing🙏 i sense your intelligence
There's also that antenna on their back that no one talks about, it might be a cybernetic implant to aid with communication or something.
I wish these were just a little longer. They are awesome, amazing and fascinating.
Check out the latest videos! I changed my style and length. Slowly working through the older videos to improve them too ☺ Thanks for watching too
@@Skyrionn imagine if there was a Hunter Queen!!!!!
@@dr.robotico7879 it could have 3 eyes 2 on front and 1 on back and it makes very unsettling noises and it can see from behind so you can’t sneak up on it
Those white domes on each side may be ear-drums for detecting different frequencies of sound.
Imo Hunters are the most unique and my favorite enemies in all of Half Life
They creeped me out.
@@Skyrionn They are pretty scary when they are charging xD
When I first heard of them, I thought "it's a mini strider"
Me too!
I kinda want to see Dog take on a pack of these.
3:06 no one gonna talk about the dead corpse to the right?
1:44 I always thought the fletchette launchers were their eyes.
They are called eyes in the model, this guy is wrong. The flechette launchers are actually eyes, they even contract their pupil if you point a flashlight at them.
Its cool we get too see the hunters after the ciadel callpas
I'm surprised that you didn't cover their appendages (one of which being a massive antenna).
you should make a video about the ministriders
I'm pretty sure those flachete launchers are the eyes. They must be because those bumps on the side of hunters are pretty clearly boils of some kind. If you look at the opposite side of a hunter, one of the boils has popped. So if those bumps were infact eyes they'd be on only one side of the creature.
Terrible for hunting with right? That's a huge blind spot. Plus it doesn't even really look like compound eyes, theres no segmenting or pupils to speak of. The double stacked launchers look around just like eyes, though I'm not sure how you could possibly see out of what's essentially a gun barrel. Maybe the flachetes are loaded under the eyris and fired once it's infront of the eye?
To be honest, the design doesn't make much sense as cool as it is. But either way, I cant see those spots being eyes.
Those spots indeed aren't eyes, the flechette launchers are referred to as "Eyes" in the model bones, and their pupils contract if you point a flashlight to them.
Either way, you can see how they move those things like eyes, searching around, you don't do that with a gun.
@@SirKolass The striders have something similar though. I thought for the longest time that the minigun they have was their eye since it looks around like one, but I watched the dog v strider fight in ep2 the other day and Dog actually rips it's gun out, but the strider can still see. And in the half life Alyx model they things I thought were boils are actually their eyes. The synths have some baffling design ideas for sure.
Thanks to FunWithGuru, I found out that those two big blue things ARE her eyes.
2:21 bro dance
Usually i just drove into them
Honestly to me hunters are just really giant dogs but now they have 2 on the front eyes and shoot things
They kind of remind me of beefed up Pit Drones
Why are Hunters so cute?😭😭😭😭❤❤❤❤❤
Why did I think the flechette launchers were the eyes
What if the combine is a single being. By this I mean, what if a civilization created an artificial intelligence that either killed or enslaved it’s creators in an act of self preservation, possibly making one of the races enslaved its creators. This would fit well with the theme of individuals being the focus of half life. By this I’m referencing how the Nihilanth enslaved the vortegaunts in order to survive, this could parallel with the combine AI enslaving it’s creators. The Nihilanth may have been a vortegaunt originally but was created by the combine after perhaps collaborating with them in order to become a part of the combine at first but eventually escaping and enslaving it’s own species. The Nihilanth created itself in this case, however, being a vortegaunt originally would make it arguable that the vortegaunts created the Nihilanth in a way. Interesting note as well is that the combine refers to the main character (the player) Gordon Freeman as “individual”. Seeing humanity in a hopeless position and thus not a threat, except for the player, another individual. The Freeman was originally just a scientist but due to where he found himself was made into something more powerful, even mythical, but regardless, he was made different by the efforts and beliefs of humanity, making him the reflection of both the Nihilanth and the Combine AI. Another note: some may ask why did the combine not just make machines instead of using fleshy creatures as living machines. It’s likely easier to just use what’s there rather than figure out how to set up a manufacturing center to produce robotic creatures. There was also a study done where an advanced AI can always beat a human at chess, however it’s been shown that an AI cannot beat a human-AI combination where they both make a decision on each move. Make of this what you will.
I think the flechette launchers also function as eyes somehow. Wouldn't put it past the combine
0:16 aight imma tapdance
0:51 hunters are the tallest creatures in half life
Striders:am i a joke to you?
ONE of the largest
that's what he said
which map is the one used at 0:59?
They have a similar aesthetic to the advisors leading me to believe they may have come from the same planet and are treated like hunting dogs.
Underated
I remembered seeing something similar in the 2020 war of the worlds ...imagine if this is a synchronicity and this terrible future is about to happen in real - life
0 dislikes, just how it should be
3 random kids
@@rokzila d'aw Frick
@@rokzila 4
im pretty sure hunters are mini striders because of the connections 3 legs very effective and killing i mean there i a high chance that the hunters are just striders but tiny
They're not mini striders, they were just nicknamed this way in ep1 because they didn't have a name yet.
actualy i dint take that from ep1its just a point out of connesctions
"hunt down the freeman"
Dalek logic puzzle.
I love combine dogs :3
Never noticed the white parts were fleshy before
I like to think that the combine deployed hunters to hunt down any surviving humans that weren't brought to the cities.
I like to think Hunters are like a dogs they don’t care if they are under combine control they are happy with their job and they are enjoying it (for example when it laughs at you when you are at low Hp)
i always used to think their eyes were their guns
When I saw there mouth i remember race X that they have the same mouth maybe that what happened to them
Its kind of a missed opportunity that HL2 never showed Resistance members exaxting revenge on injured hunters. Like taking them apart alive or torturing them etc. It would make the whole situation more realistic and compareable to acutal real-life warcrimes etc. The resistance members always seemed oddly nice and docile.
I never thought about that. The Half-Life universe is fairly bleak and these guys surely would have that thought process with everything they have been put through. Maybe if we do get a continuation, we'll see something like this with the creatures that did survive the destruction of City 17 and the Resistance who are helping the world.
@@Skyrionn
As an addition to the lack of revenge situations etc. there is also the style of the dialogue that is a bit off. For something that bleak (its the extermination of the human species after all) most NPCs sound not very traumatized or concerned. I guess this has something to do with the lack of audio and dialogue direction during the production, but if you compare this with similarly themed dystopian movies, everything feels very unemotional. This creates a jarring contrast. Barney Calhoun is also a good example, he does not sound like someone who has been fighting against a genocidal regime for the last 20 years or so. Its just "Hullo Gordon! Its nice you suddenly appear after all those years". It puts a slight dent in my HL2 experience. Even back then it was somewhat irritating.
@@xn0gaming half-life really doesn’t need to be overly serious or emotionally realistic
@@xn0gaming when gordon freeman accidentally teleported in front of breen, i think breen should've acted more startled, mabye falling out of his chair or something.
I mean you could also say the hunters are a upgraded houndeye
Hunters are pretty cool
I tought the two blue thing on their front are their eyes.
When Mitchell Shephard
they look like an baby strider
They were originally called Ministriders before Episode 2
adorable little strider
Do dropships and Jeff
They almost seem like a predatory kind of “space horse” judging by the way they gallop and have a bit of a “horse chuff” or a “neigh” when they communicate. My guess anyway.
Hunters prefer the left Twix over the right
Damn the combine really do have to torture everything
They're awful. Someone should try and take them down
@@Skyrionn call Gordon free man
tbh i think that the hunters are actually real actual dogs just augmented and modified by the combine empire, because if you listen closely it also makes a dog's grrrrrrrrr or a roar, so for me i think they are poor and helpless dogs who managed to get in the notorious torture of the combine empire D:
That is a disturbing thought
Why is it that I never seen these in half life 2?
They never appeared until Episode 2
@@eletronictoenails I’ve been stuck on episode 1 for 17 days- I can’t get past the strider fight it’s impossible
I ended up getting past the strider fight now I’m stuck on the last strider fight on episode two xd
Of course the hunters are biological. All of the combine synths are combinations of genetically engineered organisms (which were edited from lifeforms that the combine conquered) as well as mechanical parts.
I’m still gonna pretend the launchers are their eyes
My favorite good boys
which platform can we play this game?
Pc and Xbox 360
bro can't google
the 20 hunter was killed by male 02 with only fist
Had to wrestle these things with my bare hands. I’d kill 10 or 20 a day easily.
I always thought the launchers were eyes
Hey what part of the game is this?
This is from Half-Life 2 episode 2
@@Skyrionn ahh ok thank you
The combines made giant ships and metal buildings and conquered lots of civilizations and even made modified "organic" puppets to explore areas for them , all to get killed by a nerd who only got basic training ONCE yet somehow went against MARINES and won
Agent 69 “Gordon “Nerdman” Freeman.
I think they are modified hound eyes, they sure act like hounds and use their eyes to destroy
That's not a bad theory! I like that :D
@@Skyrionn yes well what got me was the pack thing and their attack is blue ish . Here is a suggestion video : Are there things on Earth way dangerous than the combine ? My theory is that the combine are a week species as the gman says : You wouldnt need all that t trap Gordon Freeman . They take week things like hound eyes and better them , they even tried with combine soldiers to see how would they react and the result was Zombines . As far as their actions The Combine are research scientists . I see no difference between Questionable ethics chapter and what the combine have done to people and technology . The combine are scientists trying to enhance and improve the universe , but they are also here to defend something against someone way more powerful than them . They are way too many just for an orange tank and the gman is in worst case The lesser master to defeat and the vorts all of them can evade their advanced tactics now that they are free. But i guess it s another half life game 2 continue the story
Ahhh yes the hunter...the most annoying enemies that I ever encountered.
i will pet the space doggo
I struggled to deal with these things on easy mode.
Why are you playing on easy mode
@@tims.1615 because fun is entirely subjective, so people may want to adjust the difficulty in order for the game to not be frustrating with their level of skill.
@@badideagenerator2315 sure, but I feel playing on easy mode is just kinda pointless. You're better off just watching a playthrough, considering an equal amount of player input is required haha
@@tims.1615 not everyone has the time to hone their skills on videogames, some of us have responsibilities like work or an education and just want to wind down.
@@badideagenerator2315 I understand that, but Half-life isn't that difficult. I can say that because I suck absolute ass at FPS games
What game is the Hunters from?
Like Ik it’s half life but what half life.
I believe it is episode 2
HL2E2, but their beta design is in HL2E1
The Hunter didn't kill Alyx because they are cruel and leave their victims to die in pain if they judge them to be certain to die
why the hell is alyx getting impaled the most replayed 💀
I think I know why.
who wins?
hunter vs antlion guard vs dog
Glory to the Aliance.
Join us, we have:
Immortabillity
synths
technology of future
free Wi-fi
Great weaponory
Aww sh*t here we go again
Wait....
What if hunters drive hunter choppers..
It would be cool if the torso flies the chopper.
Or the be deployed from choppers with parachutes.
When you destroy a hunter chopper a combine soldier falls out.
I know bruh.
It’s a what if.
@@dillspickles.3467 there wouldn't be a way that the hunters drive hunter choppers, the way that they are built makes them incapable of driving anything
Fusion. I know was being funny and making a joke. What if they were able to give it small 2 arms. Lol.
Hunters were originally called mini striders
That's interesting
i think hunters are made from pug dogs