Heartwarming / Black Mesa

• It's pretty obvious that Gordon is on good terms with most of the guards in Sector C. Even if he goofs around and slacks off despite being needed down in the test chamber, the guards will do nothing more than smirk at his antics, make some light jokes, and say they'll go get a beer after Gordon clocks out. Some may mention that they and a few others were thinking about some poker, and will keep Gordon posted; and one good-naturedly teases him: "Oh boy. Look sharp. Here comes the administrator. Haha! Gotcha! Aw man, I gotcha good!"
  • In the cafeteria you can find one guard nursing a cup of coffee and talking about him putting in overtime. Gordon seems to sympathise with him, as we get a genuine smile and a 'cheers' in return.
  • One of the guards' generic responses if you keep prompting them is "Hey, catch me later, we'll talk about that 'science' stuff some more". Either they're interested enough in Gordon's work to listen to him talk about it, or they like him enough that they're willing to listen regardless. At least one guard also has a book called The Big Yellow Book of Useful Scientific Words and Phrases on his desk, which suggests he's trying to relate better to his science-minded peers.
  • In Surface Tension, if you postpone putting on the Hivehand until you find a nearby security guard, he'll crack a joke or even give off impressed responses when you demonstrate how to put it on as if the whole strange event was happening before the Resonance Cascade.
• Fighting to keep guards and scientists alive. Due to improved AI, better voice acting and variable appearance, they feel a whole lot more like people than they did back in Half-Life and because of that, you will feel much more inclined to keep them alive. And you just generally feel pretty awesome when you do. There's even an achievement for getting the full party of scientists and guards to the end of Office Complex.
  • It helps that you can recruit more than two NPCs at a time now.
  • In fact, gathering a little gaggle of scientists and security guards and collectively mowing your way through the Office Complex to safety is kind of heartwarming. You're not the only useful one this time, and you can get quite attached to your little party. It's hard to leave them again.
• In Blast Pit and several other chapters, Gordon runs into a pack of Houndeyes who are just... laying on the ground, sleeping, snuggling peacefully next to each other without a worry for the strange, alien world they now found themselves in. Gordon can sneak around the napping pack without disturbing and aggroing them.
• In Gonarch's Lair, the Gonarch is presented less as an evil monster and more as a powerful animal that is only fighting you to protect her territory and offspring from an intruder who's trespassing her lair and harming her babies, causing some to end up sympathizing with the Gonarch. While at the climax of the chapter, you can end up fighting her to the death like in the original game, in Black Mesa you can discover a secret path towards the end that allows Freeman to bypass her and her boss-fight completely, sparing her (and the Player Character) further grief and allowing the Gonarch and her children to live on in peace.
• Towards the end of Xen and throughout Gonarch's Lair, ammo caches are teleported into the battlegrounds. It will soon become apparent that these are not random occurrences from the portal storms — the Lambda science team is tracking Gordon throughout Xen and is dropping in all the supplies they can, doing their damnedest to give him the best possible chance of survival in the border world. And after you think they've lost you or been finally overrun back at Black Mesa, they even manage to reach Nihilanth's lair to help you in the end!
  • Made extra heartwarming when you liberate the Vortigaunt camp and they teleport in a supply cache full of snacks and beverages instead of ammunition. After a moment's confusion, you realize the package wasn't for Gordon; it was for the Vortigaunts. You can easily picture the science team at the Lambda facility raiding a vending machine for their aid package and speculating on what snacks a Vortigaunt might like to eat.
  • It's further compounded by the fact that two of the ammo caches (the first one and the one containing snacks) are accompanied by little notes for Freeman to lift his spirits and give him confidence. The first one reads "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood - Marie Curie", and the second simply reads "Press on Freeman!".
• Early on in Interloper, Gordon is stymied in his advance by a forcefield keeping him out of a Vortigaunt slum. Right when you realize there is no way out, one Vortigaunt walks up to the gate, stares at you for a moment... and shuts down the field. You've killed dozens of Vortigaunts since the resonance cascade began and he had no guarantee that you wouldn't massacre his village yet he still provides you with crucial aid when you needed it most.
  • Afterwards, the Vortiguant gets into a heated argument with another who is terrified at what he's done. One would presume that he fears reprisal from their brutal overlords, but the other remains adamant about his decision. In reality, they had more to fear from your success than their master's wrath; the entire complex is wiped out by the psychic feedback of the Nihilanth's death and every Vortigaunt with it. Yet even though they know what it will cost them, none of them will hinder, report or (voluntarily) attack you as you move through the chapter. Every Vortigaunt you meet in Xen is willing to lay down their life to help you succeed.
    • As a final bonus, if you can get past Interloper without killing a single Vortigaunt of your own doing, you will get an achievement for it. This one is much more likely to come to people who have played the sequel and know about them. Plus aided by the fact that that they can be pacified by killing Alien Controllers that are making them attack you, since in the original game they could not be stopped once they were set to hostile.

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