Cut missions from Half-Life: Decay

	The contents of this article have been cut.
	The subject matter of this article contains in-development information that was cut from the final version of an official and/or canonical source and appears in no other canonical source. It may also contain incomplete information since not all cut material is publicly known.

This article describes what is known about the cut missions from Half-Life: Decay. Originally, Decay was going to feature twelve campaign missions. However, the game shipped with only nine, leaving three to have been cut from the final product.

Mission 6: Central Transit Hub

Reconstructed Central Transit Hub security guard dialog.

Reconstructed scientist dialog.

Originally set to be the sixth mission, Central Transit Hub (map name ht06hub) directly follows up on the events of the previous mission, Domestic Violence. Much of the mission's plot can be reconstructed from the leftover dialog.

The level begins with the security guard rescued from the dormitories leading Gina, Colette, and Dr. Keller to the Central Security Station where they can monitor transmissions, check on the transit lines, open and close the security gates in the adjacent Central Transit Hub, and track HEV suit movement. After using his clearance codes to enter the security station, a radio message comes in from a scientist at the Lambda Labs. He says they're trying to close the dimensional breach, but something from the other side is holding it open. They need to launch the Omega Satellite in order to get clean readings on the rift, but the military has aborted the launch. They hope Gordon Freeman can restart the launch, but they must first upload the All-Clear signal to the Black Mesa air traffic systems. The code is kept in the high security file room near the security station, while the air traffic systems are located directly over the Central Transit Hub.

The guard opens the security gates from the station to the file room on the other side of the hub, sending Gina and Colette to retrieve the code. As they progress further into the hub, the guard closes each gate behind them after both have passed one, forcing them to move together. During the course of the mission, the guard mentions that they need to perform some repairs in order to listen in on the military's radio transmissions, but something is blocking the maintenance door, so they have to take a detour through the loading dock and storage bay. They soon discover that it's a Gargantua blocking the door. Gina and Colette must work together to lure the creature onto a bridge while one operates the bridge controls to destroy it. The two eventually reach the file room, battling aliens and soldiers along the way, and retrieve the code.

In the final game, Central Transit Hub was written out of the story by altering Dr. Keller's lines in the previous mission. Instead of looking for a guard who knows the clearance codes to the Central Security Station, Dr. Keller's dialog suggests that the rescued guard actually knows the All-Clear signal necessary to allow the satellite's launch, thus bypassing the need to acquire the code in the Central Transit Hub's file room.

In the game files, the security guard model possesses two unused animations intended for use in Central Transit Hub: sat_keypad, in which the guard enters a code into a panel, and sat_point, in which the guard identifies the locations of Gina's, Collete's, and Gordon's HEV suits on a screen. The Gargantua has an unused squish animation in which it braces for impact as the bridge mechanism starts to close in and crush it. A slightly broken model for a pizza box mentioned by the guard is also present.

Behind the scenes

According to Gearbox designer Matthew Armstrong, the idea for Central Transit Hub mostly came from a desire to visit the location which had been previously mentioned but had otherwise gone unseen. It was the least complete mission when it was cut and also the least important from a story perspective. Of what was built, they had made the hallways wide to accommodate the co-operative combat. The hallways were going to get a texture pass and possibly made narrower. The node data for the map can be extracted from the files.

A bridge mechanism with a similar design can be found in Blue Shift in the chapter Insecurity (map ba_maint). The map appears to be created by Matthew Armstrong; his nickname "HellFace" can be found in entities. It is unknown if they recycled the same brush work for the cut mission.

Gallery

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  The security guard leads the group to the Central Security Station.

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  Ditto.

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  The Gargantua.

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  The high security file room.

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  Ditto.

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  Ditto.

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  Keypad animation.

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  Pointing at a screen.

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  Gargantua dying animation.

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  The pizza.

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  The bridge mechanism in Blue Shift.

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  Ditto.

Mission 8: Hangar

Reconstructed Hangar scientist dialog.

Originally set to be the eighth mission, the events in Hangar (map name ht08hangar) were to have been set up in the previous mission, Code Green. In lines that were cut from the final game, Gina and Colette would overhear a soldier remarking that tracking systems were in place and that they were successfully following Gordon's movement. However, the military still did not know who the other two individuals in HEV suits were. After successfully uploading the All-Clear signal, the two would have entered the hangars at the air field to begin the next mission.

Shortly after entering Hangar, they find a scientist being interrogated by soldiers looking for Gina's and Colette's suit ID numbers so they can track those two as well, though he only knows the ID number of Gordon's suit. They rescue the scientist, and he informs them that they need to destroy the military's tracking devices before they can capture Gordon. They move on and find a wounded scientist hiding in a ceiling hatch. He tells them to take the weaponry in the room to destroy the Osprey outside in order to cut off the military's reinforcements. After Hangar was cut, this encounter with the Osprey was ultimately moved to the previous mission.

In the game files, the scientist model possesses two unused animations intended for use in Hangar: interogation1 and interogation2 [sic] in which the first encountered scientist cowers as he's being interrogated by soldiers.

Behind the scenes

Level designer Matthew Armstrong described it as having a straightforward focus on combat with soldiers. He remarked that he doesn't recall why it was cut.

The Osprey fight was to take place in an area based on c1a3b, where Gordon first encounters an Osprey in We've Got Hostiles. Screenshots show that ht08hangar's Osprey boss fight arena, as well as the released version found in ht07signal, reuses level geometry from c1a3b. The hangar itself appears based on an unused idea from Opposing Force; Adrian Shephard is told "Get to the hangar while we await evac.", yet the "hangar" he gets locked into when he's left behind, is more of a road tunnel. Out of bounds in that level (of1a6) there are two unused hangars of the exact same design as would later be seen in Decay, except half the size.

Gallery

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  A dismantled Osprey sits inside a hangar at the air field.

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  Ditto.

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  Colette and Gina shooting rockets at an Osprey.

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  Ditto.

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  Unused Osprey hangar_idle animation.

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  Unused scientist interogation1 animation.

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  Unused clutch_stomach animation.

Mission 9: Residue

Reconstructed soldier dialog.

Originally set to be the ninth mission, Residue ——— was to be a follow-up to the cut mission "Hangar". The main goal of this section was to save Gordon from being killed after he is captured by the military.

At the beginning of the mission, the players were to sneak past a Tentacle and then kill the creature by luring it into a trap. An unused animation shows the Tentacle trying to reach one of the players but ending up being crushed by something and losing its head in the process. After this point, [Gordon]'s rescue would occur. Two Marines were to celebrate the capture of Gordon and describe how they intend to shoot him before dropping his body into the trash compactor, a location seen from Gordon's perspective in the original game. The unused animations show a Marine preparing to execute an unconscious Gordon and its aftermath if the players fail to intervene in time. Gearbox added several small windows and a door to the original level. It is possible that the players were to shoot through these windows to kill the Marines and save Gordon, but could not get in the room and reach him. After this sequence, the players had to go through a number of co-operative puzzles where one player is trapped in the conveyor belt of trash destruction devices while the other player has to keep "her" alive by running through the accompanying control rooms. This would lead to a Helicopter fight in a Scrapyard, a big crane, and then a shootout with Marines in a parking lot area.

"There's also an instance in the original game where you're knocked unconscious by soldiers, who then begin dragging you somewhere, muttering about how they're going to kill you. You wake up later in a trash compactor wondering what happened. In Decay, you find out that these two scientists are the ones who save you--because you, yourself, have to save Gordon from the soldiers in Decay."

— E3 2001 Preview

Behind the scenes

• Gearbox map designer Matthew Armstrong remembers it being called "Residue Holding" or "Residue Collection", a direct reference to the Residue Processing chapter of Half Life 1.
• He believed that this was the best of all the missions, but it was also the one impacted the most by the changes to the story.
• The second half of this mission was meant to be similar in tone to the chapter "Forget About Freeman!" from the original game.
• The trash compactor map was updated in the port seemingly to reflect the changes for the mission.
• Screenshots in Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 144 (July 2001) and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Issue 45 (June 2001) appear to show this chapter; Gina and Colette are seen firing rockets at an Apache, in an area featuring trash containers, as well as a crane with a trash grabbing claw in another area, possibly being piloted for some kind of co-op puzzle.

Gallery

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  Colette and Gina shooting at an Apache.

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  Ditto.

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  A crane being operated.

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  Unused Tentacle tentacle_smash animation.

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  After being decapitated.

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  Unused soldier cap_gordon_idle animation.

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  Unused Gordon capped_idle animation.

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  Reconstruction of the scene.

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  Models that were going to be used in the Scrapyard.

External links

• Half-Life / Half-Life: Decay Trailer for PlayStation 2 on YouTube - Featuring footage of the cut Central Transit Hub mission