Vault
For other uses, see Vault (disambiguation). |
| |
| Vault | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Constructed |
After the Seven Hour War |
| Destroyed |
Before the Uprising |
| Location | |
| Builder | |
| Usage | |
| Era(s) | |
| Faction |
Combine |
| Game information | |
| Map(s) |
|
The Vault is a complex high-security "prison" built by the Combine in the Quarantine Zone with the sole purpose of imprisoning the G-Man who had been captured sometime prior to the events of Half-Life: Alyx. It is featured in the eleventh and final chapter of the game, Point Extraction.
Contents
Overview[edit]
The Vault is a superconductive floating structure, held aloft by numerous enslaved Vortigaunts inside substations situated throughout the Quarantine Zone, which project vertical blue beams into the sky to indicate their locations. These substations are designed to torture the energy out of a group of Vortigaunts housed in pod farms attached to them. The output is then collected from the Vortigaunts before being "re-harmonized" by a single "conductor" Vortigaunt via the tuner apparatus placed at the roots of the cables that run up to the Vault itself.[1] The harvested energy of the Vortigaunts' Vortessence chants flows through the internal structures of the Vault, aiding in the containment of the G-Man.
As discovered by Eli Vance from the Combine datapod he stole, the whole Vault was hastily constructed around an apartment building where the Combine had located and captured the G-Man. The spacetime and gravity inside the torn-up apartment are strangely altered, the surreal phenomena being created by the spillover of the Vortigaunt energy used to contain the G-Man while his influence continually fights against it, occasionally gaining the upper hand.[2] The original tenant inhabitants are seen in a frozen state, constantly fading in and out of existence. A small Combine military force is also garrisoned there to defend the icosahedral prison cell at the center. Eli initially believed that the Vault contained a "superweapon" that could be used against the Combine, sending Alyx to investigate it.
On her journey, Alyx and a band of liberated Vortigaunts disabled the substations supporting the Vault, causing it to partially plummet and activate an emergency backup. However, as their decryption progresses, Eli and Russell slowly discovered that the Vault is actually a prison designed to contain something or someone that the Combine greatly fear, at first believing the prisoner to be Gordon Freeman. In an effort to free who was contained inside, Alyx accidentally sent the Vault crashing down, and she got sucked into it herself. After traversing the paranormally altered apartment block, she ventured to the center and entered the outer icosahedron, in which her Gravity Gloves are charged with Vortigaunt energy, allowing her to battle the intercepting guards. Inside the larger cell, she discovered a smaller icosahedron with green electricity constantly flowing to and from it, and inadvertently set its occupant free.
Related Achievements[edit]
| Half-Life: Alyx | |
|---|---|
|
Point Extraction |
| Get to the superweapon. | |
|
Gnome Vault of My Own |
| Bring a garden gnome with you to the Vault. | |
Behind the scenes[edit]
An initial idea for the game's ending in the Vault involved referencing previous Half-Life titles. Inspired by the fun house sequence in the film The Man with the Golden Gun, level designer Dario Casali proposed playing off of the G-Man's nebulous capabilities to create a surreal and abstract experience. Artist Jim Murray created concept art of the sequence in which the G-Man would lead Alyx through a series of red doors to revisit famous locations from both past and future Half-Life games, a throwback to the beginning of Half-Life 2 in which the G-Man's introduction featured a brief look back inside Black Mesa and a preview of the Citadel to come.[3]
The idea was expanded further by writer Rob Yescombe who worked on Alyx from 2017 to 2018, coming up with the suggestion that the two characters would travel back in time to Black Mesa and stop Gordon from pushing the Xen crystal into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, thus averting the Resonance Cascade and the alien invasions that followed. While it was discussed, the team judged the idea as being too radical, so it was never prototyped.[3]
Trivia[edit]
Just outside the G-Man's icosahedral cell, a dead Advisor can be seen directly beneath the catwalk. Presumably, it died when the Vault crashed.
Gallery[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
Storyboard illustrating how the Vault was reestablished after the Central Zoo.
Concept art of the substations.
Ditto.
Concept art of the interior.
Ditto.
Whiteboard outlining the plan for the Vault ending.
Ditto.
Unused "Red Door Sequence"[edit]
Concept art for unused Red Door Sequence with the G-Man.
Approaching the Vault.
Ditto.
The Vault is hacked, revealing a simple apartment door.
The series of doors open to familiar locations.
At the parking lot by Shorepoint Base.
At the dock of Station 7.
At White Forest Inn.
Ditto.
At Bridge Point.
On the bridge near the Victory Mine.
Ditto.
Ditto.
In Nova Prospekt.
Ditto.
At the City 17 Trainstation, with "resonance fragments" filling the sky.
The resonance fragments swirl and become more jumbled.
Ditto.
Finally reaching the G-Man.
Retail[edit]
Artwork from the game's official website featuring the Vault.
Ditto.
Alyx's first view of the Vault.
The Vault as seen from a substation.
Ditto, both the substation and the Vault visible.
A substation's cables transmitting the harvested power of Vortessence chants to the Vault.
The Vault as seen in the Holden Company Processing Plant.
Ditto, as seen from the Golden Lion Distillery.
Seen from the Central Zoo.
Ditto.
At the entrance of the Tanker Yard.
The Vault above the Tanker Yard right after the last substation has been taken down and the emergency backup activated.
From the Tanker Yard, further ahead.
The control panel for docking the Vault.
The Vault crashing down.
The Vault about to beam Alyx up.
A Citizen that got stuck inside the Vault while looking out the window.
Ditto, on the stairs.
Ditto, checking mails.
A Headcrab and a Zombie floating.
A hallway in the contained apartment inside the Vault.
A peeled corridor.
A duplicated apartment inside the Vault.
A door that sucks Alyx in and teleports her near the prison cell.
A Combine Grunt getting ready to attack Alyx inside the Vault.
Dead Grunts floating inside one of the Vault's corridors.
A corridor leading to the Vault's prisoner cell.
View of the interior.
Ditto.
Ditto, viewed from below.
A dead Advisor inside the Vault.
The internal icosahedron containing the G-Man.
Alyx accidentally sets the G-Man free.
The G-Man changes the environment around him and Alyx.
The G-Man splitting himself into various versions.
List of appearances[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Half-Life: Alyx commentary, "Substation Design"
- ↑ Half-Life: Alyx commentary, "Broken Vault Music"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx, Chapter 10: The Dark Days of City 17
| Preceded by Parking Garage |
Half-Life: Alyx story arc journey | Succeeded by White Forest |
