One of Half-Life 2's biggest secrets remained hidden for 20 years. Player discovered real reason behind „elusive” river in City 17
One Half-Life 2 fan traced elements from the 2003 beta version of the game and compared them to the final release. According to him, the inaccessible river cutting through City 17 was to play a much bigger role.
Half-Life 2 fans will surely recognize the river that cuts through City 17. We can "take a look at it" in several parts of the gameplay, but we never get directly to it. However, the original plans of the developers envisioned a much larger role for it, as evidenced by the beta version of the game from 2003. A YouTube with the nickname CMDR RileySV analyzed previous level projects and decided to share his thoughts on this subject.
In the final edition of Half-Life 2, in the chapter Anticitizen One, we fight our way through the city with Alyx to meet Barney. When we reach the destroyed bridge, we descend into the canals, then visit the factory and make our way out onto the street. The 2003 beta version greatly expanded this section, placing greater emphasis on the combat in the tunnels. While in the underground, we had to face creatures like the barnacle (an alien dangling from the ceiling), the hydra (an enemy with blue tentacles removed from the final version), and the Combine soldiers.
After leaving the underground, we would reach the bridge crossing the river. From this moment, the gameplay from the beta would coincide with the moment of leaving the factory. However, instead of meeting Barney and entering the Citadel, the devs planned to introduce a battle with the Striders, known from the demo shown at E3 in 2003. The maps without textures discussed by CMDR RileySV suggest that in the following steps, we would enter a channel, which we would navigate using a rover (or another vehicle, if the riverbed was filled with water), probably facing opponents along the way.
It's hard to say what was supposed to happen later in the game, but from the channel, we could ire the Citadel in all its majesty. It would definitely be an intriguing sight, but as CMDR RileySV points out, it made sense to shorten the route to the Combine's megastructure. Thanks to this, the creators managed to maintain the appropriate pace of the game.
One of the video's viewers - flintexp - noticed that the early design of City 17 resembles New York. Thanks to the coordinates he provided, you can also compare both maps yourself. In this arrangement, the Citadel would be located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.
According to the investigation, the Citadel could be located near Prospect Park.
Since March 18th of this year, Half-Life 2 owners on Steam can check out a fan mod for free, created using Nvidia RTX Remix, a platform that allows modders to refresh classic titles.
