Did Breen truly believe joining the Combine would advance the human race? Or was he merely doing his best to save the species from extinction? We may never know. Or maybe we will… We investigate this enigma in an attempt to bring new theories to light.

Are we being deceived? While unlikely, it’s interesting to speculate that we may be lead astray by the Vortigaunts.

A lot of things can change during the development of a game. Half-Life is rich with lore, and because of this, things have constantly changed during the series development.

Nihilanth is shrouded in mystery. Our first and only encounter with him doesn’t reveal much. We know very little about him – but he is key to the Half-Life story.

From a technical standpoint, Aperture Science and the Combine go together like peas in a prisoner pod. There are some startling similarities between their weapons and equipment that may point to an unseen element of the story.

In 2012, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw began posting some strange things on Twitter under the name @BreenGrub.

It became apparent that he was giving us something. A brief history lesson involving Vortigaunts and the ‘Shu’ulathoi’ – the Advisor race of the Universal Union, through the mind of Dr. Breen, now transferred to a young Combine Advisor body.