Alien Assassin
This article is about the enemy cut from Half-Life 2. For the Half-Life: Opposing Force enemy, see Shock Trooper. For other uses, see Assassin (disambiguation). |
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The contents of this article have been cut. |  |
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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. |
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| Alien Assassin | |
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| General information | |
| Faction | |
| Type |
Soldier / Assassin |
| Individual information | |
| Weapon(s) |
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| Game information | |
| Entity |
npc_assassin[1] |
| Designer(s) | |
The Alien Assassin,[2] also known as the Combine Alien Assassin,[2] the Breeder,[2] the Shock Trooper,[2] and the Prowler,[3] is an enemy cut from Half-Life 2. It is the original form of the Fast Zombie.[2]
Overview[edit]
The Alien Assassin has long claws used for slashing targets, red spikes on the top of its head, a breathing mask and pipes in its eye orbits, and apparently only two toes. Like the Combine Assassin, it is likely that it was to be a quick and resourceful enemy, moving swiftly and performing flips, rolls, and other movements, unlike the Combine Assassin however it also had the ability to run across tightropes. Furthermore, it was to fire smoke to conceal its movements,[4] throw shock tripwires, knives and an unknown weapon named "pests" stored on its back, and quickly pounce the player.[1] It was also to have a Zombie version as the Zombie Assassin, but it was never completed.
Both the Alien Assassin and the Cremator bear some similarities. They have an identical orange sphere on the back of one hand, looking like some sort of lid (the right hand for the Alien Assassin, in lower resolution, the left for the Cremator), similar arms and hands (except that the Cremator has only four fingers), and also lines on the hands (although the Cremator has them on its gloves instead of the skin like Alien Assassin). This suggests they were to be related in some way.
As seen in the WC map pack maps d3_borealis_02 and d3_borealis_06, five NPCs using the entity npc_assassin were to be seen frozen in tanks aboard the Borealis. This may refer to the Alien Assassin (rather than the Combine Assassin), as ropes used in d3_borealis_02 bear the prefix breederrom_rope, pointing to this alternate name for the Alien Assassin.[5] In the map ai_guide1, a scripted sequence involves the player and Odell witnessing a Stalker dart by. The entity name of this Stalker is "breeder", suggesting it's standing in as the placeholder for an Alien Assassin.
Behind the scenes[edit]
A related sound file, ball_zap1.wav, can still be found in the Half-Life 2 files, in the folder "/sound/npc/assassin/". Similar to a Stun Baton sound, it was likely related to the Assassin's shock tripwires. The sound file tattle1.wav located in the sound folder for the Alien Assassin in the Half-Life 2 leak files indicates the Assassin was at some point to taunt the player.
Gallery[edit]
Running.
Walking, in a Nosferatu-esque manner.
The Alien Assassin's left hand, with the orange sphere.
Orange sphere texture, from the Cremator texture files.
A Stalker standing in as the placeholder for an Assassin in
ai_guide1.
List of appearances[edit]
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance) (Non-canonical appearance)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Half-Life 2 leak
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 105
- ↑ Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (uncorrected proof), page 279
- ↑ Half-Life 2 leak source code
- ↑ WC map pack
