Antlion Grub

Antlion Grub
General information
Faction	Antlions
Type	Insect
Personal information
Health	1
Attack(s)	N/A
Game information
Entity	npc_antlion_grub
Designer(s)	Ted Backman

 

"The Vort says as long as we don't step on their Grubs, they shouldn't hear us this far from the nest..."

― Griggs

Antlion Grub, or simply Grub, is the Antlion larvae. It is found in the first two chapters of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, To the White Forest and This Vortal Coil, in the Victory Mine. During the events of Half-Life: Alyx, they can be found inside modules of Health Chargers.

Overview

Antlion Grubs in situ.

The Grubs are larvae-like creatures, emitting a high chirping call and bioluminescence similar to that of a firefly. They are found only deep inside Antlion colonies, and can be seen hanging on any available surfaces, often in groups of two or more. They are extremely fragile and can be killed by merely bumping into them. In the hive, human remains are sometimes found scattered on the ground near Grubs, suggesting that they are carnivorous and are presumably provided with food by mature Antlions. Grubs also exude a filmy thread, similar to that of a silkworm but on a much larger scale. As seen in the Victory Mine, these webs often blocks whole passageways or contain items useful to the player. Every Antlion in the nest will protect grubs fiercely. It is unknown into what kind of Antlion caste the Antlion Grubs seen in the Victory Mine are supposed to transform, since they are all identical.

Grubs internally contain a yellow substance with healing properties, named "larval pellet" ("nugget" in the game files). Killing the Grub releases the said larval pellet, which varies in size (it includes three models: small, medium, and large). How much the substance heals is dependent upon the players' current health level.

As seen in Half-Life: Alyx, the Combine harnessed the healing abilities of the Grubs for their Health Stations. The stations require the insertion of Antlion Grubs, kept in vials, before they can be used. The Grub in the vial will then be compressed, squeezing out its healing fluids to be used as medication.

Related Achievements

Half-Life 2: Episode Two
	Get Some Grub (20G)
	Squish every Antlion Grub in Episode Two.
	Piñata Party (5G)
	Find and break every web cache.

Behind the scenes

The original Antlion Grub nest in the test map grub2, with rocks supposedly serving as placeholders for Antlion eggs.

• The Antlion Grub was originally to appear in the Coast chapters of Half-Life 2, also in Antlion caves, in the map antcave (last edited 2002).

• The original Grub model can be found in the Half-Life 2 leak files. It has eyes, while all retail Antlions are blind, and one of its animations show it to move at a decent speed and directly attack the player. The files also feature early sounds which appear to be sped up baby sounds.

• According to Valve's Ted Backman, the Antlion Grub was created for Half-Life 2 to visually flesh out the lifecycle of the Antlions but the team never found the right place to include it. As the team developed the Antlion environments of Episode Two, the Grubs were an obvious choice for resurrection. In addition to the Grub's role in the life cycle of the Antlion, they provide light, which is an equally valuable service in these dark tunnels; this use is reminiscent of the Xen crystals and Xen Plant Lights on Xen.

• As the Grubs came to life, the team made sure that killing them was more rewarding, introducing the larval pellet for players with low health. Soon they found many players were compelled to squash every Grub in the map. The Grubs also play a role in the game's dynamic resupply system: the more injured the player is, the more health they provide (as stated above), which allowed the team to create a consistent level of challenge for players at differing skill levels.

The unfinished Antlion Grub texture found in the Episode One files.

• According to Valve's Carl Uhlman, in early tests playtesters did not realize that Antlion Grubs drop health pellets, since they tended to pick up the larval pellets by accident after squishing the Grubs. In order to showcase the feature, the team placed a Grub on the far side of a webbing. When a player breaks the web, they squish the Grub and send the pellet rolling. Most players chase the larval pellet and naturally understand how to exploit Grubs in the future.

• According to Valve's John Morello, Griggs and Sheckley's comment about not stepping on the Grubs was originally intended for comedic effect and to suggest that, as usual, Gordon Freeman had brought trouble in his wake. However, the team found that some playtesters took this comment too literally, and would spend the rest of the level avoiding grubs in fear of spawning more Antlions, making the levels quite difficult. The team experimented for a short time with making this an actual mechanic, bringing in Antlions whenever Grubs were squished; but this had several negative results: it made the tunnels far too difficult, and cancelled out any benefit the player got from squishing Grubs for health. They then decided to keep the Grub behavior simple and rewarding. It still reacts when approached by the player, but does not necessarily summon other Antlions.

• An unfinished texture file for squashed parts of an Antlion Grub can be found in the Episode One texture files, most likely included due to an oversight.

• Of note is the similarities between the Antlion Grub and a common termite, especially when viewed from the front.

Gallery

Half-Life 2 leak

• 

  Leak Antlion Grub model.

• 

  Leak squashed Antlion Grub model. Of note is the sentence written on the creature's belly: "If you can read this, you're looking at grub dung!", with "dung!" between two asterisks.

• 

  Early brush egg from the map grub2.

• 

  Variant.

• 

  Leak Antlion egg model, actually a reskinned watermelon.

• 

  The original Antlion Grubs in the map antcave.

• 

  Ditto.

Episode Two

Pre-release

• 

  Concept art of an Antlion Grub nursery for Episode Two.

• 

  Early Antlion Grubs in Episode Two Trailer.

Retail

• 

  Large larval pellet model.

• 

  Grubs in the Victory Mine.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto, near a shovel.

• 

  Squashed Antlion Grub.

• 

  Human remains scattered near Grubs.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  Antlion Grub hanging on a web.

• 

  One of the "Piñata Party" webs.

Half-Life: Alyx

• 

  Grub in a Health Station vial.

• 

  The vial plugged into a Health Station.

• 

  Grub vial model.

List of appearances

• Half-Life 2: Episode One (First appearance) (Game files only)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two
• Half-Life: Alyx