Gene Worm

	Warning! This article has yet to be cleaned up to a higher standard of quality, per our Cleanup Project. It may contain factual errors and nonsense, as well as spelling, grammar and structure issues, or simply structure problems. Reader's discretion is advised until fixing is done.
	You can help clean up this page by correcting spelling and grammar, removing factual errors and rewriting sections to ensure they are clear and concise, and moving some elements when appropriate. Please notify the administrators before removing this template.

	This article would greatly benefit from the addition of one or more new images.
	Please upload one or several relevant images (from canonical / official sources) and place it here. Once finished, this notice may be removed.

Gene Worm
General information
Faction	Race X
Type	Ultimate Weapon
Individual information
Health	840/1080/1200
Weapon(s)	Biotoxin stream Tentacles
Game information
Entity	monster_geneworm
Designer(s)	Stephen Bahl

 

"Listen, you've got to get down below. There's something coming through and it's the nastiest looking thing yet. Some of your buddies went down there a while ago and I haven't seen them since."

― Black Mesa security guard

The Gene Worm is the final boss of Half-Life: Opposing Force, and the most mysterious of the Race X aliens. This life form is the equivalent of a "biological resource management factory." It is capable of taking any of Earth's natural resources and assimilating it to make them useful to the aliens' needs. If one fully entered Earth and became productive, it would effectively alter the planet enough to become useful as a new homeworld for Race X. However, this was never shown in action.

Overview

Physically, the creature resembles a green, worm-like creature with many tentacles and a beak-like protrusion similar in both shape and position to that of the Xen Tentacle. The Gene Worm attacks with its tentacles and ejects a deadly chemical stream from its mouth. Its outer hide is impervious to damage; in order to kill it, the player must blind the creature by shooting both its eyes with the mounted laser guns on either side of the worm. This causes it to summon reinforcements by opening its abdominal cavity to reveal a portal orb that a Shock Trooper will teleport through. The worm's weakness is by firing any gun at the rear of this stomach cavity; It should be noted that the portal orb itself is not vulnerable to attacks. When the Gene Worm "dies", it sinks back into its portal, but not before emitting a "portal storm" into the room, similar to the one that occurred as the Nihilanth died. When the creature is idle and no threat is visible, it will gently sway its tentacles around, and emit soft hissing and groaning noises.

The Gene Worm is found deep underground in a seemingly abandoned industrial area of Black Mesa and appears through a portal opening powered by Sprites in a room there, apparently either unwilling or unable to fully enter this world, most likely because of the minuscule size of the portal behind it in proportion to the Gene Worm's presumably immense size and length. The room itself has been fitted with mounted weapons which are powered by Xen energy crystals. The player character, Adrian Shephard, is sent down to the portal by a Black Mesa security guard, who remarks "Some of your buddies went down earlier, and I haven't seen 'em since." These soldiers were only able to set up the mounted weapons before their unseen demise, although nothing is seen of their remains, possibly indicating they may have been "processed" by the creature.

Trivia

The Destroyer in Borderlands.

• The Destroyer, an enemy featured in the Gearbox game Borderlands is remarkably similar to the Gene Worm, in the sense that it has many tentacles, has an eye which needs to be shot in order to kill it and the fact that it appears through a portal. The Destroyer is likely an intentional reference to Opposing Force.

• In the Opposing Force files, there is a sound byte related to the Gene Worm called "dsbossit". When played, it sounds like plain gibberish. But when played backwards, it says "To win the game you must kill me, Randall Pitchford". Randy Pitchford is CEO of Gearbox. This is a nod to Doom II where "to win the game you must kill me, John Romero" is played backwards when the final boss sees the player. Furthermore, "dsbossit" is also the name of this sound in Doom II's main WAD file.

Gallery

• 

  The Gene Worm being targeted by Shephard.

• 

  The Gene Worm is defeated.

List of appearances

• Half-Life: Opposing Force