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Memory replacement

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This subject is related to the Combine era.
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Memory replacement closeup.jpg
Memory replacement
General information
Faction

Combine

Game information
Designer(s)

Dhabih Eng (concept art for the device)[1]

"Reminder: Memory replacement is the first step toward rank privileges."
Overwatch Voice[src]

Memory replacement is a psycho-engineering process used by the Combine as part of the transhuman operation, transforming humans into Combine Soldiers and Combine Elites.

Overview[edit]

As stated by an Overwatch Voice radio transmission to Civil Protection officers, memory replacement is mandatory to access higher "rank privileges", i.e. to go from a Metrocop with an unaltered nervous system to a Combine Soldier. This method essentially brainwashes a normal human into a pawn with complete loyalty to the Combine, replacing most if not all the memories of his former self.

The process is achieved through a conversion device[2] in which the soldier is confined to while only wearing his fatigue trousers and boots. While the soldier's body is restrained by an arm-like device and sat upon a precarious seat, the head is enveloped by a shell-like apparatus which contains a visor with a screen that projects directly into his eyes. The device is first seen in the Citadel during the Half-Life 2: Episode One chapter Direct Intervention where eight of them are grouped together in a strut array attached to a wall in a distant inaccessible area. While the stripped Combine Soldier is first seen on an operating table through a monitor in Nova Prospekt's cell block B4 in Half-Life 2, it is unknown if memory replacement was also performed at the facility.

In Half-Life: Alyx, several Combine voice lines refer to the Overwatch informing units to "[update] cognitive suppression biodats" and to "refresh and resolve", that "cognitive dissonance will not be tolerated, [...] memories included", and that "acceptance is mandatory", implying that they are undergoing regular memory update transmissions which actively suppress their cognitive capabilities in real time.

Behind the scenes[edit]

While the memory replacement device was first introduced in-game in Half-Life 2: Episode One, it was originally designed to appear in Half-Life 2 at Nova Prospekt. Concept art for it appeared in Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar.[1]

Gallery[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

Main games[edit]

Other[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 230
  2. Twitter favicon.png Tweet: "These are Overwatch Soldier conversion mechanisms. Idea being that once proven in Civil Protection as a Metrocop you get to graduate to be a Combine soldier which involves memory replacement, among other mods. All things that make them less and less human the higher the rank." @dhabiheng (Dhabih Eng) on Twitter (January 30, 2022)