Memory replacement
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| Memory replacement | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Faction | |
| 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.
Contents
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 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]
Concept art.
Model of the memory-replacing device.
Stripped Combine Soldier model introduced in Half-Life 2 and reused for the Episode One device model.
Devices in the Citadel.
Ditto.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
Other[edit]
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 230
- ↑
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)
