OverWiki:Featured article queue

This is the queue for the featured articles scheduled to appear or that appeared on the Main Page each month. The dates listed indicate when they will be or have been showcased.

The showcased featured articles from 2009 to 2011 and from 2012 to 2013 are also available for archival purposes.

December 2014

Race X is a mysterious alien race appearing in the Black Mesa Research Facility late in the Black Mesa Incident, a few hours before Gordon Freeman teleports to Xen. They serve as one of the main antagonists of Half-Life: Opposing Force. Read more

January 2015

The Loader is a crab-like quadruped robot used in Black Mesa. It autonomously performs a number of maintenance tasks in the facility, particularly in locations with hazardous conditions. Read more

February 2015

The Communications Center is a location and chapter cut from Half-Life. Portions of it were recycled for several areas found in Half-Life, Half-Life: Uplink, and Half-Life: Decay. A playable version can be found in the Half-Life Alpha. Read more

March 2015

Gearbox Software originally intended for Half-Life: Decay to feature twelve campaign missions. However, the game only shipped with nine, leaving three missions cut from Decay. Read more

April 2015

Gus is a forklift driver working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. He wears a name tag with his name on it. Read more

May 2015

The Chumtoad is a small, purple alien creature resembling a toad. It was originally cut from Half-Life but later resurrected as an Easter egg in the expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Read more

June 2015

Gina Cross is a scientist who first appears as the Holographic Assistant for Gordon Freeman in the Black Mesa Hazard Course and then later as one of the two Half-Life: Decay protagonists involved in the Black Mesa Incident. Read more

September 2015

That Long Train Ride is a fan-made remix created by Andrew "DJ Dain" Bowers of a Half-Life 2 track, an expansion of the song Triage at Dawn. It has received a great amount of notoriety in the community despite being misidentified for many years. Read more

October 2015

Vending machines are featured in the Black Mesa Research Facility selling sodas or snacks using fictional brand names. They aid the protagonists of the series by providing health items. Read more

November 2015

Mr. Friendly is an alien enemy cut from Half-Life. A scavenger creature, it used its long tentacles to attack foes and then eat the corpses of slain enemies. Read more

December 2015

The Penguin is a weapon featured in and exclusive to the Capture The Flag game mode of Half-Life: Opposing Force. Acting similar to a Snark, the bird is capable of delivering a devastating explosive payload against enemies. Read more

January 2016

The Half-Life 2 ARG was a series of tests created by Valve in 2004 to promote the upcoming release of Half-Life 2. It was conducted through the game's official website, Steam, and an actual visit to the company's headquarters. Read more

February 2016

Shock Troopers are one of the main Race X species that invade the Black Mesa Research Facility during the later stages of the Black Mesa Incident. They act as one of the antagonist forces of Half-Life: Opposing Force. Read more

March 2016

The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU) is a United States Marine Corps special forces unit featured prominently in Half-Life and its expansions. They serve as both one of the main antagonist forces and allied squad members to the player characters in the series. Read more

April 2016

Due to the content restrictions in Germany, many changes had to be made to Half-Life and its expansions in order for them to be released in the country, resulting in special censored versions. Most of these edits dealt with removing the violence and gore, such as eliminating visible blood splats and replacing the Marines with Robot Grunts. Read more

May 2016

The Female Scientist is a character cut from Half-Life who would have been encountered during the chapter Communications Center. Her role in the story was to act as a member of the science team who, despite initially appearing as an ally like the rest of the scientists, ended up betraying the player. Read more

June 2016

Boids, also known as Flyers, are manta ray/bird-like flying creatures seen in Xen in Half-Life and its expansions. Featuring dynamic group and flocking artificial intelligence, they're based on Boids, an artificial life program developed by Craig Reynolds in 1986 which simulates the flocking behavior of birds. Read more

August 2016

A satellite is used by the Black Mesa Science Team in order to stop the alien invasion. Featured in Half-Life and its expansion, Decay, it originally was to play a larger role in the storyline. Read more

September 2016

Vortigaunts are a hive-minded, energy-wielding, sapient alien race found throughout the Half-Life series. They are first encountered as a hostile species in Half-Life and return as an ally force in Half-Life 2. Read more

January 2017

Crystals are unique crystalline structures found on the alien borderworld Xen. The Black Mesa science team sought these elements for use in the research and development of teleportation technology. It was the experimental analysis of the GG-3883 crystal sample that lead to the Black Mesa Incident. Read more

February 2017

The Gluon Gun is an experimental energy weapon featured in Half-Life. Created by a scientist in Black Mesa's weapons research division, the device fires a constant vortex of spiraling energy beams capable of destroying anything that it connects with in seconds. it is the last weapon Gordon Freeman equips before traveling to Xen. Read more

March 2017

Unforeseen Consequences is the third chapter of Half-Life. Immediately following the events of the resonance cascade, Gordon Freeman finds himself traveling through the devastated remains of Sector C as hostile aliens from Xen begin invading the Black Mesa Research Facility. Read more

August 2017

The Flashlight is a portable light source used throughout the Half-Life series appearing in a variety of shapes and forms. It is standard equipment for the Black Mesa Security Force and a built-in feature of the HEV Suit. Read more

September 2017

The Borealis is an icebreaker that was cut from Half-Life 2. First called the Hyperborea, it is believed to be one of the earliest levels created for the game. Going through several design and storyline iterations during development, the location featured Gordon Freeman boarding the vessel and, with the help of ship's engineer Odell, using the stored mini-submarine to travel to the underwater Kraken Base. Read more

October 2017

Kraken Base is a location that was cut from Half-Life 2. Described as an undersea Resistance research base where Elena Mossman directed a group of scientists, Gordon Freeman reached the facility with Odell by a mini-submarine stored on the Borealis. Read more

November 2017

Halls3 is a multiplayer map in Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, the game's first new level in eight years at the time of its release. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios co-founder of Chris Ashton, the level evolved from previous works created for Half-Life and Marathon. Read more

December 2017

The Party Escort Bot, also known as the party associate, is an Aperture Science Personality Construct originally only mentioned in Portal. It was later reintroduced into the game in the retconned ending added as part of the Portal ARG. Read more

January 2018

The Fisherman is a character who appears only in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast as the guide to Gordon Freeman, setting him on his task to eliminate the local Combine presence. He originally was to play a larger role in the game, cooperating with the player to solve a puzzle related to the shipwreck on the beach. Read more

February 2018

The Sacktick is a parasitic enemy cut from Half-Life 2. A dog-sized macro virus resembling a real-world antlion, it was to be the creation of an alien warrior race, a predecessor to the Combine, which utilized weaponized alien creatures. Sackticks were to be delivered by missile-like pods in numbers, a method that was reused for the Headcrab Shell. Read more

March 2018

The product of extreme, brutal Combine engineering, a Stalker is the code name for a human who has been drastically altered both physically and mentally. After undergoing a transformation process in Nova Prospekt, it is brought to the Citadel to carry out various menial duties. Stalkers were one of the earliest creatures put into Half-Life 2. Read more

April 2018

Walter Bennet is a scientist at the Black Mesa Research Facility who is first mentioned in Half-Life: Opposing Force and later appeared in Half-Life: Blue Shift. He was based on a fan character created for a feature on Planet Half-Life. Read more

May 2018

The Sprite is a harmless Race X entity resembling a flying ball of light. Appearing only in Half-Life: Opposing Force, it can be seen floating through the Black Mesa Research Facility during the later stages of the Black Mesa Incident. Read more

June 2018

The Focuser is a scientific device created by Black Mesa that is featured in Half-Life: Blue Shift. The science team used it to aid in the creation of their teleportation technology, harnessing the power of the crystals on Xen. Read more

July 2018

Retinal scanners are biometric devices featured in the Half-Life universe. They're often used within the Black Mesa Research Facility near security checkpoints being operated by security guards or the science team. Read more

August 2018

Crossfire is a map in the multiplayer mode of Half-Life. Created by Dario Casali, it is notable for allowing players to launch an airstrike killing everyone outside the safe zone. Casali considers Crossfire to be his proudest gameplay accomplishment in Half-Life's multiplayer, while Valve has regarded the level as their favorite teamplay map. Read more

September 2018

The Tactical Map is a device used by the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit to coordinate mortar strikes entity used by the map against targets. It is used by Gordon Freeman to destroy a Gargantua and the sealed bunker door that blocks his progress to the Lambda Complex. Read more

October 2018

Mel is a playable character cut from Portal 2. She was originally to be the protagonist and later one of two co-operative campaign Test Subjects. Her storyline being a prequel set in the 1950s era of Aperture Science, she would have battled Cave Johnson who had become an artificial intelligence and was leading a robot uprising. Read more

November 2018

Ivan the Space Biker is the nickname given to the original scientist character model created for the player during the early stages of Half-Life's production. He was revealed to the public in the game's first announcement and was featured in the Half-Life Alpha. His design eventually evolved into Gordon Freeman. Read more

December 2018

The Borealis is an Aperture Science research icebreaker of an almost legendary stature introduced in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It is implied that it contains an immensely powerful and dangerous secret yet to be revealed in the series. Read more

January 2019

The Manhack Arcade is a Combine establishment in City 17 that was cut from Half-Life 2. Visited during the first chapters of the game, Citizens were to be seen playing a video game centered around piloting Manhacks and tracking fleeing human targets for points, unaware of the fact that they were actually killing fugitive Citizens in real life. Read more

March 2019

The Gonarch is the final life phase of the Headcrab introduced in Half-Life. Acting as the penultimate boss of the game, it is encountered in Xen during the chapter Gonarch's Lair where it vehemently defends its young against Gordon Freeman. Read more

April 2019

Polyrobo is a robot model used by Valve during the early previews of Half-Life to demonstrate the technical features of the GoldSrc engine. Designed to stress the engine's capabilities, it featured a high polygon count and exhibited the new skeletal animation system. Read more

June 2019

The crusher, also known as the masher, is a testing element with the sole purpose of killing or destroying Test Subjects. Primarily featured in Portal 2, it is frequently employed by Wheatley against Chell and GLaDOS. Read more

July 2019

The reproductive suppression field was imposed by the Combine to prevent human procreation as part of their plan for the total extermination of the human race. The destruction of the Citadel by the efforts of Gordon and Alyx led to its shutdown. Read more

August 2019

Taste the Cake is a Portal-inspired fan-made song created by Ray Koefoed and featured in his machinima video of the same name. Initially published by Machinima.com, its original upload on YouTube garnered over 2.9 million views. Read more

April 2020

The Garden Gnome is a prop that's become an iconic element and long running joke within the series. It was first introduced as part of a notoriously difficult Achievement in Episode Two and later returned in Alyx where it served a similar role. Read more

June 2020

The car battery is a prop featured in a puzzle during the Half-Life 2 chapter Sandtraps. Its appearance was inspired by Kirkland Signature batteries sold in Costco warehouses in the Seattle area. Car batteries reappear under a different design in Half-Life: Alyx as environmental details. Read more

July 2020

Griggs and Sheckley are a pair of Rebels who appear in the Half-Life 2: Episode Two chapter This Vortal Coil. Stationed at the Victory Mine, they assist Gordon Freeman in fending off a large Antlion invasion with the help of their makeshift defenses. Read more

May 2022

Azian Vance was the wife of Eli and mother to Alyx who was one of the many who did not make it out of Black Mesa during the incident. Her tragic loss has brought great anguish to her family, but they continue on hoping to make her proud, carrying many memories of her with them. Read more