This subject is related to the Combine era.

Vault

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For other uses, see Vault (disambiguation).

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This subject is related to the Combine era.

A3 distillery vault.jpg
Vault
General information
Constructed

After the Seven Hour War

Destroyed

Before the Uprising

Location

Quarantine Zone, City 17

Builder

Combine

Usage
Era(s)

Combine occupation

Faction

Combine

Game information
Map(s)
  • a5_vault
  • a5_ending
"It's not a vault. It's a prison. They didn't build it to keep us OUT. They're trying to keep something IN."
Eli Vance[src]

The Vault is a complex high-security "prison" built by the Combine in the Quarantine Zone with the sole purpose of imprisoning the G-Man, who had been captured sometime prior to the events of Half-Life: Alyx. It is featured in the eleventh and last chapter of the game, Point Extraction.

Overview[edit]

The Vault is a superconductive floating structure, held aloft by numerous enslaved Vortigaunts inside substations situated throughout the Quarantine Zone, which project vertical blue beams into the sky to indicate their locations. These substations are designed to torture the energy out of a group of Vortigaunts housed in pod farms attached to them. Then, the output is collected from the Vortigaunts before being "re-harmonized" by a single "conductor" Vortigaunt via the tuner apparatus placed at the roots of the cables that run up to the Vault itself.[1] The harvested energy of the Vortigaunts' Vortessence chants flows through the internal structures of the Vault, aiding in the containment of the G-Man.

As discovered by Eli Vance from the Combine datapod he stole, the whole Vault is hastily constructed around an apartment building, where the Combine located and captured the G-Man. The spacetime and gravity inside the torn-up apartment are strangely altered by the spillover Vortigaunt energy or an occasional prevalence of the G-Man's abilities to create surreal phenomena, and its inhabitants are in a state of constantly fading in and out of existence. A small Combine military is also garrisoned there to defend the icosahedral prison cell at the center. Eli initially believed that the Vault contained a "superweapon" that could be used against the Combine, and sent Alyx to investigate it.

On her journey, Alyx and a band of liberated Vortigaunts disabled the substations supporting the Vault, causing it to lower its altitude and activate an emergency backup. However, as their decryption progresses, Eli and Russell slowly discovered that the Vault is actually a prison designed to contain something or someone that the Combine greatly fear, at first believing the prisoner to be Gordon Freeman. In an effort to free who was contained inside, Alyx accidentally sent the Vault crashing down, and she got sucked into it herself. After traversing the paranormally altered apartment block, she ventured to the center and entered the outer icosahedron, in which her Gravity Gloves are charged with Vortigaunt energy, allowing her to battle the intercepting guards. Inside the larger cell, she discovered a smaller icosahedron with green electricity constantly flowing to and from it, and inadvertently set its occupant free.

Related Achievements[edit]

Half-Life: Alyx
Achievement Point Extraction.jpg Point Extraction
Get to the superweapon.
Achievement Gnome Vault of My Own.jpg Gnome Vault of My Own
Bring a garden gnome with you to the Vault.

Trivia[edit]

Just outside the G-Man's icosahedral cell, a dead Advisor can be seen directly beneath the catwalk. Presumably, it died when the Vault crashed.

Gallery[edit]

Pre-release[edit]

Retail[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Half-Life: Alyx commentary
Preceded by
Parking Garage
Half-Life: Alyx story arc journey Succeeded by
White Forest