Half-Life 2: A Deep Dive into the Lost Coast 

I think the fisherman is so old he's seen many things in his life that seeing Gordon fading from existence is just normal to him.

Can we admire that even on a random off-shoot like Lost Coast, then they still programmed in tiny details like the fisherman reacting to you shooting the birds

What if the fisher man's lack of surprise in Gordon disappearing in front of him is just due to having lived through a bunch of the shit the combine did and was just used to weird unexplainable stuff happening

It wasn't the G-Man taking away Gordon, but rather he was taking the Fisherman.

The fact that a 15 minute tech demo has so much love and attention to detail put into it makes it one of my favorite games of all time.

Ya know, Lost Coast in 2005, looked pretty damn good. Valve did an amazing job, presenting so much detail and accurate lighting at a time when hardware and software was still so limited in comparison to today.. there are games today that don't look as good as Lost Coast did then.

I think St. Olga existence and the fisherman's existence as well by extension are both canon, as implied by Half-Life: Alyx. St. Olga is absolutely canon, it's seen on the poster, and the fisherman I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be canon. As for Gordon's adventure at the lost coast I'd say it's most likely not canon. There is no place that I can seen where the lost coast could fit within the canon, I view it the same way I do Uplink. I think the best that could be done to work it into the canon would be a mini prequel to Gordon's adventure in base Half-Life 2. I'd imagine the G-Man briefly took Gordon out of stasis to see how well he'd do against new Combine forces and to see if Gordon still has what it takes with cliffside combat similar to Half-Life 1. By the end the G-Man puts Gordon back into stasis (because it would have to be him) and he doesn't really care about the fisherman witnessing it since he's old and will probably think he's hallucinating. That's my little headcanon explanation. Now that I think about it, the cut opening to Lost Coast with the fisherman on the boat is probably what inspired the character Samuel in Arkane's Dishonored, since they're both older men who transport the main character by boat and Dishonored was made with Viktor Antonov.

I just imagine the fisherman defended himself during the 7 hour war just with his trusty mackerel and beat the shit out of every single combine also great vido btw :)

6:53 I like how the valve theme starts right when the helicopter hits the building.

It's a bit corny, but I always liked to imagine that Lost Coast is a dream a demoralised Gordon has when he blacks out at the end of Episode 2 after Eli dies. The Fisherman representing a voice for humanity and a reminder of his mission to take down the Combine, the cliffside climb and the helicopter battle being a rephrased memory from Black Mesa where he had to stand up against overwhelming odds, and the gun emplacement itself either representing the Citadel or the Borealis. This doesn't really account for Half Life Alyx, but if Gordon is aware of Eli's death being erased then it could snugly fit into the epilogue of HLA

Fun Fact: If you take a specific route it is possible to navigate through the water without the leeches killing you.

good video, really enjoyed this look into a strange but charming part of Half Life's history :)

2:26 The funniest part about Half-Life to me is that when Gordon lowers his revolver when facing an ally, he points it directly between their legs-which is potentially more threatening than pointing it at their head/chest.

St. Olga is just beautiful. The cliff, the morning view of the town... Even mountain on the horizon!

Rest in peace to Jim French, I see the poor man had to record a lot of voice lines for the fisherman

For some reason, the architecture in that exact village hitting really close to home for me. Reminds me of the old districts of Kyiv, like Andriyivskyy Descent or Podil. Absolutely beautiful places Mix it with Source Engine aesthetic (which is huge nostalgia inducer for every 1990-2004 kid) and get full nostalgia overcharge

If I remember correctly, the Lost Coast wasn't actually free at first--at least, you had to have Half Life 2. I remember getting a copy with my old ATi X200 card. I remember being blown away by the graphics, and I used it as a benchmark for my PC for years.

I’ve always interpreted the fade-out ending as just being that- a fade-out ending for a tech demo because it doesn’t have a “proper” ending like in the other titles. Honestly, I always saw lost coast as being uncanonical anyways, as it is never mentioned in any other HL title and was clearly intended to be a one-off. It also doesn’t fit into the rest of the HL2 storyline, unless there’s some point between Gordon arriving by at city 17 and Eli dying where this can be slotted in (remember that half-life is a uninterrupted experience from Gordon’s perspective. Also, just wondering but why’s the video in 4:3?

as much people meme on it . i actually love Lost Coast and especially the church . it's show how powerful the source engine back then (it's from 2005) And the vertical combat . that work . is something rare to see in half life and is something i kinda wish we had more off . also the developer commentary is insightful . i always love hearing Valve devs talking about the game . Edit: We did have vertical combat in nova prospekt and i liked it . before entering it . next to the cliff . Also the church at the end uses this cool source engine glass . we rarely see used ever .

You know what, mad respect to Marc for even bothering to answer an Email about a Tech Demo for a game he wrote for 20 years prior. He didn't have to, it's not like it was expected of him, but he did it.

If G-Man is supposed to be a shorthand for "government man", and in the Lost Coast you meet the "Fisherman", could it be assumed that you could shorten that to "F-Man"? Is there a connection? Probably not but it could be pretty interesting to consider the fisherman as another G-Man like figure just with different, although similar, motives. Hence why he isn't all too phased to see Gordan just disappear at the end on the dlc.

Putting this vid in 4:3 was pretty genius and gave this vid a great vibe, phenomenal job.

Now I can't not feel that Fisherman fits rather well into TF2's style. Anyhow, great video!

I have the source SDK they apparently give to game developers of the source engine, running a spec test of your computer on lost coast, I never knew why they had a map of an abandoned harbour, but now I know, thanks richter.

I like to think of Lost Coast as a "warm up" that Gman tasked Gordon with before he took him completely out of stasis and put him on the train setting the events of HL2 in motion.

My head canon is that Lost Coast is just a fever dream Gordon has in between Episode 1 and 2 while he's unconscious in the train.

Ever since I mounted every game on Garry's mod 13, I have noticed the lighting from Lost Coast start effecting other games like TF2, And it even is affecting Source mods like Entropy Zero.

I always took the ending as just Gordon leaving not really being teleported away

The Fisherman had the most detailed character model and textures in a Half-Life game before HL:A, and he's a barely seen side character in a free demo that most people complete in 10 min.

10:09 That is sad to hear that the teleport theory got shoot-down. Going to have to store it in my headcanon now.

My idea is that gordon would have ditched the buggy by now and was to have traversed to st Olga on foot. He would find himself on the other side of the water closer to the industrial area. He would meet the Fisherman and a couple of resistance members hanging out in a warehouse. They would mention that he was heading the right way to nova prospect, however the combine had said up shop in the monastery, using it at an observation point to scan for any incoming attacks on nova prospekt. Of course the resistance had been spying on the combine the entire time and had noticed helicopters dropping off head crab canisters, fearing the worst the fisherman asks you to go take the combine out. Then lost coast plays out. Afterwards you would be lead to O.P.B (Olga point base) where the fisherman would give you the bug bait and instruct you how to use it, he would also joke about it being good to catch lots of fish. Then the invasion of nova prospekt would play out.

I always thought the ending involved Gordon running away at the thought of eating disgusting leeches.

developer commentary actually did get me into game design. while i'm not game designing at the moment, whenever i make a gmod save, i always wanna doc the development of an area for others to hear about and understand the area more. like how one of my saves started as a 1v1 map but slowly turned itself into a combine filled shoot house with a helicopter as an escape, hope i can one day tell how those changes happened to everyone who plays the save. really wish more game studios did this, i'd love to hear about payday 2's development or the original assasssin's creed without having to read a book or article online

I viewed Lost Coast as a Dream Sequence in between HL2 to EP1 or EP1 to EP2. That whole "getting all fuzzy" line is just Gordon waking up to reality, the reality that inspired his dream of the Lost Coast.

I like to think that the Lost Coast events still happen, just with someone else instead of Gordon, like Adrian or perhaps, Gina or Colette.

This video looks like had alot of effort and research done for it for such a small topic like Lost Coast, awesome job Richter, its good to more Half Life related videos with this style.

the fisherman is the reason we lasted 7 hours and not 3

Great video man. I’ve always been interested in obscure and cut content from game franchises, especially Half-Life considering there’s so much of it. Most people wouldn’t give Lost Coast a second thought so I think it’s really neat that you did.

I like to think this can be squeezed into the teleportation issues in the start of half life 2, gordon teleports all over the place, lands in the lost coast and if all is in real time takes him about 30 minutes to clear out everything before the teleport bounces him back to the outside of kleiner's lab

My headcanon for Lost Coast is that it’s a short test G-Man puts Gordon through after Half-Life 2. This was meant to be training for the mission G-Man would have sent Gordon on in Episode 1, but of course that gets interrupted by our buddies the Vorts.

Super well made video! Very nice editing and I liked its structure, I've recently been on a Half Life lore binge and this was a nice treat.

I can totally see the art connection between the old fisherman and Arkane studio's Dishonored series. There's a very distinct coastal/fishing port look throughout those games and now it's starting to make sense with Viktor transferring over with his talents being embedded within Arkane's art style. What a cool insight indeed!

I always assumed that it was going to be a part of the highway maps and the map before this one would've left Gordon getting f'ed up and waking up being assisted by the fisherman and then so forth. Gordon fading away always was a mystery to me.

The Lost Coast is honestly one of my favorites of Valve's games, despite how short it is. I think it helped secure my love of Valve and their games.

In my opinion, lost coast has the same role and cannon as Uplink, I think Lost Coast and Uplink both perfectly fit the role of being a gameplay demo and also fits perfectly into the role of being a snapshot of Gordon's journey in his respective games.

I like how you keep consistent with the 4:3 Aspect ratio for your videos, It adds a nice charm.

This was a really good video, I had no idea there was so much stuff behind LC that we never got to see. Good work.

I always felt as if Lost Coast occured between after you teleported away from Nova Prospekt and before you reappeared back in Kleiner's Lab. That would at least explain how Gordon appears and disappears in Lost Coast in the first place.

6:56 The hunter chopper crash being synced with hazardous environments' drop is weirdly satisfying.

I've never heard the theory that Lost Coast happens during the Nova Prospekt teleport. I love it, it makes sense and fits well IMO. Remember how Gordon's first teleport sent him to multiple unintended destinations? This is a... slower... version of that. I understand Mr. Laidlaw doesn't like it, but I never subscribed to the idea that creators get to decide canon by declaration outside of the work itself. Canon is defined by the work, not by any commentary outside it. I also don't understand his definition of the word "cool" in this case. Surely the teleport messing up enough to allow a sidequest like this is cooler than it *just* lasting a week. I will therefore believe that Gordon did indeed visit St. Olga for a brief 15 minutes during his week-long teleport.

Hot take: Lost Coast is the best Valve made Half-Life game Really loved some of the small touches in this video like the animation of Gordon at the start.

Interesting stuff. I always liked Lost Coast’s aesthetic as an alternative to retail or beta

I like to think that half-life: lost coast takes place in between hl2 and hl1, where Gman just takes Gordon out of stasis for a hot minute to stop the combine from taking over St. Olga, before they can be given enough time to evacuate, making Gordon's battle to stop the combine in Hl2-3 a much more likely and easier one as he would have much more help from the now non-dead rebels/refugees from St. Olga that evacuated .

Man I’ve been obsessed w everything half life for the past decade, and this vid shows stuff i haven’t thought off. Earned a sub man, nice work

Holy, Marc Laidlaw so based. That's how i react when people start to unnecessarily theorizing about everything just because they can't cope with not having a conclusion.

I like to think that The Lost Coast is one of the random teleports from when Kleiner's teleporter malfunctioned.

Personally, I love the character of the Fisherman and hope he’s cannon. From his look, voice and role in the game, this guy would be a nice addition to any future HL game

I like to think that Lost Coast takes place between Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2 Episode One with Gman taking Freeman out of stasis to sabotage the Headcrab mortar launcher as a means of testing him for other assignments. And I think this might be the same for Uplink, although I usually play with Uplink Addon enabled, even if it was supposed to take place during Freeman's travel through the Lambda Labs. But maybe the events of Uplink take place before the Black Mesa facility gets nuked but after Gman recruits Freeman and briefly sends him back to Earth and into the satellite uplink facility as a means of testing his abilities.

I would say this takes place after Episode 3 as the ending to the plot synopsis Marc posted says Gordon awoke on a shore.

Great video! I think HLLC is a fantastic little experience, cool area with a neat set-piece, the fisherman is an endearing character, and of course it's absolute eye candy. My head-cannon is that it takes place after HL2, BUT BEFORE HL:E1.

I think the Coast is actually a prelude to the game. Gordon starts off with the suit and weapons, does something that probably helps save some crucial character in olga, and then is pulled back to actually meet them later

Congrats to 100 k 🤩👏

6:55 god damn the sync between the chopper crashing and the transition to the next part

That rerouting dialogue thing was genius!

Another houtouts to Richter Overtime for making his videos in the correct aspect ratio

This video was really well made.

I never gave Lost Coast much thought beyond it being a benchmark which always made my system score much higher than expected. Always wondered how it fit into the universe. But like all Half-Life fans, I was just happy to get some new content - no matter how brief. And the monastery WAS a visual delight at the time. Thanks for fleshing it out a bit.

It would be very interesting to see a mod recreating/reworking the Lost Coast it seems to have alot of potential outside of being just a tech demo.

Amazing video!

Thanks for the video richter985

i hope we'll visit St. Olga in future half life games, perhaps even meet the fisherman. It's a very beutiful place, and the fisherman is nice :)

11:08 Cool to know that that system was updated and made it into source 2 and aperture desk job, I didn't think it dates back to source 1

I think you could consider Lost Coast cannon by treating it as the G-Man teleporting Gordon to a place where he could easily solve a problem. As for why? To build fame, with tales of Gordon doing what he does best being spread like wildfire all over the resistance. It makes him more of a hero figure, part of the reason why they will follow him so easy.

9:06 vietnamese in the trees finnish in the snow and combine in the windows.

I find it really neat how they added that interrupted dialogue thing in Portal: Desk Job like when you shoot Cave

My theory on the canon Lost coast happens exactly as it was released: between HL2 and episode 2. The vortigaunts sent Gordon to St. Olga to save the place from becoming Ravenholm. It works because the Citadel was currently on the process of being destroyed and the Combine would probably ditch it to divert resources to City 17 after that.

Watching this makes me so fucking angry. Valve's speech and facial system is still absolutely stunning; the way he pauses to comment on the bird Gordon killed and then goes back to his main dialogue sounded seamless to me. Yet modern games still seem to lack this kind of expression within their character models. People are talking about peachfuss and crackled lip textures but who cares about the lips if they can't smile? The eyeroll Dr Breen does in the main game is still amazing to me. I don't think I've seen another game do such a natural (and pretty common expression) so well. It seemed that during the PS2/Xbox/GC era, we were trying so hard to do facial animation (Ratchet and Clank especially) but in the HD era we just... Gave up? I guess? Even Bethesda RPGs, which basically NEED facial expressions don't have them. Everyone comes off like a robot.

Great, awesome video!

Wow this video was really enjoyable

I never knew about the interrupted dialog demo. That’s actually pretty interesting, I don’t see that in games too often, if I’ve ever seen it at all.

Great vid! N1! :)

I don't know how this video got into my recommendations, but hey, it's good. Thank you!

This dude is making videos in 4:3 aspect ratio in 2022, epic.

Nice combine killin' part!

that last clip at the end there, is what i truly feel like what happened to the fishermans fate. only it seems right since gordon was technically never there. to me the lost coast game is about "what if" gordon was there to save a city/town and the fisherman.

This was actually my first half-life game. My father got this game and HL2:DM for free due to an AMD deal at the time. I love those two little niche entries of the Half-Life series.

When he said "nice knowning you" made me sad

As someone who's on and off worked on a Source related video essay, I absolutely love the subtle editing to make the title cards for each segment mimic the text from source games. This was an excellent little video, thank you

the dialog interrupt thing and the HLA poster is cool wtf

this is the best episode of half life no doubt

Lost Coast is interesting because it's often overlooked. I remember playing this when it came out. I had a 6600gt, Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8GHz socket 754 model) and 1GB of single channel DDR400. That setup played HL2 okay but lagged a bit at Nova Prospekt. I received Lost Coast free through Steam as I owned HL2 GOTY (5 CDs install). HDR was cool but somewhat taxing on system performance back then. I think Lost Coast was briefly used as a GPU review benchmark. I remember Day of Defeat Source getting HDR before other Valve games. Thanks for making this, cheers 🍻

I remember using a mod that integrates this map into the campaign, setting it inbetween the Nova Prospekt teleport and returning to Kleiner's Lab. Since it's a slow teleport it very much fits too with the fisherman at the end saying "Where are you going, you're getting fuzzy around the edges!".

Great video! Loved the transition texts for the chapters in the style of the on-screen chapter titles in Half-Life 2! Why the non-16:9 aspect ratio though? With the rest of the video being as detailed in such regards (like the chapter titles), why specifically this aspect ratio?

When I built my pc in 2018 half life was one of the first games I played, and I remember finishing episode 2 knowing full well that was it. This was a nice little bite to finish off with

My theory is that this city was one of the only cities that managed to fend off a combine incursion during the 7 hours war, seeing there is lack of any resistance symbols in the area alongside rebel forces ( although I have not played through so correct me if I'm wrong ) could mean they aren't even connected to the main rebel cell, and they weren't aggressive or actively attracting attention from the combine, it was only when Intel discovered he was in or atleast going to the area that it attracted attention, but it thought Gordon was already inside the city so they fired headcrab canisters to smoke Gordon out of the area, or atleast forcing him to get out of the city, those combine forces guarding the church was just there to just keep an eye on any sorts of antlion attacks on the church since they are close to sand, meant they had only a squad at most protecting the area, the main large combine force that was waiting for Gordon was outside the main city itself slowly sieging it not stationed at the church, when they realized their fuck up, the combine heli were the first ones to arrive as " reinforcements " as all of the combines are now fixated at the coastal beaches forcing them to conduct a search throughout the area that had nothing came of it allowing time for the civilians to make a run for it and escape from combine troops, in short they were there to setup a trap but then got lead to a wild goose chase that now basically the only thing they had now it's an empty city with no real strategic value in it that has also most likely gotten booby trapped.

That audio redirection should be a must. So many games NPCs ramble on and I cannot hear them. They should shut up when other stuff is going on around them then catch up!

I really like when i played it, something short, but fun and I really liked the fisherman

i always figured the fisherman says "hey, where are you going?" is because gordon is probably walking/running off to continue whatever his current objective is, implied by his "i guess you have other places to be..." line ...and also because leechs dont sound like a very appetizing meal to gordon

I see Lost Coast as canon considering Valve’s lack of a solid stance on canon when it comes to Half-Life. I see it as G-Man pulling Gordon from stasis after Half-Life 2, testing him with some more combat against the Combine, then placing him back into stasis until the Vorts pull him out.

It'd be cool to see a mod reincorporate this into the main game. This also helps to confirm city 17's location, somewhere in Bulgaria most likely given the Byzantine architecture. Love the attention to detail in the monastery, the murals have their faces scratched off from the iconoclasm days.