[[http://www.moddb.com/mods/dayhard DayHard]] ([[Film/DieHard Not the film]]) is a comedy oriented ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' mod by MODDB user [=ItsyaBoiiJoey=]. It stars Gordon Freemans’ brother, Morgan Freeman ([[Creator/MorganFreeman Not that one]]) who would not be out of place in a [[Creator/QuentinTarantino Tarantino film]]. Morgan and his [[HeteroSexualLifePartners friend]] [[ComedicSociopath Jack]] start the game making a daring escape from a combine raid on their apartment building, and it only gets crazier from there. It takes place in an apparent alternate universe from the main Half Life 2 story. In Day Hard's version of {{TheVerse}}, The Combine discovered on arrival that Earth wasn't a [[PunyHumans weak planet that would fall in a single day]], but rather an over-the-top, {{World of Badass}} and [[WorldOfHam ham]] fueled by action films and more than ready to stand its ground. Gordon is (as far as we can tell) still in stasis, and City 17 has yet to be founded, so one can consider Day Hard as an absurdly non-canon prequel.

Morgan is not silent during gameplay, setting him apart from most Source Mod characters, and his voice actor is okay enough that the result is [[LargeHam good]] instead of [[SoBadItsGood cringe worthy]].

The gameplay is typical Source engine with some changes. The world map is {{metroidvania}}-esque, with common locations visited several times and some backtracking required. Powerups appear randomly during combat, and there's an aspect of strategy to their use. With nearly every fight an ambush tipped against the player and every weapon doing massive damage, survival now hinges on how quickly and creatively you can end a fight. Some areas are straight up NintendoHard.

The universe runs of RuleOfCool, so action movie locales like hotels, nightclubs, bars and more are still running and full of patrons even as striders walk the streets and drop ships fly overhead. And rather than terror inducing multidimensional eldritch conquerors, the combine are played for laughs here, dancing in nightclubs, drinking in bars, and generally not acting like the usual [[ANaziByAnyOtherName ultra-space-Nazi's]] that we saw [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 in the future]].

Dayhard is tacky, but its ''fun'' tacky.

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!!This game provides examples of:
* AdaptationalVillainy: Dog, who appeared in ''Half-Life 2'' as Alyx Vance's faithful robot companion and as an ally to Gordon Freeman and the resistance, appears working for the Combine and guards Wallace Breen's quarters near the end of the game.
* ArcWords: [[WhatIsGoingOn "What is going on!?"]]
* BlatantLies: The developer commentary nodes. ''All of them''. The very first one in the game claims the sun bleached action film style was inspired by ''Shakespeare''.
* ComedicSociopath: Jack, who is as unreliable as a sidekick as he is homicidal.
* DeathbyAdaptation: Although it is obviously not intended to be a serious "story", Wallace Breen is killed in the final level even though this is implied to be a prequel to ''Half-Life 2''.
* DirtyOldMan: Father Grigori. He might even have his own sex cult.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The ''[[{{Videogame/Doom}} Doom 2]]'' EasterEgg in the first level foreshadows [[spoiler: the final boss fight]], which is ripped straight from ''[[{{Videogame/Doom}} Doom 2.]]''
* HellHotel: Complete with a GenreShift BizarroEpisode.
* HeteroSexualLifePartners: Jack and Morgan.
* KatanasAreBetter: The first melee weapon, instead of the traditional crowbar.
* MoodWhiplash: The [[HellHotel hotel]] veers back and forth between surreal horror and comedy. It's almost never both at once.
* SavedbyCanon: Subverted with Dr. Wallace Breen, who is killed by Morgan in the final boss battle despite being still in charge of the Combine in ''Half-Life 2''. Played straight with Father Grigori who survives the events of the game.
* SeriousBusiness: Apparently for Jack, ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' is higher priority than helping his friend save the world.
* ShoutOut: Constantly. Some include:
** The main character of the game, [[Videogame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman's]] brother, is named Creator/MorganFreeman.
** Morgan's room contains posters for ''Videogame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' and ''Film/TheMatrix''.
** The shirt that Morgan wears is the jersey of Italian footballer Francesco Totti. The mod creators are Italian.
** Your main sidekick throughout the game is Jack Carver from ''VideoGame/FarCry1''. His room has a framed picture of [[VideoGame/FarCry1 Valerie Constantine.]]
** There's a computer playing ''[[{{Videogame/DoomIIHellOnEarth Doom II]]'' in the first level. [[spoiler: The final boss fight is also almost directly ripped from ''Doom II''.]]
** One of the apartments has a framed picture of the actua] Creator/MorganFreeman.
** Numerous shout-outs to ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' itself, with characters and voice clips being used out of context to comedic effect.
* {{Spexico}}: Parodied by a follower character you meet at the nightclub.