Throughout the many iterations of Half-Life universe you've been walking in the shoes of Gordon Freeman, Adrian Shepard, Barney Calhoun as well as many other human characters. And what have you been doing the whole time? You've been killing all those poor Xen aliens!!
Have you ever thought about their Point of View?
Xonxt is a humble Vortigaunt worker, working for his ruler Nihilanth. Xonxt is no ordinary worker, however. He was given a choice. He chose to become a super worker.
Humans have invaded Xen, overpowering its hapless denizens with their evil and unnatural technology. Nihilanth, in need of putting an end to the Great Human Invasion, founded a research department to develop a countermeasure against humans' technology and elected Xonxt the lead designer.
Xonxt, being significantly more intelligentnote , managed to develop a sentient hybrid bioweapon called the Xen Techno-Biological Spherenote .
But those pesky humans suddenly broke into the chamber and stole the XTBS. Preposterous!
Nihilant is outraged and now Xonxt is forced to chase after the thieves and retrieve the device at whatever the cost. Even if it means venturing onto Earth itself.
Point of View contains examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy:
- G-man is portrayed significantly more evil here than in original Half-Life, being in charge of his Special Forces to quell any unfortunate "uncomfortable witnesses".
- Also Nihilanth if the treatment of his underlings is any indication. Not that he was much better in the vanilla game.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Unlike the rest of his species, Xonxtnote can squeeze himself into the air-vents to bypass human security measures.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: In this Game Mod, you play as a Vortigaunt/Alien Slave instead of your regular human.
- Ascended Extra: Remember that sole seemingly unimportant Vortigaunt confined in that container in Azure Sheep? Turns out it really is Xonxt. You find it out when you get captured halfway through the game, end up in the aforementioned container, and ''JustBarney'' himself pays a brief visit to you and drops a sarcastic one-liner.
- Bad Boss: Despite spewing GreenAesops left and right Nihilanth doesn't treat his underlings any better than mere tools. Any Xenizen that fails to accomplish their task or is no longer useful is immediately disposed of.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: At the very end Xonxt joins the escaping JustBarney and Kate because they were the only humans who didn't immediately try to kill him.
- Betrayal Insurance:
- Nihilanth "designed" Xonxt and to extetent all of his minions with this in mind. Those green collars around all Vortigaunts' necks? They're actually symbiotic leashes that kill their host on Nihilant's telepathic demand. They can also Mind Rape them to feel pleasure or pain as a reward to either completing their task or failing it.
- Xonxt's leash is different though. While also being responsible for his self-healing power, the symbiote cannot outright kill him at least if no Overseersnote are close by, but it begins emitting a special pheromone which overwhelms his fellow Xenizens with an irressistible urge to kill him.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Using his extensive telepathic network of Alien Controllers a.k.a. Overseers, Nihilanth can see what his underlings are doing and swiftly punish them if they aren't complying to his requirements.
- Bittersweet Ending: Xonxt fails at retrieving the XTBS due to being blasted away unceremoniously by a tank at the very end. Then the XTBS activates and begins wreaking havoc while also teleporting in a bunch of Spheres. However Xonxt survives, and his leash was blown off of him freeing him from the Ninilanth. He is then taken in by JustBarney and Kate.
- Disc-One Final Boss: The Panthereye, which you fight shortly after Xonxt decides to rebel against the Nihilanth. It can either attack you with an hard-hitting zapping attack, or by mauling you when you get close.
- Exposition: Xonxt's mental diary provides tons of information about how stuff works in Xen including evolution and society, Xonxt's capabilities and last but not least his own goals and decisons.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Xonxt's decision to rebel against the Nihilanth causes the previously-allied Xen forces to turn against him, meaning that he has no allies anymore.
- Face–Heel Turn/Hazy-Feel Turn: Xonxt himself at one point decides to simply ditch working for his boss any longer. Nihilanth doesn't take it well.
- Green Aesop: Is stated to be the Xen's modus operandi.
- Guns Akimbo: Xonxt can dual-wield hivehands!! Common Alien Grunts cannot. The reasoning behind this is that the Grunts secrete so-called honeydew and the hivehand hornets are highly territorial, so they'd attack each other/fight over the food instead of flying after the Grunt's target. Still doesn't explain why they don't attack other Grunts hivehand.
- Harmless Enemy: Rats. They can only attempt to nibble you for little damage and die in one hit to anything. Downplayed with the Scientists and Gus, as they are almost as weak, but they can attack with a poison syringe or a wrench/crowbar respectively if you let them get close.
- Inner Monologue: In the form of Xonxt's mental diary which provides loads of Exposition.
- Improvised Weapon: Gus, the maintenance worker enemies, may try to rush you down with a wrench or crowbar. Unfortunately, they aren't Gordon Freeman, making them easy pickings for you.
- Life Drain: Xonxt's electric attack is capable of healing him if the target is a living organism. Being a superworker definitely has its upsides.
- Living Weapon: All of Xonxt's weapons are Xen lifeforms, including himself or rather his own hands.
- Mind Rape: Nihilant has the power to administer pleasure or pain to his minions this way as well as swiftly putting them out of their misery for any disobedience or if they're no longer useful.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After prolonged mental cold turkey, Xonxt simply had enough of the way his boss treats him and ditches serving him. The consequences are not pretty.
- One-Gender Race:
- In one of his inner monologues Xonxt reveals that Vortigaunts are all males. It is never stated how they reproduce but cloning is strongly implied. Grunts and Controllers are also implied to be all-male.
- Averted with the more natural/savage Xenizens. Especially Gargantuas are outright stated to have both males and females.
- Plot Device: The ''Xen Techno-biological Spherenote - a secret Xen weapon stolen by humans. Xonxt is chasing after it for the entire game.
- Previous Player-Character Cameo:
- When Xonxt is captured halfway through the game and ends up in that container, one security guy walks by and drops a stereotypical snarky one-liner. It's no one other than JustBarney.
- Adrian Shephard's team Osprey Goose 7 is seen crashing, with Shephard emerging from the wreckage, moving a bit, before falling over and blacking out, as he does in the opening of that game, complete with it being the same map as in Opposing Force.
- In the finale you're treated to a short glimpsd of Gordon Freeman swimming beneath the dam.
- A minute or two later in the ending sequence JustBarney and Kate themselves stumble upon Xonxt's battered exhausted self.
They decide to take him with them.
- Series Continuity Error: In the final cutscene of the game we're treated to a glimpse of Freeman himself swiming away from the dam. Shortly after Xonxt is also blown into the canal and later is washed out just as JustBarney and Kate are driving by in their pickup. Now remember that in Azure Sheep JB also briefly got to Xen, which happened shortly after Freeman got to Xen. And when he returned it still took a lot of time and combat until he and Kate finally reached that pickup and escaped. Considering all that how long has Xonxt been flowing through that canal?
- Standard FPS Guns: Averted or rather inverted. None of the weapons Xonxt is using are your standard firearms. They are all various Xen lifeforms instead. The reasoning behind his inability to use human firearms is that they kick too hard. This still doesn't explain why can't he use melee weapons. He is capable of using stationary/mounted guns however.
- Underground Monkey: Magenta Slave is a magenta colored version of regular Vortigaunt/Alien Slave. It's stated to be more aggressive and suited for combat. Its backstory involves combining the Xen toad's genes with a Vortigaunt instead of a human, as we were shown in Azure Sheep.
