Half-Life Wiki:Retcons

Since Half-Life's release, several retcons have been made to several of its facts, but also to that of its sequels. Facts from both the games and the instructions manuals have been changed, as well as some elements from ApertureScience.com.

Most of these retcons are minor, and were made by the team to accommodate the subsequent games' storylines. They do not affect gameplay and the main plot. They include:

Characters

 * The African-American scientist model ("scientist03", or "Luther") being the base for character Eli Vance. In Half-Life 2 Eli states that the last time he saw Gordon was before he entered the test chamber. In Half-Life, the scientists are generic NPCs with only a few variations. Later, Valve developed some of these NPC types into actual characters. Eli Vance is said to have lived at the Black Mesa facility with his wife and daughter, although they are not seen or mentioned in Half-Life, while Eli is seen twice at the start of Half-Life.


 * The bald scientist model wearing thick framed glasses ("scientist01", or "Walter") being turned into the character Walter Bennet.


 * The bald scientist model wearing thick framed glasses ("scientist01", or "Walter") being the base for Isaac Kleiner. Although it is still unknown if he is seen in Half-Life as a real character, a scene in Half-Life shows such a scientist wielding a shotgun, which mirrors a Half-Life 2 scene in which Kleiner does the same.


 * The generic "Barney" security guard model being the base for the Half-Life 2 character Barney Calhoun. Barney is established as an actual character in Blue-Shift, in which he is the silent protagonist. In Blue Shift, it is established that the Barney Calhoun is the one seen pounding on a door in the transit system by Gordon Freeman at the start of Half-Life.


 * The generic "Otis" security guard model being turned into the character Otis Laurey.


 * The Hazard Course holographic assistant and Half-Life Deathmatch player model, "gina.mdl", being the base for the Half-Life: Decay character Gina Cross and thus, in-universe speaking, Gina Cross being the woman who gave her likeness to the holographic assistant.


 * Barney says at the beginning of Half-Life 2 that he owes Gordon a beer; this being one of the random security guard phrases said in Half-Life. Now in Half-Life 2 it is implied that Barney actually said this at least once to Gordon back then.


 * The Black Mesa Administrator's identity as Wallace Breen and his influence on the Black Mesa Incident was not precisely defined yet at the time of the first game's release. Alyx asks Gordon at the start of Half-Life 2 if he remembers the old administrator while he is not seen in Half-Life. Near the end of Half-life 2 Breen states "So, this is Dr. Freeman... at last." indicating that they hadn't met previously.


 * Several members of the Black Mesa team posed for a picture in the Black Mesa entrance hall, which was taken before the Black Mesa Incident. It features Gordon, Breen, three unknown scientists, and the four scientist models, two of which made their way into real characters.

Misc

 * The Combine being involved in the events of Half-Life. Even though some entity was behind the Nihilanth actions, it was likely not defined as precisely as it is today, since no sequel to Half-Life was planned at that time.


 * The design of the Anomalous Materials lobby from Half-Life was changed for the G-Man's "heart-to-heart" in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.


 * Vortigaunts are familiar with Antlions and were in contact with them on Xen, while the Antlions are not seen in Half-Life and its expansions.


 * The entrance to Level 3 Dormitories. One of them is seen in Half-Life and Blue Shift. In Decay, one of the two seen entrances is likely the Half-Life and Blue Shift one, and is completely different.


 * Chumtoads and yellow Boids being cut from Half-Life and brought back in the Gearbox expansions.


 * The name Vortigaunt and parts of their culture (i.e. the concepts of Vortessence and the Vortigese language) were first mentioned in Half-Life 2. In Half-Life, Vortigaunts were also known as "Alien Slaves" and were enemies, even though they appear friendly in the chapter Interloper and show peaceful communication with each other.


 * The Vortigese is very different and more aggressive in Half-Life and its expansions, which was changed into a more gentle tone for Half-Life 2, likely because the Vortigaunts are now allies.


 * Between Opposing Force and Blue Shift, the Gearbox writers have changed the Half-Life events' month from March to May.


 * The timespan between Half-Life and Half-Life 2 was originally of 10 years, which was subsequently changed to roughly 20 years at the time of Episode One’s release.


 * Half-Life: Source features several minor changes that could be considered as retcons. Of note is the Surface Tension canyon.


 * The Portal ending was changed (or rather, expanded) on a March 3, 2010 update of the game, having, instead of the original fadeout, Chell being dragged away by an unidentified robot saying "Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position". It was made to "re-energize" Portal and bridge the gap between it and its sequel Portal 2. The radios added in Portal in the March 1st, 2010 update are likely non-canonical, as they only serve the ARG.


 * While older sources state that Gordon only started work at Black Mesa the day before the incident, Half-Life 2 and episodes retcon this, and make it clear that Gordon was friends with Barney Calhoun and Isaac Kleiner for some time at Black Mesa


 * Several dates pertaining to Aperture Science originally given in the ApertureScience.com timeline were changed] in 2010: "1978", the date for Cave Johnson's mercury poisoning, was changed to "1974". "1979", the date for Johnson's kidney failure, was changed to "1976". "1975", the date when Aperture Science ceased to produce only shower curtains, was changed to "1973". The last paragraph of the timeline was also expanded, stating that GLaDOS was activated in 1998, at that a few days later the Black Mesa Incident occurred, thus placing Half-Life during the same year as its release.