Alyx's Gun

"Alyx's Gun" is the nickname given to Alyx Vance's trademark weapon featured in Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Since its proper name is never given in-game, the entity / model names are used.

Overview

 * Alyx's Gun is an average sized, easily concealed machine pistol with a 30-round magazine housed in the grip, and is capable of both semi-automatic (seen in Half-Life 2) and automatic fire (seen in Episode One).


 * Though it is unknown what kind of ammunition it fires, it does roughly the same amount of damage as the USP Match.


 * Since the actual name of the pistol is never given and it has no real life counterpart, except for other less-similar machine pistols, it is possible that it is unique and was manufactured by the Resistance, Alyx herself or Black Mesa.


 * Alyx is the only NPC ever observed using this weapon. The player never acquires it in normal gameplay.


 * Alyx has unlimited ammunition for this weapon.


 * When she is not using it, she apparently replaces it inside her jacket, probably in a holster.

Tactics
During the first two chapters of Episode One and a brief period in Episode Two, Freeman only has the Gravity Gun and has to rely on Alyx to dispatch enemies, depending on the availability of physics objects to use as ammunition. Alyx is a fairly good shot, but she must not be left dealing with too many enemies by herself, or she can get overwhelmed and be killed.

Behind the scenes

 * In the playable Half-Life 2 Beta as in the retail Half-Life 2, the weapon can be spawned and used by the player, suggesting it was to be used by the player at some point. The viewmodel is however missing and the weapon will improperly appear on the left of the screen as the worldmodel. Furthermore ammunition does not exist, although it can be overridden with the console code "sk_max_alyxgun #", which sets the maximum ammo.


 * In the Half-Life 2 files, several texture files for HUD weapon icons can be found, most of which still containing the icons for almost all of the cut weapons. Alyx's Gun is among them, giving more clues about a possible original use by the player.


 * Closer look at the model's animations in the Source SDK show it can be converted to both a rifle and a submachine gun, having a retractable stock, front folding grip and extended barrel with silencer, never seen in-game.


 * During the elevator ride with Mossman in Black Mesa East, one of the Rebels working on the generators with the Vortigaunts is holding Alyx's Gun in his right hand. This is probably a developer's oversight, or the remnant of an early test of other NPCs using the gun.

Trivia

 * Alyx's Gun is a usable weapon in various mods.


 * It slightly resembles the ARES FMG, the Colt SCAMP, and the Glock series of pistols.

List of appearances

 * ''Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Episode One
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two