Kraken Base

"Welcome to Kraken Base, Dr. Freeman, our home beneath the sea."

- Helena Mossman

Kraken Base, or simply Kraken, is a location and chapter cut from Half-Life 2. It was to be set between the Borealis and Weather Control chapters, being the first location of the third day.

Background
Kraken Base was originally a rebel scientific base located beneath the sea, in the Arctic regions north-west of City 17, and headed by Helena Mossman. Several people (rebels or other scientists) were probably to be there with her, including Vortigaunts.

The teleportation sequence


As heard in the dialogues files found in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta sound files, the teleportation sequence at the start of Half-Life was originally to be much different and much longer.

Kleiner and Barney, located at Kleiner's Lab with Gordon, and Helena Mossman, located at Kraken Base, were to discuss the best place to send Gordon, in a dialogue much longer than in the retail version (where several sentences survived), and not including Alyx. After the team agree that Eli's facilities are too primitive to make use of Gordon, being, according to Mossman, more suited to mechanics than research scientists, and that its teleport is in pieces, therefore not working, and that the only way to reach the place would be to go on foot through the dangerous Canals, Mossman suggests to send Gordon to Kraken Base instead, and by teleportation. Kleiner seems hesitant about it, while Barney expresses even more doubts, evoking the issues about the cat mentioned in the retail version, saying that he had to turn the animal right side out again to make sure it was a cat, thus providing the information missing from the retail version. While Kleiner pretends to be sure about the reliability of his equipment, Mossman is very determined, since she says to have run seven sequences without a single failure. The very long process continues, and Gordon must do his part to set things up. The teleportation begins and succeeds, and Mossman is able to briefly introduce herself to Gordon when he is still in the teleport, while the process is not fully completed. Back at Kleiner's Lab, Lamarr jumps into the teleport like in the retail version, disrupting the end of the teleportation process, bringing back Gordon to Kleiner's Lab and destroying both teleports. Then Gordon finds himself forced to journey to Eli's lab on foot. Barney leads him to a back door, leading to the Canals, where the next chapter begins.

Actually visit of the base
Gordon was finally to reach Kraken Base much later in the game. He was to hear a distress call from there on the Borealis and then reach it in a submarine with Odell. There they would encounter Mossman, at last.

It is unknown what happens there and what happens to Odell and Mossman. It is likely that some battle takes place, according to the distress call heard on the Borealis, stating that Kraken Base is "in serious trouble". Sound files featuring what seems to be distant gunshots can also be found, while map scripts suggest it was infested by Zombies and therefore Headcrabs. The atmosphere of the completed maps could have been similar to that of the Borealis chapter, but perhaps gloomier, given the claustrophobic and heavily isolated nature of a submarine station, especially under siege, in the vein of movies such as Alien, Abyss or Sphere. Another battle was to take place in the next chapter, the Combine Weather Control, that the player was to reach on foot, while it is unknown how the escape from Kraken Base was to be done.

Fate


The most recent Kraken Base maps has been last edited in August 2001, meaning it was cut quite early in the development process - and these maps were only prototypes, hence their prefix "proto". While the most complete map is quite big, it is also rather empty, and nor Odell, Mossman, the teleport or any enemy can be found. Kraken Base is part of the storyline set between Nova Prospekt and the City 17 street wars that was completely cut, the game timespan having been reduced to three days instead of the original four. It might however having been brought back into the Half-Life canon: in Episode One, a message shows Mossman talking about a "site" from a concrete corridor attacked by Overwatch Elite soldiers, then this message must be brought to White Forest in Episode Two. It is possible that this place where Mossman is talking from is some sort of recycled Kraken Base, the "site" likely being the Borealis.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar