Industria Is The Modern Half-Life I've Been Craving
Take one look at Industria and you’d be hard-pressed not to think of Half-Life. It has all the signatures—an Eastern European city besieged by futuristic tech, liminal mind trips into new dimensions, ambient sounds that linger to soak you into the world, and rogue scientists puzzling together this new dystopia. And you’re at the heart of it with your trusty axe and handgun, smashing boxes and scurrying about the streets avoiding robots. But its identity goes deeper than superficial aesthetics.
It’s a bleak insight into a future under totalitarian control with the ideas of rebellion unthinkable and victory insurmountable. That’s where it embraces but also breaks from its Half-Life influences. You’re not a scientist with a crowbar and a god complex, boosted by your superheroic antics—a leader who faces those insurmountable odds and triumphs. You’re a person trying to survive and find their husband, wading through the filth and the wreckage with a faceless voice guiding you, only to find disappointment. It’s hollow, empty, and lonely. That’s where Industria shines.
RELATED: Half-Life's Opening Is The Perfect Introduction To Dystopia
Half-Life’s world is bleak. The idea of toppling the Combine, shutting down Dr Breen, and rising up feels like a pipe dream. But then Gordon arrives on a train, the wrong man in the right place, and he sparks hope in the cause, leading its soldiers to tear down the monuments to fascism while staging battles in the streets. All building up to the Citadel’s destruction, the greatest monument of them all. And along the way, you meet countless rebels who lend a hand. It’s a community sprawling across Eastern Europe with one goal. But Industria is just you and an unknown man, trying to get out.
Hal
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