Half-Life Alyx: 13 Biggest Questions Answered For New Fans
10. Who Are The Combine?
The Combine are an alien army that pushed the Nihilanth and other species, such as the vortigaunts, headcrabs, barnacles etc. from their home planet, and into Xen.
Once Gordon killed the Nihilanth, the Combine placed their focus on the numerous portals caused by the Black Mesa Incident. They attacked earth and within seven hours had taken over the planet.
There are several types of Combine that you encounter throughout Half-Life.
Firstly are the simple police in City 17, these are generally just masked humans working on behalf of the Combine, such as Barney, an undercover rebel. There are also soldiers, who are transhuman or post-human, being a mix of both species. As well as big telepathic advisors and puny enslaved stalkers.
Ultimately, the Combine are the antagonistic alien force you face throughout Half-Life 2. Their motivation and abilities are often kept a mystery throughout the game, but we are given general points of understanding.
They communicate via a human administrator, Wallace Breen, have stopped humans breeding with a suppression field, and use humans as slaves.
Stalkers are the slave hybrid of the Combine used for menial labour, and one theory is that the Combine are simply occupying Earth to assert dominance over a strong species.