Valve may have released Half-Life 2 nearly two decades ago, but the award-winning first-person shooter still boasts an active community of gamers and modders. In it, players step back into the shoes of Gordon Freeman, the silent protagonist of Half-Life, and join Dr. Eli Vance, his daughter Alyx, and the resistance movement.
Over the years, countless mods have been released for the sci-fi shooter, reinvigorating the game and keeping players interested.
Four years ago, developer Gagnetar created a mod for half life 2 that added to the game Krystalfrom the series of third-person shooters starfox. A fan-created model of Krystal replaces Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2, and it’s a lot of fun to watch the blue humanoid vixen do all the things Alyx does, like introducing Gordon to his pet robot, Dog.
Another interesting point about the mod is that Gagnetar is in the process of having Alyx’s dialogue re-recorded by voice actress Estelle Ellis, who played Krystal in 2002’s Star Fox Adventures.
Estelle Ellis appeared in several games from that era, such as Rare’s first-person shooter Perfect Dark Zero and Grabbed by the Ghoulies. She also voiced Queen Earthwalker and Mother Thorntail in Star Fox Adventures.
Ellis’s work on Perfect Dark Zero, in 2005, was the last time she was credited as a voice actress in a video game. However, Gagnetar has kept in touch with Ellis over the years, and she agreed to come out of retirement to voice Krystal’s lines in the Half-Life 2 mod. So Gagnetar sent her a microphone and both are working to re-record all dialogue.
Alyx’s lines in the Half-Life 2 mod were also slightly rewritten to fit the new character. For example, the lines where Alyx and Eli Vance referred to each other as father and daughter would no longer make sense in a conversation with Krystal. Gagnetar has stated that while the project is still ongoing, they plan to release the Half-Life 2 mod on September 23, which will mark the 23rd anniversary of Star Fox Adventures.