Game:

Half-Life 2 (2004)

Duration: 17:07

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Alyx Vance is a fictional character and deuteragonist in Valve's 2004 first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Alyx is portrayed as a young woman in her mid-twenties of Afro-Asian descent, and is a prominent figure in the human resistance against the rule of the alien race called the Combine and their human representative, Dr. Breen. She is a close friend and ally of Gordon Freeman and is considered to be the primary heroine of the series. Alyx's character uses a modified version of real-life actress Jamil Mullen's face, and her voice is performed by Merle Dandridge.

Alyx is the daughter of Dr. Eli Vance. Her mother, Azian Vance, who is of Asian descent, can be seen in a family photograph appearing in the games but died during the Black Mesa incident (the event depicted in the first Half-Life game). Alyx was only a child when Gordon Freeman was employed at Black Mesa, but Freeman's stasis between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 has erased most of the age gap between the two characters.

Alyx is a skilled hacker, adept at infiltrating Combine computer systems and reprogramming them. She also possesses a multi-purpose tool that uses an electric charge in order to bypass security systems, open locked doors, and re-program rollermines and automated turrets to attack enemies. Alyx is proficient with firearms, in particular the automatic pistol she commonly carries. At certain points in the game, she also wields a shotgun and mans a stationary sniper rifle. In addition, she has some skill in unarmed combat and will occasionally wrestle off or kick headcrab zombies. Alyx is also very athletic, capable of effortlessly jumping down obstacles and climbing to the side of buildings.

Alyx is a generally friendly person, though she shows some hostility towards Dr. Judith Mossman due to her somewhat patronizing attitude, as well as Mossman's apparent interest in her father. The hostility abates at the end of Half-Life 2, when Dr. Mossman helps Alyx in escaping the Citadel. She also holds Breen responsible for her mother's death (when Breen mentions her mother, she spits on him and responds, "How dare you even mention her!"). Also, she appears to be somewhat playful, and caring in some cases.

Alyx also has a sense of humor, as evidenced by the jokes she makes about the Combine or Gordon's silence. An example of this can be seen in the Lowlife chapter of Episode One, when she begins to make noises like a zombie to scare the player. Upon being found out, she says "Ha ha, gotcha."
Alyx helps Gordon more frequently and directly than any other character in Half-Life 2. In the first chapter (Point Insertion), Alyx saves Gordon from Civil Protection forces when he is unarmed and not yet wearing his protective HEV suit. Later, in Black Mesa East, she gives Gordon the gravity gun and instructs Gordon in its use. During the chapter titled Entanglement, she helps search Nova Prospekt for her captured father. She fights alongside Gordon through a section of City 17 during the armed uprising in Anticitizen One, and provides indirect assistance to Gordon during the final confrontation with Dr. Breen in the final areas of the Citadel in Dark Energy.

In Black Mesa East, Alyx argues heatedly with Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx's hostility towards Mossman is seemingly justified: Gordon and Alyx learn in Entanglement that Mossman has betrayed the resistance and given away the location of their hidden facility. Nevertheless, in Dark Energy, Dr. Mossman switches sides again and the two women finally make peace.

In the ending scene of Half-Life 2, Alyx is with Gordon at the time of the dark energy explosion. The G-Man stops time to rescue Gordon and put him back into stasis, but leaves Alyx to her fate.

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