

But the worm-like Advisors, as they’re called, appear to control the Combine Empire on Earth.


It’s more complicated than that since the Combine Empire has absorbed many alien species. This plan has been widely condemned by the Resistance as well as many other residents of Earth. Their goal is to fully colonize our planet, strip its resources, force its residents into prison-like cities, and effectively exterminate the human race by suppressing our urge to reproduce. The Combine are an interdimensional empire that has occupied Earth for roughly the past 20 years. Who is Alyx Vance?Īlyx Vance is a leader of the human resistance against the Combine as well as the daughter of Eli Vance, a former physics researcher at Black Mesa. To get everybody on the same page, we’re answering some questions you might have about Alyx Vance but are too embarrassed (or busy fighting headcrab zombies and antlions) to ask. If you’ve been restricted to official Combine media for most or all of your life, however, you might want a refresher on the context. The story itself is worth hearing in full.

But a recent chronicle of her early time in the Resistance has sparked renewed interest in her background and achievements. Vance hasn’t received as much attention as her colleague, the theoretical physicist and military hero Gordon Freeman. It’s a time of danger, but also hope, and we owe much of it to one woman: Alyx Vance. A nearly spontaneous uprising has destabilized the Combine Empire’s two-decade stranglehold on humanity. City 17, formerly one of our planet’s finest remaining urban centers, has been destroyed. It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks for residents of Earth.
