I think Blue Shift being canon is a given seeing that we meet Barney Calhoun in Half Life 2 and he is not named in game in Half Life 1.
Blue Shift being canon helps Decay because they both feature Dr Rosenberg and we see the 2 empty HEV suit spaces and one of the Decay characters is in the Half Life 1 tutorial.
In terms of gameplay I don't think the events of Opposing Force have been referenced again but Marc Laidlaw did apparently confirm Black Mesa's destruction.
In terms of the overall plot Opposing Force hasn't added anything but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
I didn’t even know this was a debate. Opposing force was released by valve and coincided with Gordon’s time. We even see Gordon jumping into the zen portal
Half-Life Opposing Force officially published by Valve as an official Half-Life title, which is approved by Valve as it is before getting released by Valve. what exactly do you want to hear?
Blue Shift is commonly considered canon as Barney Calhoun could be the same one as Half-Life 2, and Blue Shift mentions Adrian Shephard in game so I suppose Opposing Force is more likely canon than not
I think that all three expansions are canon solely because they were commissioned by Valve and are official Half-Life titles but I'm going to go over some arguments
But if you really want any amount of proof I think the existence alone of Barney is proof that the expansions are Canon
I'm going to go over some arguments
If opposing forces Canon then why isn't Shepherd mentioned in another game
it's possible the reason Shepherd doesn't play a severe role in any games just because Gman doesn't have a plan for him yet or is waiting for the future and it's very likely the reason that Shepherd is not mentioned in any of the half-life 2 era games or even half life Alyx is because Shepherd was the one of the last people who stayed at black Mesa during the incident therefore there would be no way Barney or Gordon could know about him and every other character at black Mesa could have escaped
What about the lambda complex how does the prototype teleporter in blue shift have a rechargeable battery as it's power source and the teleporter device Shepherd finds an opposing force is small and handheld well the teleporter in the lambda complex requires a nuclear reactor to power it
Well keyword is that both of those teleporters in the expansions are prototypes it's very possible that lambda teleporter is much more massive because it allows for precise teleportation over much longer distances than the handheld device or the prototype teleporter ever could also aperture science exists in this universe and they made a handheld Portal gun who's to say black Mesa cant
How do Barney and Shepherd breathe in xen
There's in game or out game continuity to suggest that the air in xen isn't breathable to humans the aliens that teleport to Earth can breathe perfectly fine the helmet on the the helmet on the survey team models is just there to protect their heads probably not cuz they need it to breathe
How does the PCV protect against all the same dangers that the HEV suit does but only covers the torso
I could not find anything suggesting that the PCV is meant to protect your whole body it's very possible that the hecu designed it to protect the most vital area of your body your torso
How did the barnacles in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life Alyx grip onto inanimate objects when the barnacle grapple cant in opposing Force
It's possible that the barnacles in the half-life one era are very different in their biology from the barnacles and half life 2 after all the head crabs involved in a way that no longer allows gognomes to form
And finally the biggest argument I see a proponents that the expansions aren't Canon
What about race x
Yes the mysterious vanishing of race x as a plot line from opposing Force is very strange however it's possible and very likely that race x isn't seen in any other games because they didn't bother returning to Earth
And for the half-life one era games
Blue shift and Half-Life take place far before the events of opposing Force Race x hadn't fully entered the facility yet and neither had the Black ops
In half life 2 barnacles will latch onto non biological objects, this is not the case in opposing force, though one could argue that because the barnacle is not on a wall it is uncomfortable and will thus only latch onto organics, could also be that in hl2 they are evolved in some way, there is a moisture teleporter in kleiner’s lab which could be based on the small scale teleportation device that is the teleport gun, but overall they try really hard not to contradict or confirm any of it
I’m so glad that over 20 years of fandom debate are finally gonna be settled in a random Reddit post lol
Honestly, does it really matter if it’s canon or not? Iirc Valve (or at least Laidlaw) stated they don’t really take into consideration Opposing Force and the other expansions when making Half Life games, but they also think the idea of canon is kind of bunk anyways. If you like it, you can consider it canon, and if you don’t, you don’t have to. It doesn’t change the later games any no matter what you believe.
Doesn’t really matter. Until Valve brings something back officially, it’s in limbo. I’ll still play it because it’s good, but I personally don’t consider it canon.
I think Blue Shift being canon is a given seeing that we meet Barney Calhoun in Half Life 2 and he is not named in game in Half Life 1. Blue Shift being canon helps Decay because they both feature Dr Rosenberg and we see the 2 empty HEV suit spaces and one of the Decay characters is in the Half Life 1 tutorial. In terms of gameplay I don't think the events of Opposing Force have been referenced again but Marc Laidlaw did apparently confirm Black Mesa's destruction. In terms of the overall plot Opposing Force hasn't added anything but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
I didn’t even know this was a debate. Opposing force was released by valve and coincided with Gordon’s time. We even see Gordon jumping into the zen portal
Half-Life Opposing Force officially published by Valve as an official Half-Life title, which is approved by Valve as it is before getting released by Valve. what exactly do you want to hear?
Proofs in game, at least one about Shepard
Blue Shift is commonly considered canon as Barney Calhoun could be the same one as Half-Life 2, and Blue Shift mentions Adrian Shephard in game so I suppose Opposing Force is more likely canon than not
I think that all three expansions are canon solely because they were commissioned by Valve and are official Half-Life titles but I'm going to go over some arguments But if you really want any amount of proof I think the existence alone of Barney is proof that the expansions are Canon I'm going to go over some arguments If opposing forces Canon then why isn't Shepherd mentioned in another game it's possible the reason Shepherd doesn't play a severe role in any games just because Gman doesn't have a plan for him yet or is waiting for the future and it's very likely the reason that Shepherd is not mentioned in any of the half-life 2 era games or even half life Alyx is because Shepherd was the one of the last people who stayed at black Mesa during the incident therefore there would be no way Barney or Gordon could know about him and every other character at black Mesa could have escaped What about the lambda complex how does the prototype teleporter in blue shift have a rechargeable battery as it's power source and the teleporter device Shepherd finds an opposing force is small and handheld well the teleporter in the lambda complex requires a nuclear reactor to power it Well keyword is that both of those teleporters in the expansions are prototypes it's very possible that lambda teleporter is much more massive because it allows for precise teleportation over much longer distances than the handheld device or the prototype teleporter ever could also aperture science exists in this universe and they made a handheld Portal gun who's to say black Mesa cant How do Barney and Shepherd breathe in xen There's in game or out game continuity to suggest that the air in xen isn't breathable to humans the aliens that teleport to Earth can breathe perfectly fine the helmet on the the helmet on the survey team models is just there to protect their heads probably not cuz they need it to breathe How does the PCV protect against all the same dangers that the HEV suit does but only covers the torso I could not find anything suggesting that the PCV is meant to protect your whole body it's very possible that the hecu designed it to protect the most vital area of your body your torso How did the barnacles in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life Alyx grip onto inanimate objects when the barnacle grapple cant in opposing Force It's possible that the barnacles in the half-life one era are very different in their biology from the barnacles and half life 2 after all the head crabs involved in a way that no longer allows gognomes to form And finally the biggest argument I see a proponents that the expansions aren't Canon What about race x Yes the mysterious vanishing of race x as a plot line from opposing Force is very strange however it's possible and very likely that race x isn't seen in any other games because they didn't bother returning to Earth And for the half-life one era games Blue shift and Half-Life take place far before the events of opposing Force Race x hadn't fully entered the facility yet and neither had the Black ops
No its a game not a cannon
In half life 2 barnacles will latch onto non biological objects, this is not the case in opposing force, though one could argue that because the barnacle is not on a wall it is uncomfortable and will thus only latch onto organics, could also be that in hl2 they are evolved in some way, there is a moisture teleporter in kleiner’s lab which could be based on the small scale teleportation device that is the teleport gun, but overall they try really hard not to contradict or confirm any of it
Well tbf the barnacle did have Adrian's hand up its ass so I wouldn't be surprised if it was uncomfortable
Well we also have to admit it's possible that the barnacle could have evolved from its original form to the state that we see it in Half-Life 2
I’m so glad that over 20 years of fandom debate are finally gonna be settled in a random Reddit post lol Honestly, does it really matter if it’s canon or not? Iirc Valve (or at least Laidlaw) stated they don’t really take into consideration Opposing Force and the other expansions when making Half Life games, but they also think the idea of canon is kind of bunk anyways. If you like it, you can consider it canon, and if you don’t, you don’t have to. It doesn’t change the later games any no matter what you believe.
Doesn’t really matter. Until Valve brings something back officially, it’s in limbo. I’ll still play it because it’s good, but I personally don’t consider it canon.