After the release of the game Half-Life, many were waiting for the continuation. Soon followed by an official addition, the so-called plot spin-offs. They released it in 1999 and quite successfully gathered fans around it. This part was called Opposing Force and told the story of the corporal of the military special forces. It was Adrian Shepard who became the hero of this story and fascinated all gamers with his role in the game.
Name as it is
It is worth noting that the developers from Gearbox Software have worked wonderfully well. What are the thoughts on the name of the hero. For a long time, the add-on game designer was thinking about the future name of the protagonist. He wanted Adrian to become a full and mysterious character. His last name was to be ambiguous.
She appeared after the discussions of the game designer with her colleague over the film “Pulp Fiction”. Randy Pitchford recalled the character’s biblical quote about the shepherd. So Adrian Shepard appeared. It turns out that his last name is an incorrect spelling of the English word shepherd, which means "shepherd." It remained to add one letter so that the second part of the surname would sound like hard.
This is how Adrian Shephard appeared, whose role so interested the fans of the game that for 15 years they have been waiting for his appearance in add-ons, and possibly in the third part of Half-Life.
Playing role
So, the addition of Opposing Force presents us with a hero at the age of 22 years. He serves on Arizona's fictional military facility. Despite the fact that Adrian Shepard trained with everyone on an equal footing, nevertheless his specialization is sniper, and the handling of a sniper rifle and deagle is at the highest level.
The service is calling, and the young soldier is sent with a detachment to prevent an alien threat. The arrival point is the Black Mesa Research Center. The task of the detachment was to evacuate all personnel, but during the operation, Adrian and several others are isolated from their colleagues. In this "death pot," Shepard needs to survive.
Meeting with the main character
It turns out that Adrian Shepard is dating the main character of the main series of games, Gordon Freeman. This meeting is not so important for the plot. This is just a reference to the main story and another reminder to the players of Freeman. The moment Gordon jumps into the portal leading to Xen, Shepard can watch him.
If a player decides to jump with Freeman, he will fall into the abyss. An inscription appears on the screen that the observation is paused, as an attempt was made to create a temporary paradox. By the way, if Adrian shoots in the back of Gordon, the same thing will happen.
The unknown
Adrian Shepard, whose role was liked by many fans of Half-Life, meets the unknown on the way. This is G-Man. He participates in important events and changes the course of the game. This man is clearly interested in the young corporal, and Adrian notices this and writes about it in his diary.
G-Man helps Shepard get out of the creepy room at Black Mesa. But later, he suspends the evacuation of the hero. Then the unknown turns on nuclear weapons, which Shepard specifically turned off, thereby predicting the destruction of the research center. After the final battle, the heroes meet each other. G-Man admires the corporal, but at the same time, he claims that Adrian is a dangerous witness, which means that he can do harm.
Unknown does not take life from a guy, but sends him to an unknown place. Now Adrian will not be able to harm anyone. Game over.
Continuation
After the release, there was one more that only briefly mentioned the young corporal. Fans bombarded Valve with letters and begged that Adrian Shepard appear in Half Life 2 again. The second series of the game was released in 2004, and it can already be argued that the developers did not heed the requests of fans of the game.
Nevertheless, once Gabe Newell said with certainty that someday the story of corporal will resume. Perhaps Adrian Shepard will appear without a mask, with a new role. 12 years have passed since the release of the second part. Players have already lost hope of seeing not just Shepard’s story, but at least a continuation of the plot with Freeman.
Director himself
Valve's silence tired the fans, and all these years they created their own fashion, where they told the continuation of the story. The addition of Dark Operations tells us that Shepard, waking up at Xen, finds his way back to Black Mesa.
An addition to the second Half-Life series, which would also be referred to as Opposing Force 2, was also expected. G-Man was supposed to wake Adrian. He had to fight the Alliance and prevent a spatial break. But this story was not destined to appear. In 2014, Gearbox officially announced that it had frozen the project in order to soon unite with other developers. Shepard’s story ended before it even began.