This is games archeology, and I would be entirely happy to see more of it happen. To some extent it's more grimdark, but sections of it also seem closer to HL1 than HL2-actual was. City 17 isn't quite as we know it either. There's an alternate, evil Eli, a different Daddy Vance entirely, a faction of Combine sympathisers, and a chap called The Consul who did the Dr Breen thing before Dr Breen was created. As with the notorious hydra creature, it's fascinating to see what such a landmark game might have been. That Grayson chap - rings a bell - over on Kotaku ran this video earlier today, in which a YouTube Shoutyman TM does a rapid run through of all the NPCs who never ultimately made it City 17. This is the Half-Life 2 that never was, and yet, to some extent, it does exist after all. The leaked Half-Life 2 beta is an old, old story - and how it happened, and what happened next was documented masterfully by RPS chum Simon Parking a few years back - but a recent fan compilation of all the characters in it who never turned up in the finished article is fascinating.
