Memory replacement

Memory replacement
General information
Faction	Combine
Game information
Designer(s)	Dhabih Eng (concept art for the device)

 

"Reminder: Memory replacement is the first step toward rank privileges."

― Overwatch Voice

Memory replacement is a psycho-engineering process used by the Combine as part of the transhuman operation, transforming humans into Combine Soldiers and Combine Elites.

Contents

OverviewEdit

As stated by an Overwatch Voice radio transmission to Civil Protection officers, memory replacement is mandatory to access higher "rank privileges", i.e. to go from a Metrocop with an unaltered nervous system to a Combine Soldier. This method essentially brainwashes a normal human into a pawn with complete loyalty to the Combine, replacing most if not all the memories of his former self.

The process is achieved through a conversion device in which the soldier is confined to while only wearing his fatigue trousers and boots. While the soldier's body is restrained by an arm-like device and sat upon a precarious seat, the head is enveloped by a shell-like apparatus which contains a visor with a screen that projects directly into his eyes. The device is first seen in the Citadel during the Half-Life 2: Episode One chapter Direct Intervention where eight of them are grouped together in a strut array attached to a wall in a distant inaccessible area. While the stripped Combine Soldier is first seen on an operating table through a monitor in Nova Prospekt's cell block B4 in Half-Life 2, it is unknown if memory replacement was also performed at the facility.

In Half-Life: Alyx, several Combine voice lines refer to the Overwatch informing units to "[update] cognitive suppression biodats" and to "refresh and resolve", that "cognitive dissonance will not be tolerated, [...] memories included", and that "acceptance is mandatory", implying they are undergoing regular memory update transmissions which actively suppress their cognitive capabilities in real time.

Behind the scenesEdit

While the memory replacement device was first introduced in-game in Half-Life 2: Episode One, it was originally designed to appear in Half-Life 2 at Nova Prospekt. Concept art for it appeared in Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar.

GalleryEdit

• 

  Concept art.

• 

  Model of the memory-replacing device.

• 

  Stripped Combine Soldier model introduced in Half-Life 2 and reused for the Episode One device model.

• 

  Devices in the Citadel.

• 

  Ditto.

List of appearancesEdit

Main gamesEdit

• Half-Life 2: Episode One

OtherEdit

• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (First appearance)