I've been replaying Half-Life 2 and the episodes with commentary nodes available and 20% of the nodes are just like "As developers of Half-Life one of our key priorities was to ensure that the player likes Alyx Vance as much as possible. Almost every area was set up to generate maximum attachment to her as a character, and the player's investment in the plot hinges on them identifying and empathising with Alyx at all times. If a playtester finished a session feeling anything less than complete adoration for her, we considered it our own failure as developers and spent the next six months fine-tuning the segment until we could statistically guarantee that they would like her again."















