The suit's main feature is its "high-impact reactive armor", an electrically powered armor system that, when charged, absorbs two-thirds of the damage that Gordon would ordinarily suffer. The suit is designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials. Gordon wears a special full-body hazmat suit, known as the Hazardous En vironment Suit (or HEV Suit), during combat. Other iterations of Gordon's concept featured different glasses, a ponytail, and a helmet. An earlier model of Gordon, known as "Ivan the Space Biker," had a full beard that was subsequently trimmed. The texture for Gordon's head was "too big of a job for just one person", so Valve designers combined references from four people. Newell disliked Laidlaw's proposed name, "Dyson Poincaré", which also included the surname of Henri Poincaré. It included a homage to the physicist and philosopher Freeman Dyson. The name Gordon Freeman was coined by the Half-Life director Gabe Newell during a conversation with the game's writer Marc Laidlaw in his car. Gordon joins the underground Lambda Resistance, aiding them in their struggle against their oppressors.Īn early concept art of Gordon Freeman, wearing a bulkier HEV suit, helmet, and goggles In its sequel, Half-Life 2, Gordon is introduced to a dystopian world years after the Black Mesa incident, along with an interdimensional alien overlord force known as the Combine, which took advantage of the interdimensional portals and has established itself as the ruling force on Earth. As Gordon, the player fights through the facility alongside fellow employees, engaging the aliens as well as a black-op military unit sent in to contain the situation and silence any surviving witnesses. There, he is involved in an experiment that accidentally opens an interdimensional portal, releasing confused, hostile beings into the complex. Gordon is introduced in the first Half-Life as a theoretical physicist working at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility. Designer Gabe Newell has explicitly rejected giving the in-game Gordon a face or voice. The images of Gordon are only seen on the game's cover and menu pages, and also in advertisements, making them marketing tools rather than pictures of what Gordon is "really like".
As a means of immersing the player in the role, Gordon never speaks, and there are no cutscenes or mission briefings-all action is viewed through Gordon's eyes, with the player retaining control of Gordon's actions at nearly all times. Throughout the series, Gordon must face hostile situations against overwhelming odds, often without backup. A theoretical physicist, he finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life video game series.