Half-Life with the TikTok narrator is as disturbing as youd expect

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A Half-Life modder has redubbed the voice lines in the intro for Valve’s storied shooter using TikTok’s auto-generated text-to-speech narrator, and it is equal parts appropriate and cursed. 

As PC Gamer (opens in new tab) spotted, modder TheFloofierLove recently uploaded the aptly named TikTok Transit to GameBanana (opens in new tab), splicing a little bit of our own technological landscape into the prophetic world of Half-Life. With the de facto voice of TikTok overseeing Black Mesa’s tram system, you can finally live out a modernized scientific dystopia – you know, one where you can actually do something about it on account of being Gordon Freeman.  

Welp… here’s the intro to the mod https://t.co/Kq5R85mGnT pic.twitter.com/MKAWlK6mIaApril 23, 2022

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“Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa transit system. This automated train is provided for the security of the Black Mesa research facility personnel,” the uncanny TikTok android woman says in a sample clip for the mod, somehow nailing a sterile laboratory tone that the app’s text-to-speech function explicitly wasn’t designed for. 

“Why does this exist?” this modder says of their own creation, echoing my immediate reaction to this inexplicably fitting mod. “Because I got bored and found out that you don’t actually need TikTok to generate the voice clips.” 

Boredom: the mother of countless great mods. You can try this mod by simply dropping its folder into Half-Life’s main Valve folder, then accessing it under custom games. TheFloofierLove notes that they’ve only tested it with Xash3D, so your mileage with the GoldSrc version of the game may vary. 

Speaking of weird Half-Life mods that somehow work: Half-Life: Year of the Dragon drops old Gordon for Spyro the dragon, and it looks incredible in motion.