Another major reason for leaving Gordon Freeman's signature weapon out of Half-Life: Alyx was that players holding a crowbar simply assumed they were playing as Gordon Freeman, rather than as Alyx Vance. After playtests, Valve would ask players to describe the story and events they'd experienced, and players would think they've been playing the whole time as Freeman. There was little Valve could do to change their minds.

"It didn't matter how much we told them, like, literally at the start of the game, that they aren't Gordon," Walker said.