dr. coomer in particular has a couple of scenes where he mentions things "not being real" or saying "there's nothing out there" when asked what was beyond black mesa.
he also has a monologue in xen where he asks gordon (paraphrasing) "if everything round you was.. fake, what would you do?"
most of the main characters die, but it's not permanent and almost always done for a joke. they come back within a few seconds.
spoilers for the ending!
benrey is the final boss, and he does die, but in the bank robbery stream and also the commentary bits, is revealed to have come back.
No, but it's worth noting one character is an orphan, though it's unknown how he came to be an orphan. (!!SPOILERS!!) One of his parents is revealed in the finale, but it's unstated if it's biological or adoptive.
there are the lines “oh, he’s injecting me with drugs!” and “the drugs are taking effect!” but it’s never followed up on. also, in the uncut streams there’s talk of morphine being administered for medical reasons
kinda? theres jokes about being addicted to caffeine (tommy LOVES soda and drinks it a lot, he pulls out a gun as a visual joke when gordon tells him it's unhealthy) but its just a joke and doesn't really come up.
i suppose the science team is too? they go feral and slurp up every soda machine there is.
Technically? In Act 3 Part 2, a character is blocked off from getting out of a pool of water. He's not held under the water, but he's blocked off from getting out.
not really, but there is a bit later in the series where they crawl under barbed wire. nothing is graphic, but their models make it seem like their heads are *in* the barbed wire. they kinda yell in pain a bit but nothing graphic.
if razors cutting skin affects you badly, that scene *might* suck to watch? but it's only a second and nothing too bad.
characters are generally out of breath after fights, but this is particularly present in act 3 part 2, because the person playing the main character had a panic attack and is dealing with the aftermath. there are also several underwater scenes where characters cannot breathe.
Near the end of Act 1 Part 2, a character tries to hold up an emergency exit, and it ends up crushing and killing him. However, he turns out to be completely fine in the next act.
A character catches on fire* for a few seconds but afterwards they say "Oh I'm fine now"
*it is confirmed that it was actually a large pidgeon on fire that was behind them.
no, but someone dies while being crushed by a self closing door (not graphically), and people talk briefly about what it would be like to be crushed by a hydraulic press
no, but there is a gun that shoots fingernails/toenails attached to someone’s arm. the loss of his fingernails/toenails does not seem to harm the character
Characters regularly have blood covering their eyes. At one point a character seems blinded because the blood is pitch black on their eyes, but seems fine.
I'm answering no, but it's worth noting that at one point in Act One, a few characters are exploded into flesh. It's Gmod Half Life 1 graphics, so not gruesome at all, but it's worth noting. It should also be mentioned that there's a LOT of blood.
never verbally stated, but occasionally in chat some people will say some shitty things, like the r slur or some transphobic things. in the original VODs, chat is uncensored. in the edited versions, they are blurred when this happens (but some slip through occasionally)
A character throws up* after taking injury to the head. A character also says "wanna see a man throw up?" But doesnt.
*he throws up glowing beams of blue and pink.
The series is incredibly anti-police and especially anti-military. There is a running joke where because they've killed so many military soldiers, a character keeps saying they've wiped out the entire US military (this is false until the final act). There is also an additional (questionably canon) charity stream where the characters rob several banks, titled AI Crushes All Banks (play on ACAB)
A few NPCs use syringes on the characters throughout, and in Act 3 Part 2 there's a fight against many identical enemies whose only attack animation is using syringes
I'm saying yes because there is a character who is incredibly anxious, suicidal, canonically thinks he has PTSD, and arguably struggles with unreality and hallucinations, and he kills many people and is generally really pissed off and angry throughout the series. However, every character in the series kills people and is violent (hell, the character who is the most good and kind of all of them is the one with the most kills by the end). So while the mentally ill character is violent, so are all the others, and he's never demonized for his anxiety, paranoia, suicidality, unreality, (possible) hallucinations, or ANY of his mental problems. The others in the team do tease him a lot, but they never tease him specifically for being mentally ill.
there are two characters that are commonly interpreted as autistic. one is called a freak in act 1 part 1, which doesn’t happen again. the other is frequently demonized, but he’s also the villain.
Act 3 Part 2, about nine minutes in, a character tries (and fails) to commit suicide by drowning. The suicide attempt is 9:05, after one character says "Surprise attack, Gordon!" Skip to 9:12 or 9:22 to completely avoid it.
A character mentions shooting himself and later says "I'm just gonna kill myself" before attempting to drown himself (unsuccessfully), and expresses suicidal thoughts/intent a few times afterwards (his suicidality starts in Act 3)
The main character says that he probably has PTSD from the plot going on at some point, and he does seem traumatized from everything happening in the plot
Every single character swears, there's cursing in every episode. The main character curses quite often. Additionally: There are sexual jokes, including whatever the hell is going on with the main villain's monologue. It's not too bad (I'm a sex repulsed asexual and I find them hilarious), but it should be kept in mind.
At least two characters become aware they are in a game, but the audience is never directly addressed or messed with (aside from, in the full streams, the main character occasionally talks to the twitch chat that was watching the stream when it was happening), so I'd say no. Semi-related, themes of unreality are present Act 3 onwards
An autistic coded* character is called a child, kid, and 5 years throughout some of the series, even though the character is 36, and says so himself.
*it isn't confirmed that the character is autistic
There are two LGBT+ confirmed characters that seem to "die" but always come back. A male character confirmed to have been "lusting" after another male character, dies(?) in The End.
it’s revealed during the final fight that gordon had a “dick slip” at the very beginning of the series, but benrey zipped up gordon’s pants so it isn’t seen
benrey says some sexual things at gordon (kinda attempting at flirting) which gordon does not reciprocate to put it lightly. i dont think benrey really pushes it that far after that.
I disagree with the previous comment and argue that the end speech IS sad. It's essentially a character, possibly about to die, saying goodbye to his friend. There's silliness before it, yes (HLVRAI is a comedy series), but that final speech is a goddamn gutpunch.
there's a bit where the game glitches and like 15 helicopters spawn on top of each other, i don't remember if any of them crash on screen but the characters are throwing like, RPGs at them and shooting at them