ATMO Exchange

"That was Ravenholly once, we don't go there anymore."

- Jason during Smuggling quest

The ATMO Exchange is a power generating facility for Pine Lake, which is present in the Beta Timeline of the game. It has significant negative effects on the atmosphere for energy.

Description
The ATMO Exchange was built on the town Ravenholly, a reference to the town from Half-Life 2 called Ravenholm. The building in Crimson 's plans, was supposed to prevent climate change and create a better future in City 1. Unfortunately, that is not what happened, as expected. The building supposedly was responsible for the X-09 Plague that was mentioned by Jason that killed a lot of Pine Lake citizens. According to the Newspapers in ACT II, the plague emerged from a lab accident, and it somehow spread from it. By what Crimson states, he wants the citizens to preserve valuable oxygen by wearing gas masks, another reference to Half-Life 2. Since you neither wear the mask or the mark you can't get your nutrients at the nutrient grey station. People also react violently to you if you encounter them. The gases that emit from the exchange's central column is what gave the sky its disgusting green appearance, which also killed the majority of the life on the island.

Interior
The interior of the ATMO Exchange comprises of a small area filled with pipes and such. It is used for a short parkour segment in the game during ACT II and where you can also get information about the exchange's statistics using its computer that records everything for the Time Agents.

Exterior


Out on the exterior of the building there are Cremator Units, equipped with flamethrowers, that lead citizens into the building for unknown reasons, as it is never mentioned why they go in there. Although, it is implied by their name that they are burning the citizens once they all enter the building or they serve as regular guards.

Trivia

 * The ATMO Exchange is heavily based off of the Air Exchange from the Beta of Half-Life 2, both structures were built to harness energy from the atmosphere and had drastic negative effects on the air quality in the air as a result.


 * The Cremator Units are also inspired by content from the Half-Life 2 Beta, which included characters with a similar name, the Cremators, who would burn up waste and also served as guards.