In the 2002 video game The Thing, there are three classes of non-player characters (NPCs): Soldiers, Medics and Engineers. Here you will find a list of all the characters Captain Blake can acquire into his team, aside from notes on their recruitment: some can join him the normal way, others require mods or bugs, others can be recruited for just a few seconds before they turn into Assimilants.
Soldiers[]
In the 2002 video game The Thing, Soldiers are combat-oriented non-player characters (NPCs), who utilize weaponry more effectively than other NPC classes, and spend less ammunition during firefights. They are the most courageous class.
Soldiers can be identified in the squad menu profile by a green-colored background and a submachine gun icon.
North, a Soldier. Notice the green background and submachine gun icon.
The following is a list of Soldier NPCs from The Thing:
- Iversen (*can only be recruited via glitches or mods)
- North
- Cruz
- Pierce
- Unnamed Medic (*named "NPCEntity_1," recruited only through cheat codes)
- Carter (Soldier) (*can burst out quickly, but it can be prevented)
- Fisk
- Guy (*bursts out inevitably when approached)
- Austin (*bursts out inevitably when approached)
- Whitley (*can be recruited using via glitches or mods)
Medics[]
Combat Medics are military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. In the 2002 video game The Thing, Medics are non-player characters (NPCs) who automatically heal squad mates. They are unable to heal themselves, and have less courage than Engineers or Soldiers.
Weldon, a Medic. Notice the pink background and syringe icon.
Medics can be identified in the squad menu profile by a pink-colored background and a syringe icon.
The following is a list of Medic NPCs from The Thing:
- Weldon
- Williams
- Parnevik (*can burst out quickly, but it can be prevented)
- Faraday
- Falchek
- Temple
- Reed
- Cohen
Engineers[]
Combat Engineers are military specialists who performs a variety of construction and demolition tasks under combat conditions. In the 2002 video game The Thing, Engineers are non-player characters (NPCs), required to unlock many doors in the game by repairing advanced Junction boxes. Engineers have less courage than soldiers but more than Medics.
Burrows, an Engineer. Notice the blue blackground and wrench icon.
Engineers can be identified in the squad menu profile by a blue-colored background and a wrench icon.
The following is a list of Engineer NPCs from The Thing:
- Larsen (*can't be encountered in the game, assumed to be an Engineer)
- Burrows
- Carter (Engineer)
- Pace
- Collins
- Price
- Dixon
- Stanmore (*bursts out when attempting to get him out of his cell)
- Lavelle
- Powell
- Ryan
- Stolls
- Peltola
Technical limitations and criticism[]
Proof that Carter can follow Blake well into the holding cells at the Strata Medical Laboratory, even as far as to meet with Stanmore. One of the five squadmates will be left out if more than four are encountered, since the game can only hold four at a time.
The game usually offers the player one, two or three NPC squadmates at any given time instead of the full four squadmate slots that the squad menu can handle. There are a few times in the game where it's possible to recruit four squadmates at once, but this is very unusual, as one of the squadmates will reveal himself as an imitation almost immediately due to game scripts to prevent NPC saturation. In the Strata Medical Laboratory, it's possible to reunite five squadmates at once (Falchek, Dixon, Fisk, Carter, Stanmore) which will cause one NPC to be left out of the squad menu (Carter and Stanmore burst out almost immediately when encountered precisely to solve this problem). The other place in the game where this happens is at the Strata Furnace level, where the player can reunite the squadmates Temple, Dixon, Lavelle and Guy, very briefly before Guy turns into an Assimilant (also, NPCs Fisk and Falchek are removed quickly at the start of the level; Fisk doesn't carry over from the last level if kept alive, and Falchek bursts before meeting the other medic, Temple). The game usually handles three NPCs at once and makes the others be killed, disappear or become infected so that this NPC overload doesn't happen. According to developer Andrew Curtis:
"NPCs could be infected in battles with the aliens or by being left alone with an infected squad member," explains Curtis, "but sometimes we had to script an infection to remove an NPC from play due to technical and design constraints." Curtis admits this was a 'big mistake' with many players inevitably feeling cheated as fellow soldiers, tested moments earlier and proven genuinely human, could suddenly sprout more tentacles than a Japanese restaurant and attack the player. Diarmid Campbell also recalls the conflicting infection concept."
Trivia[]
- Some Imitations disguise as a class, but get it wrong: these include Iversen (Norwegian Radio Operator), Carter (Soldier), Guy and Austin, who are designated as Soldiers in the squad menu, but are dressed as Medics and Engineers. Thus, you can't rely on an NPC's uniform to tell you which class he belongs to. Anyone who doesn't seem to belong in their class is most assuredly an Imitation. The Unnamed Medic (NPCEntity_1) is the only one of these that isn't an Imitation, but he was never meant to be reached by the player.
- Some infected characters scripted to turn into Assimilants can be kept from bursting, so long as the point where they're scripted to burst is not crossed: these include Williams, at the Norwegian Weather Station (by using a trick to bypass the room where he's scripted to burst); Parnevik, at the Pyron Sub Facility (quickly bring up the squad menu and get him to follow you before he turns instead of going further into the testing chambers); Carter (Soldier), at the Strata Medical Laboratory (give him a weapon to trust you and get him to follow you quickly before he turns, but he usually bursts after going past the laser-beam security gate, even if he's left behind).
- The characters of Hawk, Hobson and Ryder were scrapped, and only their voices can be found in the game files. It's unknown what class they would have belonged to. Judging by the dialogue of Hawk and Hobson, they might have been researchers (Medic/Engineer classes). It is theorized that the Unnamed Medic could have originally been one of them. As for Ryder, he could have been a soldier, like Fisk or Carter (the NPCs that apparently replaced him in the final game).