Ravenholm traps

Ravenholm is filled with traps disposed by Father Grigori to kill Zombies and Headcrabs. Three kinds are met during the Half-Life 2 chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...".

Car trap


The car trap consists in a damaged car attached to a system of pulleys that lift it above the ground. At the pull of an attached switch, the car drops out of the air violently and crushes anything below it. A mechanism then starts up, and the car is automatically hoisted back into the air, ready for another drop.

Apart for being used to kill Zombies, the car trap also helps Gordon Freeman to reach areas that would otherwise be inaccessible, serving as a sort of mock elevator.

Propane trap


The propane trap consists of a large tank of propane with a hose leading out of a valve on its side. When the valve is turned, the propane begins to flow out of holes in the hose and fill the immediate vicinity. A red switch nearby will usually created a spark that will engulf in flames the area around the tank and anything around (this can also be achieved by firing into the gas cloud). The fire will continue to burn until the valve is turned again, cutting off the gas.

Propane traps are extremely effecting against Zombies and Headcrabs due to the fact that the fire not only does damage to them, but also slows down their movement dramatically and allows them to catch other creatures on fire. While they are on fire however, they can do significant damage to Gordon simply by running into him (notably Zombines) and burning him.

This trap is also used in the Half-Life 2: Episode Two chapter Freeman Pontifex, when Gordon must go through a Zombie-infested Victory Mine settlement to get the Muscle Car.

Propeller trap


The propeller trap is made of a car engine turned on its side with a metal pole sticking out of it, connected to a very sharp piece of sheet metal on one end, and a counter-weight on the other. It kills any enemy instantly, most of the time cutting Zombies in half, and deals massive damage to the player if he walks through it. It is activated by ducking under the blade and pulling a lever. Once the blades are spinning, the only way to get around it without any damage is to duck and crawl under it. It is also advised to stay beneath it to lure enemies into the blade without being damaged by them. At some point during the Ravenholm chapter, a propeller trap will fail, leaving the player being assaulted by Zombies from many directions.

Behind the scenes
Other traps were to appear in Half-Life 2, some of which not only in Ravenholm, but were cut before its release. Most of their models can be found in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta files.


 * The "crush trap", with unknown effects, was recycled in the Half-Life 2 canals, where it is used to hold the springboard that Gordon must rise to proceed to the next area with the Airboat.
 * The "scythe trap" was to involve metal plates mounted on a pole and used as a scythe.
 * The "till trap" was to be found in the canals and to involve a huge drill spindle.
 * Actioned with two big wheels, the "guillotine trap" was to be a huge metal blade cutting its victims in half.
 * The "catapult trap" was to be a solid metal catapult planted into the ground, sometimes sending the victims into a nearby wall when sharp objects could be planted.
 * The "pendulum trap" was to involve a tractor truck attached to a cable that would fall into the opposite wall, crushing its victims between it and the wall. A variant was to involve two vertical posts attached to an horizontal one at one side, and on a wall at the other, featuring two blades. When the wall attachment was to be cut, the two blades where to meet and cut in half the victim present in-between.
 * A variant of the propane trap can be seen in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta, in the map " ". The player must lure Zombies into a small courtyard, close its two gates with levers and engulf the area in flames with the same system.
 * The WC mappack contains a folder named "town_traps", where several demonstration/zoo trap maps can be found. They were made to show to the rest of the team how they were to work.

List of appearances

 * ''Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar