Half-Life 2: Episode Two storyline

This article describes the Half-Life 2: Episode Two storyline, chapter by chapter.

To the White Forest


In this chapter we pick up where we left off, Alyx and Gordon having just crashed below a bridge in the train they just fled City 17 in and Gordon becoming rearmed with his trusty Gravity Gun. Looking back on the city a giant portal swirling above the destroyed citadel is visible, the result of The Combine attempting to re-establish communication with their homeworld. With the goal of reaching the White Forest base where Eli Vance, Isaac Kleiner and new principle resistance scientist - Arne Magnusson - are located the player sets off.

Continuing the plot of Half-Life 2 and Episode One, Episode Two consists of seven chapters telling the story of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance's journey through the White Forest to a large Resistance base named after the forest. After the destruction of the Citadel, the Combine are working to open a massive superportal to call for reinforcements. Combine Advisor pods have been scattered throughout the region. The destruction of the Citadel, as explained by Dr. Kleiner's broadcast in Episode One, has inflicted a portal and communications blackout on Earth-stationed Combine forces, leaving them isolated and disorganized. A crucial part of the plot is the transmission packet which the Combine sacrificed the Citadel to send, a copy of which Alyx and Gordon stole before making their escape. It contains information relating to the location of the Combine homeworld and allows the creation of the superportal to be controlled from the "other side". This information has to be delivered to White Forest so that the Resistance can use it to shut down the superportal and prevent an even greater Combine invasion.

The Citadel core finally gave out right when Alyx and Gordon were leaving City 17. The resulting shock wave derailed the train, but Gordon and Alyx miraculously survived, probably due to interference of the G-Man and the Vortigaunts. After Gordon and Alyx climb out of the wreckage of the train they used to escape City 17, they make their way to White Forest. Pausing briefly to view the smoldering ruins of City 17 in the distance and the beginnings of the superportal originating at the base of the destroyed Citadel. Shortly afterwards a portal storm, which seems to originate at the Citadel ruins, sweeps the area, destroying the already critically damaged rail bridge nearby.

This Vortal Coil


Alyx finds herself badly injured by a Combine Hunter while Gordon is trapped under fallen rubble. A Vortigaunt ally accompanies her and Gordon through an underground Antlion colony in order to retrieve a larval extract required for the Vortigaunts to heal her.

Once the extract is retrieved and the healing process begun, the G-Man contacts Gordon while the Vortigaunts are occupied. He hints at Alyx's importance to his own long-term plans, revealing that he had preserved Alyx's life at Black Mesa despite objections from unnamed others ("I have learned to ignore such... naysayers when quelling them... was out of the question."). The G-Man then instructs an unconscious Alyx to tell her father to "prepare for unforeseen consequences." (Unforeseen Consequences is the title of the third chapter in the original Half-Life, which takes place right after the resonance cascade occurred.)

After Alyx has recovered, she and Gordon proceed to the surface. There they see that a large group of Combine forces in the distance is moving towards White Forest. They acquire a working car from a Rebel base ravaged by Headcrabs.

Trivia

 * The title of the chapter is a reference to the phrase "shuffle[d] off this mortal coil" from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Freeman Pontifex


This chapter sees Gordon fight off none other than the Antlion Guardian and some of his kin before exploring the last Victory Mine settlement turned Resistance outpost to locate an abandoned working car for the journey to White Forest. Unfortunately, the Combine arrived before them destroying the town with Headcrab canisters. This also turned most of the local Citizens and Overwatch Soldiers into Zombies of one form or another.

Riding Shotgun


Having acquired transportation, they proceed at top speed, slowed down by multiple Combine ambushes.

This chapter is the first part of the driving journey to White Forest. In it, Hunters are fought directly for the first time and the player has a close encounter with an entrapped Advisor in a barn.

They also encounter an encapsulated Combine Advisor, which Alyx attempts to kill by damaging its life support system. The Advisor awakens and demonstrates its telekinetic powers, pinning Alyx and Gordon to a wall. It appears unfamiliar with its environment, as it crushes a barrel and stabs a dead rebel with a tentacle-like tongue before an explosion wounds it, forcing it to flee.

Several Overwatch soldiers storms the area, Gordon and Alyx fights them off and drives away from the barn.

The chapter ends with yet another Hunter-Chopper fight as Alyx and Gordon arrive at another small Resistance Outpost. Despite repeated attacks and a vehicle breakdown, Gordon and Alyx continue to proceed.

Under the Radar


After fighting a decent amount of zombies to get to and destroy an Autogun that is threatening a rebel base, Alyx and Gordon again take off on the second part of their journey to White Forest. After a massive brawl at the White Forest Inn they finally arrive at the base.

Our Mutual Fiend


Arriving at White Forest, Alyx and Gordon reunite with Dog, Isaac Kleiner, and Eli Vance. Alyx finally delivers the transmission packet acquired in Episode One to Eli and Dr. Kleiner. The player is also introduced to Dr. Arne Magnusson, another former Black Mesa scientist who is egotistical, verbose, authoritarian, and who holds a blatant seemingly uncalled for grudge against Gordon.

The team of scientists is preparing a special rocket, which they plan to use in conjunction with the satellite array launched during the events of Half-Life to close the Combine superportal.

Gordon and Alyx learn of the Resistance plan to launch a rocket to communicate with an old Black Mesa satellite to seal the Citadel's Super Portal once and for all. The player is then forced to repel a combine attack on the base trying to destroy the Rocket. The attack force consists of Overwatch soldiers and Hunters.

After successfully repelling the attack, Gordon meets up with Alyx, and the two return to Dr. Kleiner and Eli who have completed decoding Judith Mossman's message. It reveals that the "project" is none other than the Borealis, an Aperture Science shipping vessel. The Borealis is rumored to carry super powerful technology. Alyx then delivers the G-Man's message to Eli: "Prepare for unforeseen consequences." Upon hearing this, Eli remembers the resonance cascade and demands that the Borealis be destroyed in order to prevent another disaster. Dr. Kleiner, however, suggests the Borealis be used as a weapon against the Combine. It is decided that they must eventually go the the Borealis to retrieve the technology and find/rescue Mossman.

However, they are soon interrupted by a larger force of Combine who attack the base, complete with Striders and Hunters. The Magnusson Device is finally introduced to the player by its namesake. Using it, Gordon is able to hold off the attack and finally prevent the Combine from destroying the rocket once and for all.

T-Minus One


After the Striders are dispatched, Gordon returns to the Base and receives an unexpected thank-you from Magnusson. The rocket is then successfully launched, closing the superportal and preventing the Combine from calling in reinforcements from their homeworld. Alyx reveals that she found and fixed up an old helicopter that they can use to fly to the Borealis. Sadly, as Gordon and Alyx prepare to depart to search for Dr. Judith Mossman, Advisors attack the helicopter hanger and kill Eli Vance with the chance that they have obtained all information of the resistance from Eli via the absorption of his brain, before Dog scares them off, saving Gordon and Alyx, who runs crying to her dad's side and holds onto his lifeless body as the screen fades to black and the credits roll. (Eli's death could be the "unforeseen consequences" the G-Man was referring to.)

Trivia

 * In the base, an Easter Egg referring to the TV series Lost can be found. In Uriah's lab, there is an inaccessible room containing a computer terminal with the six factors of the Valenzetti Equation shown on the screen and, on the wall, a Dharma-style octagon with the three pines from the White Forest logo. The room was inserted at the request of Gabe Newell, who promised to insert a reference to Lost in response to Half-Life references in Lost's first season. It is however just an easter egg and the connection between the two universes is not to be considered canon.