Half-Life storyline

"They're waiting for you Gordon, in the Test Chamber."

- Black Mesa Scientist

This article describes the Half-Life storyline, chapter by chapter. Warning: this page contains spoilers.

Hazard Course (optional)


The Hazard Course or Black Mesa Hazard Course is the training chapter of Half-Life. It trains the player to use the HEV Suit, how to move around within the environment and interact with it and how to use weapons. Scientists watch as you train and environmental hazards must be avoided.

Trivia

 * In Opposing Force, the player can visit the Hazard Course at the duck-jump training room by using the Displacer in Xen, at the first place you acquire it. The room appears to still be functioning, as the Hologram and success markers still function. A nearby Vortigaunt mistakes the Hologram for a real person, attacking it. It soon realizes it is fake though, and proceeds to attack the player.


 * In Half-Life: Decay, one of the chapters happens to be Hazardous Course, in which you walk through the destroyed remains of the course. The hologram in the course is Gina Cross, one of the main characters you play as in Decay.

Black Mesa Inbound


Black Mesa Inbound is the first chapter of Half-Life. It serves as the introduction to the game and follows the player character, Gordon Freeman, as he rides a train through the facility to Sector C. The public announcement system introduces the facility to the player.

Dr. Gordon Freeman starts his day riding a tram deep into the heart of the Black Mesa Research Facility on his way to the Anomalous Materials Lab to begin work. Nothing seems to be out of place, except a chemical leak that forces the tram to momentarily stop. It is at that point that Gordon notices a strange man in a blue suit watching him from another tram.

Original script
'From Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar''.

Enter Test Chamber

Door servos shut - not getting out

You get service cart - something scurries out of it - alien? -

Countdown -

[Time to look around.]

Voice 1 (low): All right, Gordon - your suit should keep you comfortable through all this. The specimen is being readied even as we speak. We will warm up the antimass spectrometer now, and see if we can hold her steady at 80% until the carrier arrives.

Voice 2 (med): Power in three... two... one...

First Stage Hum

Voice 1: Predictable Arrays. Very Good. Gordon -

Voice 3 (high): Mister Freeman, you might want to stand back from the focal beam during this next phase, suit or no suit.

Voice 2: You weren't planning on having children were you, Gordon?

Voice 3: Nonsense! Nothings been proven!

Voice 2: Secondary emitters, activating now.

2nd Phase of Motion & Sound

Voice 1: It looks like the crystal sample is ready, Gordon. Look to the delivery system for your specimen.

Rises From Floor

Voice 1: Standard insertion for a nonstandard specimen. Go to it.

Voice 3: Wait!

Voice 2: Capacitors to one oh five percent. Initiating black box messaging.

Voice 3: What?

Voice 1: Gordon, we're bringing the analyzer to superoptimal performance. There's no telling how long the system can take it - or how long the reading will take. Please work efficiently.

Trivia

 * If you pull out the sample from the spectrometer until your back is against the wall, one of the Vortigaunts teleporting in there won't teleport out; instead, he stands on the cart and attacks you. He will be there after the map change, floating in the air, so don't pull out the sample.
 * If you continually use the microwave oven located on the way to the locker room, it will explode. The "microwave casserole" incident mentioned by Magnusson in Episode Two might be a reference to it.
 * In Gordon Freeman's locker can be found several Easter Eggs: a baby's picture and the books The Orchid Eater and The 37th Mandela, written by the series' writer Marc Laidlaw. Other lockers bear the names of Valve employees, such as Marc Laidlaw, Kelly Bailey, Ted Backman, Chuck Jones, John Guthrie (which is open in Unforeseen Consequences and contains an American flag and ammo for the pistol), Ken Birdwell, etc.
 * Behind the desk where the security guard is sitting, at the beginning of the chapter, there is a red and green switch. If used, it will momentarily set off an alarm.

Anomalous Materials


It follows Gordon Freeman as he arrives at the Anomalous Materials laboratory in Sector C, dons his HEV Suit, and participates in a mysterious experiment in the test chamber.

Later on, once he reaches his destination, Gordon once again sees the suited man arguing heatedly with a scientist behind soundproof glass. After donning his HEV suit, he proceeds to the test chamber. After pushing an alien sample into the scanning beam, immediately something goes terribly wrong. A "resonance cascade" has been triggered, creating an interdimensional portal between Earth and a bizarre world called Xen. Gordon is briefly teleported there during the ordeal, at one point encountering what appear to be sentient life forms.

Unforeseen Consequences


It details Gordon Freeman's efforts to reach the surface to get help in the aftermath of the Resonance Cascade. This chapter introduces the player to weapons, combat and environmental hazards, among other things.

The title alludes to the G-Man's words to Eli Vance prior to the Resonance Cascade, where he told him to "prepare for unforeseen consequences". As revealed by Eli to Gordon in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, G-Man is where he got the sample from.

Finding himself back in Black Mesa, Gordon is told that all communication outside Black Mesa has been lost, and decides to try to make it to the surface to get help. Black Mesa has received massive structural damage, and to make matters worse, aliens from Xen begin randomly teleporting all around them. Most are simply reacting naturally to their new surroundings, but even more hostile are the creatures Gordon saw earlier (known as Vortigaunts), who seem to attack with a single-minded intent to kill. Also strange is that Gordon occasionally finds the man in the suit, the G-Man, watching him from out-of-reach places, always walking off before Gordon can get to him. Gordon makes good progress until he learns that the military is already on the way. He attempts to join up with them, but walks into a room to witness a Marine taking out a survivor. It is then that he discovers that the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, which has taken control of Black Mesa, is not just killing the aliens, they are also killing everyone connected to the project. However, it is revealed that the surviving members of Lambda Team (in the Lambda Complex at the other end of the facility) may be able to close the dimensional rift; Gordon begins the journey across Black Mesa to reach them.

Office Complex


In it, Gordon Freeman, minutes after the Resonance Cascade, enters the office complex area, where several scientists are barricaded, hiding from the rampant aliens in the complex.

"We've Got Hostiles"


It finds Gordon Freeman continuing his hunt for a way to the surface. Meanwhile, the soldiers rumored to be coming on a rescue mission turn out to be hostile, their objective being to kill both aliens and witnesses, including Gordon Freeman himself.

Blast Pit


From here, Gordon has several adventures, such as killing a giant Tentacle,

It finds Gordon Freeman entering an area full of toxic waste, where the HECU soldiers have yet to get a good foothold because of the high concentration of aliens in the area. It is here that Gordon faces a deadly new foe, the Tentacle.

Power Up


In it, Gordon Freeman tries to go onto the surface, but is thwarted by a clash between a Gargantua and HECU soldiers. He then learns from a dying security guard that if he restores the generator, he can ride the monorail to the surface. Freeman enters the Houndeye-infested subterranean areas and activates the generator, restoring power to the vicinity. Afterwards, he is forced to kill the Gargantua from earlier to be able to board the monorail it guards.

On A Rail


riding across the facility on a railway system in order to reach a satellite rocket that must be launched in order to reverse the resonance cascade

As Gordon Freeman rides Black Mesa's monorail, he learns from a security guard that he must ride to the satellite control room to launch a satellite, which the Lambda team can use to reverse the effects of the resonance cascade.

Apprehension


As Gordon Freeman continues towards the surface, he encounters a terrifying new aquatic creature, the Icthyosaur, and acquires a deadly new weapon to fight it. Later, Freeman is captured by the HECU. He then escapes the trash compactor that they left him for dead in.

and fighting a group of mysterious Black Ops, before being captured by marines and dumped in a garbage compactor.

Residue Processing


As Gordon Freeman continues towards the surface, he encounters a terrifying new aquatic creature, the Icthyosaur, and acquires a deadly new weapon to fight it. Later, Freeman is captured by the HECU. He then escapes the trash compactor that they left him for dead in.

However, Gordon is able to escape and eventually winds up in a secret part of the facility where he discovers that scientists had been "collecting" specimens from Xen long before this whole mess occurred.

Questionable Ethics


In it, Gordon Freeman continues to rearm himself against the HECU, and rejoins the battle against these enemies. Gordon also encounters the alien military units, the Alien Grunts, and he finds one of the most powerful weapons in the Half-Life universe, the Tau Cannon. Soon, he heads outside to search for the Lambda Lab.

Surface Tension


In it, Gordon Freeman fights against the HECU and the Xenians on the surface areas of Black Mesa.

After arming himself with advanced prototype weaponry, Gordon reaches the surface. It has become a warzone. The Vortigaunts, along with a new, soldier-type enemy, and a giant monstrosity, has begun making determined attacks against the marines, and the tide of the battle is beginning to turn in favor of the aliens. The marines call in reinforcements, but it isn't enough. Gordon must scale cliffs and navigate the bombed out buildings while avoiding both sides as the forces of Xen begin to dominate the battlefield. Finally, Gordon reaches relative safety underground.

Trivia
Like "Half-Life, "Blue Shift", "Opposing Force" or "Decay", "Surface Tension" is a scientific pun, referring to the properties of water which makes certain objects float above it. It is also an in-joke referring to tension(conflict) in the surface(topside)

"Forget About Freeman!"


In this chapter, the HECU determine that they're fighting a losing battle against the Xen aliens and, having continually failed to neutralize Freeman, abandon their mission and begin to evacuate the facility, calling in airstrikes and heavy artillery to cover their retreat. Meanwhile, Gordon makes his way into an underground storage garage to avoid the bombardments, and eventually fights his way through scores of aliens and several groups of the decimated HECU forces before reaching the Lambda Complex.

The Marines begin to evacuate Black Mesa and airstrikes begin. Gordon navigates underground water channels and tries to avoid scores of alien invaders as they pick off remaining marine stragglers.

Lambda Core


and the final chapter in the Black Mesa Research Facility. Gordon Freeman must now navigate through the Lambda Core, facing numerous assaults from the Xen forces (the primary enemy, now that the HECU has pulled out). In the end, he learns that a single large entity is hosting the invasion, and that he must teleport to Xen to stop it.

After much struggle, Gordon finally reaches the Lambda Complex, where he discovers that the Lambda Complex is where they developed the teleportation technology that allowed scientists to travel to Xen in the first place. The handful of surviving personnel, who have holed themselves up in a small stronghold, inform Gordon that, unfortunately, the satellite he launched was not able to reverse the effects of the resonance cascade because an immensely powerful being on the other side is keeping the portal between the worlds open, and Gordon must kill it to prevent the Xen aliens from taking over completely. They activate the teleporter and Gordon is teleported to Xen.

Xen


It details Gordon Freeman arriving in the border world Xen.

On the strange borderworld, Gordon encounters many of the aliens that had been teleported into Black Mesa in their natural habitats, as well as the remains of HEV-wearing researchers that came before him. After killing the mighty Gonarch, and fighting his way through an alien camp, Gordon arrives at what seems to be a genetic flesh factory. The forces of Xen are literally assembling their own army to conquer Earth. After fighting his way through mysterious, levitating creatures, he finds a giant portal and enters it.

Gonarch's Lair


In it, Gordon Freeman faces one of the Nihilanth's most powerful minions, Gonarch and her children.

Interloper


It features Gordon's continued journey across Xen, while supplies are running short. He also comes across the Xen army's Alien Grunt cloning facility, where the army is created.

Nihilanth


It details Gordon Freeman going up against and killing the creature that has hosted the attack from the beginning: the Nihilanth.

In a vast cave, Gordon finally confronts the powerful and mysterious being that is holding the portal open: the Nihilanth. Gordon destroys the being's shield, allowing him to destroy its vulnerable brain. As the creature dies, it floats toward the ceiling, and explodes in a giant green blast that overpowers Gordon's senses. When he comes to, he is confronted by the G-Man. Both are transported to various locales around Xen, while the G-Man praises Gordon's actions in the border world (which he refers to as "a nasty piece of work"). He explains that his "employers", agreeing that Gordon has "limitless potential", have authorized him to offer Freeman a job. The final teleportation takes Gordon to the same tramcar that he rode on at the beginning of the game, but apparently flying through space at immense speed. Gordon accepts this offer by stepping though a portal, and, finding himself floating in nothingness, hears the G-Man's voice one last time: "Wisely done, Mr. Freeman, I will see you up ahead..." The story continues from this point in Half-Life 2.

Alternatively, the player may choose not to step into the portal in the final scene. This causes Gordon to be teleported into a giant cave facing rows of Alien Grunts as the game ends with the G-Man's comment, "Well, it looks like we won't be working together. No regrets, Mr. Freeman." Gordon's appearance in Half-Life 2 suggests that this "bad ending" is not part of Half-Life canon. Although the grunts don't seem to do anything, and the screen fades out before any action is made, it is assumed that Gordon is killed, due to the G-Man's comment about the second choice, saying that the alternative is "A battle that you have no chance of winning." Following this scene is a status report saying, "Subject: Freeman; Status: Observation terminated; Post Mortem: Subject declined offer of employment.” Interestingly, there was an extra phrase from the G-man cut from the game at this point: "But there are a few survivors of your personal holocaust who would like the chance to meet the man responsible for the total annihilation of their base."

Also the sequence at the end of Half-Life 2 (where the G-Man speaks to Gordon) he mentions that he would no longer give Gordon the "illusion of free choice" possibly showing that either ending wouldn't have disrupted the time line and thus showing that Gordon didn't have a choice.

After defeating the Nihilanth, Gordon is warped away by the mysterious man who has been stalking him from the beginning. The so-called G-Man delivers a cryptic speech to Gordon, saying that he and "his employers" now control Xen, and that the battle is won. He strips Gordon of his weapons, but leaves the HEV Suit, saying that Gordon has "earned it". The G-Man then offers Gordon a choice: work for him and his employers, or be left behind. If the player chooses to deny the job, he is dropped, unarmed, into a chamber full of Alien Grunts. If he accepts, the G-Man puts him into stasis, and the game ends. The second choice if of course the canon ending, Gordon being woken up 20 years later at the start of Half-Life 2.