Our Mutual Fiend

Our Mutual Fiend is the sixth chapter of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It details Gordon Freeman and the Resistance's defence of White Forest against the Combine offensive.

Walkthrough
The first part of this chapter is very straightforward. Once Magnusson opens up the hatchway, head down and into the lift, press the button to activate it. At the bottom head forwards, turn the valve to stop the team jet. Open up the cabinets to the left to pick up a battery and some crossbow ammo. Smash the glass before the hatchway, and pull the handle, Uriah will help you through. Go to the end, turn left.

Duck under the stairway, follow the pipes into the next area. Ignore the action to the right, keep going forwards, right and then right again. This is a big area, plenty of gas canisters around to launch at the two Hunters. Use the Grav Gun to stop the Manhacks. Once everything is dead head up to the top of the area where a steam jet is blocking a ladder. Turn the valve, head up. Soldiers will come at you from both directions, there's a turret down the diagonal left passage. Keep going. Another turret is set up at the far end of the next diagonal left passage, a well thrown grenade should take care of it. More soldiers. A final turret is guarding the entrance to the next area, Grav Gun it. Shoot the barrel the soldier above is trying to kick downwards. Head up and then back as a Hunter encroaches. This is a tough one as it's a cramped area and it's possible you've already used up your arsenal of explosive things. Keep heading backwards pounding it with bullets if this is the case.

Once the Hunter is dead duck under the storage units to the right in the next area, pick up some supplies and follow the passage round. Two soldiers will attack over the debris to the right at the next junction. Straight forwards and then up and down a broken stairway, pick up the supplies here and then jump into the water. Bullets will stream past you as you come into the secondary silo, quickly beach on the side, equip your crossbow and pick off any Combine you can see. Keep climbing round and up the silo sniping Combine above you as they appear. Eventually you will come to a ruined stairwell. Climb up it (get the supply crate at the bottom of it) and hug the left wall coming into the next area. First head backwards and deal with the Manhacks. The Combine have set up a powerful pulse gun opposite here with a light attached, making it difficult to aim in at them. You can try picking them off one by one with the Crossbow (it's possible) or you can sprint to the right and work your way through the storage units until you come to an open room with a slightly ajar hatchway leading into the control room. Chuck a grenade through it to finish the three soldiers in satisfying fashion. Either way crawl through the broken window and flick the switch to close the secondary silo. Fight the Combine that appear at the top with the pulse rifle, you may catch a glimpse of an old friend.

Follow Uriah and Alyx when you're finished. Bla de bla de bla, follow Magnusson when he calls you and he'll fill you in on what's going to happen next. Spend as much time as you think you need on the firing range, there's a pistol cache there. Pay careful attention to what the soldier says about the additions to your car and to his map, they're all important. Head out on the car into the valley when prompted, head in a generally forwards direction to reach the Sawmill. Stop at any building along the way if you're not on full health/power, the supplies here get restocked quickly. Only once you reach the group of soldiers at the Sawmill does the battle begin, so spend some time familiarising yourself with the valley if you think you need to.

This section is a pitched battle of epic proportions, or at least it would be if the Resistance weren't so utterly useless. You cannot rely on any of them to actually achieve anything except the ones guarding the rocket itself with RPGs, and even these guys can only really slow the Striders down. An alarm will sound once a Strider starts getting close to the rocket; once you hear this you need to get back and take it down as quickly as possible. The PA system will tell you where the Striders are coming from. Standing at the base facing away from it the Cranes are in the far left corner, the Sawmill is in a far central position, and the Water Tower is in the far right corner. You will find Device generators at each of the buildings in the valley. Always make sure you're carrying one on your car. Once a building is destroyed, its generator is also destroyed.

The Striders themselves are usually accompanied by packs of 2-3 Hunters. These must be killed before you launch your Magnusson, as they will fire on it as soon as they get a clear shot. There are plenty of ways of killing them: run them over, punt logs, there's Pulse Grenades in some of the supply sheds.

The first Strider will appear from the Cranes as the officer is talking. The second will appear from the Water Tower and will immediately destroy the Sawmill, make sure you retrieve a new Magnusson and get a fair distance away before this happens. After this they will appear in a steady stream, and will knock out the two buildings in the left and right middle of the battleground (this cannot be prevented). After you've destroyed about six of them, there's a short lull (sort out supplies quickly) and then five come at once. This bit is complete mayhem but can definitely be done, with proper Hunter-killing tactics and a knowledge of where the remaining generators are.

Once it is over give yourself a clap on the back and head back with the car into the base to finish the level.