Half-Life 2 Soundtrack

Kelly Bailey composed numerous short pieces of original incidental music that are interspersed throughout the Half-Life 2. Also, several tracks from the Half-Life soundtrack were re-titled and carried over, some of them remixed. Energetic techno tracks tend to back significant battles. Atmospheric synthesizer pieces enhance key plot and exploration moments and reinforce feelings of adventure, isolation, or melancholy in the player.

The limited-edition Half-Life 2 "Gold" package included, among other exclusive extras, a CD soundtrack. Although the CD contains several exclusive tracks, it does not include all of the music released with the game. Using an appropriate program, it is possible to extract all audio tracks heard in-game from the "source sounds.gcf" archive file. Tracks 44–56 in the list below were not released on the CD and can be obtained by this method. The soundtrack (save the CD version of tracks 1 and 34) was also included in the game directory of both the full and demo Audiosurf releases on Steam.

Description
The most iconic track, this is now the singature theme of Valve software.

Location played
At the titles, a section of the track can be heared when putting on the HEV suit for the first time in the game.

Description
An action sounding track, fits an escape.

Location played
Various times in Route Kanal when Gordon Freeman fights off Civil Protection.

Description

 * For more info on name.

Description
Relatively slow paced action music. Continues same beat throughout, with some electronic sounds - however, mainly drums.

Location played
(Anticitizen One or Follow Freeman - please check), leading up to the fight in the plaza (with the combine generator).

Location played

 * Highway 17, when leaving Shorepoint Base.
 * During the first part of the credits.

Location played
After Father Grigori takes the player through a graveyard and let the player go under a gate.

Location played
In the chapter Dark Energy when the player is descending in the elevator to face Breen.

"Ravenholm Reprise"
Spooky, mysterious music. Quite unsettling.

Location played

 * "We don't go to Ravenholm": Just as one comes out of the passage to Black Mesa East, straight into Ravenholm.

Description
A harrowing track, follows through a strange siren like refrain before ending with a subtle outro.

Location played
During the Headcrab shelling towards the Route Kannal level.

Description
Not so much dark as very strange, follows through a distorted field of sound effects. seams to be very anticipatory. Quite eerie.

Location played
Upon entering the Vortigaunt Camp.

Description

 * Fast paced action music.
 * The name is most likely a reference to Gordon's apprehension by Civil Protection and his subsequent escape through which this song is played.

Location played

 * During A Red Letter Day, while escaping from Civil Protection through the train tracks.
 * During Sandtraps, during the night time raid on Nova Prospekt (the bunker raiding section).

Description
Extremely short and dramatic trumpet piece.

Location played
Water Hazard: As soon as one has defeated the Hunter-Chopper.

Description

 * A very earnest track. It is designed to be contrasted with the atmosphere of Ravenholm, once more placing the player in the middle of an uprising, while simultaneously almost mourning the situation - played in tandem with Winston's moans of pain.
 * The name is a reference to the the very situation the player finds himself at the point it is played - Triage of Winston at dawn-break.
 * Triage at Dawn, along with 'That Long Train Ride', is a remix of the much longer song, Path to Borealis.

Location played
During "We Don't Go To Ravenholm", straight after a battle with Overwatch. last track of the level.

Description

 * The name, aside from detailing the location it is played, hints at its content (based on what one already knows of the place). Beginning, with the throb of a bass drum, the track whirls through a range of different ambient themes. A subtle refrain from CP Violation can be heared at 1:00 at last for around twenty seconds, before dropping to a more dramatic outro. The track is very creepy and unsettling. Gives a hint at what is to be expected later in the level.
 * Duration: 1:56.

Location played
At the start of Nova Prospekt, just as one enters the jail.

Description
A Strangely-placed reflective track, a repetition of two bass chords with a synth pad. A little similar to the Self Esteem Fund track from the Portal Soundtrack.

Location played
Upon leaving the sewers in Route Kanal.

Description
Appears at the climatic ending of Freeman's witnessing of The Uprising whilst fighting a multitude of Striders. Lengthy, fast paced action music. Has a few sections throughout.

Location played
During Follow Freeman! at the time of arguably the climax of the game whilst fighting a multitude of Striders.

Description
An anticipatory track, seams to awaken one from the darkness of Ravenholm.

Location played
Kicks in upon leaving Ravenholm and into the sniper's nest outside, right before the Fast Zombie appears.

Description

 * Strange & mysterious music.
 * The whirring of Manhack blades and Kleiner's teleporter can be heard in the background.

Location played
Point Insertion: Very beginning of Half-Life 2, during the G-Man's speech.

Description
Known also as "Space Ocean" this track seems to have a very intense 'walking the tightrope' feel, and appears extensively at such moments.

Location played

 * Anticitizen One: Upon entering the underground hazardous liquid cavern with the cars.
 * Our Benefactors: While Freeman is in the Prisoner pod, moving through the Citadel.

Description

 * An Ambient track. Reasonably dark, but implies a relatively passive and innocent atmosphere. Fits well during the player's first encounter with Dog.
 * Name derived from the first level of Half-Life, in which Gordon is making his way to the Anomalous Materials Lab.
 * Duration: 2m 11s.

Location played
This is played upon the viewing of the Nova Prospekt teleporter.

Description

 * Also named Dimensionless Deepness. It opens with the sound of water splashing (a possible reference to the track's name). Like most of the ambient soundtrack, it is hard to hear - keeping volume to a minimum - but is somewhat eerie.
 * Its name is most likely a play on Dirac Sea, a "is a theoretical model of the vacuum as an infinite sea of particles possessing negative energy".

Location played
During Entanglement.

Description

 * Starts with the blast of a distorted electic guitar chord. Comes from the Half-Life 1 song "Electric Guitar Ambiance". Enhances feeling of desolation.

Location played
At the beginning of Black Mesa East, right after the loading screen.

Description
A techno-sounding track. Gives off a feel of urgency.

Location played
Lighthouse Point during the Dropship attacks.

Description
A fast-paced track with a car-chase feel. Its Half-Life name was Diabolical Rhythm Guitar, a good indicator of how it sounds.

Location played
Water Hazard when fleeing from the second Hunter-Chopper, involving drives through large cement pipes.

Description
The title track of the short level, extremely minimalist, sounds like a distorted choir singing. The track is barely even audible as a soundtrack.

Location played
During "A Red Letter Day", upon entering Kleiner's Lab for the first time.

Description
Medium-fast paced action music.

Description

 * Despite being one of the shortest and most simplistic, it is most probably the darkest track on the soundtrack. It is mostly a strange, discordant sound, as if a multitude of songs were mixed together. Very eerie and disquieting. Ends abruptly, as if a real song were being played.
 * Name perhaps derived from the similarity of the sound to an old or out-of-tune radio.
 * It can also be heard in the film 28 Days Later (at 00:26).

Location played
Anticitizen One: Just as the TV with the G Man on it is seen.