The Outlands

"Hey, I know that peak! You can see it from White Forest!"

- Alyx Vance

The Outlands is the main location for Half-Life 2: Episode Two. This alpine region is located north of the City 17 outskirts (as referred to many times in the Episode Two dialogues) and is towered over by an unnamed peak known by Alyx.

Features
The area consists of coniferous forests, streams, the Victory Mine (an abandoned mining complex colonized by Antlions), the White Forest Inn, the Rebel base of operations White Forest, several hamlets and minor Resistance bases, connected by a road in a state of disrepair with a number of abandoned cars, similar to Highway 17. Various other structures include radio stations, industrial warehouses and bridge houses can be seen, often infested with Headcrabs. Gordon and Alyx end up in the area after their train crashes, and start their journey on foot. At some point they take hold of a custom 1969 Dodge Charger which they use to reach the White Forest base.

Name
This region is never named in-game; "the Outlands" and "Outlands forest" is given in the The Orange Box Prima Guide and all the Episode Two maps start with "outland". It is possible that "White Forest" is another name for the forest, a name the White Forest base and White Forest Inn names would be based on. It is also possible that the White Forest consists only of a small part of the Outlands.

Trivia
Despite being close to City 17, the Outlands do not resemble Eastern Europe so much as the United States' Pacific Northwest region, where Valve Software is located.

List of appearances

 * Source Particle Benchmark
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two