Half-Life 2 storyline

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

Setting
The original Half-Life took place at the Black Mesa Research Facility. During an experiment, researchers at Black Mesa accidentally caused a Resonance Cascade which ripped open a portal to the alien world Xen. Creatures from Xen flooded into Black Mesa via the portal and started killing everyone in sight. The player took on the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman, one of the research scientists who had been involved in the accident, and who now must escape the facility.

At the end of the game, a mysterious figure referred to by some as the G-Man extracts Gordon from Black Mesa and "offers" him employment, with an option to die immediately. Forced to agree, Gordon is subsequently put into stasis.

Point Insertion


Half-Life 2 begins with the G-Man taking Freeman out of stasis and inserting him into a train en route to City 17 somewhere in Eastern Europe, about twenty years after the Black Mesa incident. Official sources differ on the actual length of this intermission. A story fragment written by Marc Laidlaw for the development team puts the intermission at ten years, while Half-Life 2: Episode One's website puts this intermission as "nearly two decades" after the end of the events of Half-Life. While Episode One is the more recent source, "twenty years" is probably the more accurate figure since in-game references like the picture of the Vance family in Eli's lab portray Alyx as a small child, no older than 5 years of age.

This is the first chapter of Half-Life 2. It serves as both an introduction to City 17 and the game world itself. Here, the player begins to learn the events that took place during the 20 years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and what the Earth has become in the intervening time period. The player is also given glimpses of levels and events to come as the G-Man is talking in the introduction cut-scene, in effect almost telling the whole story.

Dr. Gordon Freeman, who hasn't aged a day since he disappeared after the Black Mesa incident, appears on a train heading to City 17. On the train, a couple of citizens mope about city life and the process of being transferred to City 17. Arriving there, Gordon comes across surly, armed police officers known as Civil Protection, and is greeted by the image of Dr. Wallace Breen, former administrator of Black Mesa, who is broadcasting a message on a large screen, welcoming the new citizens to City 17. Gordon is ordered away from the rest of the citizens, into a small interrogation room, in which he meets former Black Mesa security guard Barney Calhoun, who is now undercover as a Civil Protection officer. He contacts Dr. Isaac Kleiner, who greets Gordon warmly. After a bit of discussion they decide to send Gordon over to Kleiner's Lab, though he must find his own way there as Barney cannot abandon his post without raising Civil Protection's suspicions. Along the way, Gordon finds himself right in the middle of a CP raid on a tenement house, barely escaping with his life, and being rescued from certain death by a young woman named Alyx Vance.

"A Red Letter Day"
This is the second chapter of Half-Life 2. It mostly consists of character interaction and introduction and plot exposition, and sets Gordon Freeman's goal for the next two chapters.

Freeman finds his way to Kleiner's lab with Alyx's help and is briefed on what has happened during his stasis. A powerful alien race known as the Combine were drawn to Earth by the energy released by the resonance cascade, and completely defeated all military force in a mere seven hours. Now they have practically enslaved all of humanity, going so far as to set up devices to generate a field that makes reproduction impossible. Dr. Breen is a collaborator who serves the Combine as the puppet ruler of the Earth from the towering Citadel at the heart of City 17, in exchange for a comfortable life. Kleiner, Alyx, and Barney are all members of an underground resistance movement dedicated to freeing humanity from the Combine's grip. It is decided that Gordon and Alyx should be teleported to the laboratory where Alyx's father, Dr. Eli Vance, is heading the resistance's scientific research operations. After meeting Kleiner's pet headcrab, Lamarr, Gordon receives the Mark V HEV Suit that saved his life so many times during the Black Mesa incident, Alyx is teleported to Black Mesa East successfully. When trying to teleport Gordon however, Lamarr leaps onto Gordon, causing the machine to malfunction and teleport him to various random places, including a desert, the middle of the ocean (where he is very nearly eaten by an Ichthyosaur), and even Breen's office in the Citadel. Finally, ending up outside the lab where he started, Gordon is forced to make the trek to Black Mesa East by himself. Before he leaves, Barney gives him the infamous crowbar Freeman used at Black Mesa, telling him that he will travel on foot through the extensive canal system of City 17 to get to Black Mesa East.

Trivia

 * If the player were to cheat and start the game with HEV suit and all weapons, this chapter will not work. Dr Kleiner, Alyx and Barney just stand around waiting forever for Gordon to put on the hazard suit. Also, if the player enters Kleiner's lab without the HEV suit and takes it from the lab before he is supposed to, when Gordon gets in the teleport chamber, Alyx will not come and will ask Gordon to come, instead of she coming.
 * If the player kills Lamarr before she jumps up onto the platform, Dr. Kleiner will carry on talking to Lamarr as if she was still there. Also, During the teleport sequence, if the player had any weapon it is actually possible to kill Dr. Breen while he's speaking to Gordon, leaving the player unable to advance to the other maps.
 * It is possible to move during the teleportation sequence, albeit very slowly,
 * After Gordon's teleportation attempt, it is not possible to explore Dr. Breen's office using noclip. Any attempt to enter will land the player back outside the lab.
 * As soon as Barney has walked away from the CCTV cameras, if the  key is pressed next to the screen, the G-Man can be seen briefly.

Route Kanal
This is the third chapter of Half-Life 2. It details the first leg of Dr. Gordon Freeman's journey to Black Mesa East through the City 17 canal network. In this lengthy chapter, the player acquires their first firearm, experience a lot of combat with Civil Protection forces and encounters alien enemies such as Barnacles and headcrabs for the first time.

Water Hazard
This is the fourth chapter of Half-Life 2. It details the second leg of Dr. Gordon Freeman's escape from City 17 through its canal system to Black Mesa East. Aboard an airboat, he fights off numerous Civil Protection units and a Hunter Chopper.

Trivia
During the first few moments aboard the airboat, the player can see the G-Man on the ledge of a nearby barn. When the player approaches, the G-Man retreats into the barn. Closer inspection reveals only a few headcrab zombies. It is also possible to see him a couple of times more, after the airboat is equipped with a Hunter Chopper's gun.

Black Mesa East


This is the fifth chapter of Half-Life 2. This chapter sees Freeman reaching his destination, Black Mesa East, after a series of chases through the canals. Gordon meets Dr. Judith Mossman for the first time, and is reunited with former Black Mesa scientist and Resistance leader Dr. Eli Vance. Gordon is also introduced to the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, also known as the 'Gravity Gun', a physics manipulator that very quickly becomes indispensable, and DOG, Alyx's robotic "pet". Like "A Red Letter Day", this chapter is full of insight and dialogue about the current state of the world, the people in it, and the aftermath of the Black Mesa incident. While playing with Alyx and DOG behind the lab, Freeman witnesses Combine soldiers beginning a raid on the lab, and while attempting to rejoin the others, is separated from them by a collapsed ceiling, and forced to escape down a tunnel to Ravenholm, a city that Alyx didn't want to talk about earlier, showing obvious discomfort at the thought.

"We Don't Go To Ravenholm..."
This is the sixth chapter of Half-Life 2. It details Gordon Freeman's journey through the ghost town of Ravenholm. Originally a hidden village that lived free from the rule of the Combine, when it was discovered it was bombarded by hundreds of Headcrab Shells, transforming almost the entire population into deadly Zombies. This chapter also introduces two new headcrab variants - the Poison Headcrab and the Fast Headcrab - and their zombie counterparts. The title is a reference to a comment made by Alyx Vance in the preceding chapter while showing Freeman around the base: "That's the old passage to Ravenholm, We don´t go there anymore". Freeman kills zombies and avoids bizarre deathtraps, and meets the man who set them, one of the last survivors of Ravenholm, Father Grigori, who gives Gordon a shotgun. Freeman and Grigori make their way to an old mine which has a path that leads back to City 17, but Grigori stays behind to fight zombies, and he continues to do so until the crypt behind him bursts and many more zombies come out from it, he continues to shoot zombies for a while until he runs through a blazing fire into the crypt. If the player is to run to the entrance to the mine and then go back, Grigori is still there, forever battling the hordes of zombies.

Highway 17
This is the seventh chapter of Half-Life 2. Freeman is informed that Eli Vance has been taken to Nova Prospekt and sets out on a journey along Highway 17 to rescue him. The player encounters Combine Soldiers for the first time as well as the deadly Antlions. The eccentric Odessa Cubbage is also met in this level, giving Gordon the valuable RPG.

Sandtraps
This is the eighth chapter of Half-Life 2. It details the second half of Gordon Freeman's journey to Nova Prospekt. After crossing through the last leg of the coast without the Scout Car, he encounters the first Antlion Guard of the game and is trained in usage of the pheropods. He then continues to the final part of the coast, where he battles many Nova Prospekt guards on his way into the prison. This level is noteworthy, since in the final stages of it, Antlions become allies to the player.

Nova Prospekt
This is the ninth chapter of Half-Life 2. In this chapter, Gordon Freeman attacks Nova Prospekt, a Combine stronghold and prison to the unluckiest of Citizens, and breaches its defenses with the help of an army of Antlions, with the goal of finding and rescuing the captured Resistance leader, Eli Vance. This is also the last chapter where Antlions are encountered, because the player soon leaves Antlion Territory.

Entanglement
This is the "ninth a" chapter (designated "9a" in the game) of Half-Life 2. In it, Gordon Freeman meets up with Alyx Vance in the Nova Prospekt train depot. They then discover that Dr. Mossman was actually a Combine spy working on behalf of Breen. Together, they search the complex for Eli Vance and Judith Mossman, all the while fighting off security forces. Eventually, they find both though the reunion is short. Mossman teleports herself and Eli out of the facility, forcing Alyx and Gordon to take the risk in using the same teleporter to get back to Kleiner's lab.

Trivia

 * There are no more Antlions for the rest of the game, rendering the Bugbait useless, except for stunning Combine troops for a brief period.

Anticitizen One
This is the tenth chapter of Half-Life 2. In it, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, having been stuck in a teleport 'loop' for a week's time, return to City 17 to find that the destruction of Nova Prospekt has triggered the uprising against the Combine by the Resistance. The player is able to form small squads of citizens to help as they fight their way through the city towards Barney's location. Near the end of the chapter, Alyx is captured by Combine soldiers and taken to the Citadel.

"Follow Freeman!"
This is the eleventh chapter of Half-Life 2. In it, Gordon Freeman links up with Barney Calhoun, and together they lead a battle on the Overwatch Nexus, and then fight to the foot of the Citadel. This section involves heavy urban combat, aided by resistance members, against Striders, Gunships, and elite Combine Soldiers.

Our Benefactors
This is the twelfth chapter of Half-Life 2. It details Gordon Freeman's infiltration of the Combine Citadel. Again, like "Black Mesa East" and "A Red Letter Day", this chapter is mainly an expansive and in depth player controlled cut-scene. It is also a playground for the newly charged Gravity Gun, having many Combine Soldiers and Elites to kill.

Dark Energy
This is the thirteenth and final chapter of Half-Life 2. It details the climactic confrontation between Wallace Breen, Gordon Freeman and the leaders of the Resistance. Mossman eventually regrets ever helping Breen, who- in a desperate attempt to flee- heads for the Dark Energy Reactor at the very top of the Citadel where a portal to the Combine Overworld is to be open for him. In the end, Gordon causes the reactor to fail and begin to go critical. Gordon is taken back into stasis by the G-Man at the last moment, just as the Dark Energy reactor atop the Citadel is about to explode. The fate of Breen and Alyx is unknown at the ending of this game.

Narrative
Like in its predecessors, Gordon never speaks and the player views the action through his eyes only throughout the entirety of Half-Life 2. There are no cut scenes, nor are there any discontinuities or jumps in time from the player's point of view. Some have criticized these design decisions as narrative holdovers from Half-Life, that effectively limit how much of the backstory is explained. Due to the lack of cut scenes, the player never directly sees what happens in Gordon's absence.

Ultimately, it is not clear to what extent Gordon exists as a separate character outside of the player's influence. Since the start of Half-Life, Valve has made sure that the player's and Gordon's experience are one and the same. An example of Valve's player strategy is shown during the scene in Eli's lab. Investigation of certain props (most notably the newspaper board) triggers Eli to give some explanation to their meaning and history, thus indicating that Gordon presents emotions (or dialogue) that the non-player characters can detect but the player cannot.

The ending of Half-Life 2 is also very similar to that of the original: after completing a difficult task against seemingly impossible odds, Gordon is extracted from reality by the G-Man. Gordon is smugly congratulated and told that "further assignments" should follow. The fates of many of the major characters, such as Alyx, Eli, and Judith, are left unexplored. Very few of the questions raised by Half-Life are answered, and several new ones are presented. The identity and nature of the G-Man remains a mystery. A number of these issues are addressed, however, in the sequel games, Episode One and Episode Two.