Half-Life 2

In 1998, Half-Life shocked the game industry with its mix of intense action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Now, Half-Life 2 builds on the suspense, challenge, and visceral impact of the original while adding new realism and responsiveness. It opens the door to a world where your presence affects everything around you—from the physical environment to the behavior and emotions of both allies and enemies.

Gordon Freeman is pulled out of stasis by the G-Man and placed aboard a train arriving in City 17. After reaching the station and evading Combine forces, Gordon links up with Lambda resistance members, including Barney Calhoun—a former Black Mesa security guard now working undercover as a Combine Civil Protection officer—and Alyx Vance, daughter of Dr. Eli Vance, one of Gordon’s former colleagues. An attempt to teleport Gordon to Black Mesa East from Dr. Kleiner’s improvised lab fails, and Gordon—re-equipped with the HEV suit and his crowbar—must travel on foot through the city’s old canal system. After acquiring an airboat, he fights his way to Black Mesa East, several miles outside City 17. At Black Mesa East, Gordon reunites with Eli and meets Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx introduces him to her large pet robot, D0g, and gives him the Gravity Gun, a weapon that lets Gordon lift and move large objects with ease. Soon after, Combine forces attack Black Mesa East and capture Eli and Mossman, taking them to the Combine prison Nova Prospekt. Gordon and Alyx split up to reach Nova Prospekt; Gordon detours through Ravenholm, aided by the town’s last survivor, Father Grigori. After fighting through Ravenholm and a mine, Gordon reaches a Resistance outpost and receives a dune buggy to drive along a crumbling coastal road toward Nova Prospekt. Along the way, he repeatedly clashes with Combine patrols and helps Resistance leader Colonel Odessa Cubbage defend a base from a Combine gunship. Crossing an antlion-infested beach, Gordon enters Nova Prospekt and reunites with Alyx. They find Eli, but also uncover that Mossman is a Combine informant. Before they can stop her, she teleports herself and Eli to the Citadel in City 17. As Gordon and Alyx use the Combine teleporter to escape, it explodes. Back at Kleiner’s lab, a shaken Dr. Kleiner explains they were caught in a “slow teleport” and that a week passed while they were gone. During that time, news of Nova Prospekt galvanized the Resistance, turning City 17 into a battleground. Amid the fighting, the Combine capture Alyx and take her to the Citadel. Gordon battles through the city with help from D0g and Barney to reach the tower. Inside, he is placed in a Combine confiscation chamber that destroys all his weapons except the Gravity Gun. The chamber’s energy supercharges it, enabling Gordon to fight his way through platoons of Combine soldiers. Eventually, Gordon is captured in a Combine transport pod and brought to Dr. Breen’s office, where Breen and Dr. Mossman hold Eli and Alyx prisoner. Breen begins outlining the Combine’s plans for further conquest of humanity—contradicting what he had previously told Mossman. Enraged, Mossman frees Gordon, Alyx, and Eli before Breen teleports them off-world. Breen attempts to escape through a portal, but Gordon pursues him and destroys the portal reactor with the supercharged Gravity Gun. Breen appears to be annihilated in the resulting explosion. Just as Gordon and Alyx seem destined for the same fate, time freezes. The G-Man returns, commends Gordon for his actions in City 17 and the Citadel, makes vague reference to “offers” for Gordon’s services, and places him back into stasis.