The Escape

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

3rd August 2010

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

The Escape is a puzzle mod that requires you to escape from individual “chambers”, similar to Portal.

It’s set inside an “industrial hydroelectric” facility and requires trial and error techniques to escape.

Basic Details
  • Title: The Escape
  • File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-the-escape-half-life-world.exe
  • Size : 20.91Mb
  • Author: Half-Life World
  • Date Released: 31 July 2010
PlanetPhillip Download Servers
Installation Instructions

Simply run the executable. It’s in Portuguese but it’s easy enough to follow.
I’m hoping to receive permission to host the compressed folder.

2010 Mod Of The Year Award Nominations

None

Panoramic View

None

Gameplay Teaser Video

None

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a 800 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3 Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Reader Recommendations
Avoid It!
Think Twice
Maybe
Play It Later
Play It Now!

7 recommendations, average score: 2.14 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.41 (what's that?)
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Phillip says MaybeMaybe?Think TwiceThink TwiceThink TwiceThink TwiceAvoid It!

9 Comments

  1. Phillip says Maybe

    I had high hopes for this mod but was really disappointed. The concept is great but anybody who is going to make a puzzle should play The Trap for Half-Life 1 (English walkthrough coming in the next few days) or Research and Development for Half-Life 2: Episode Two because that’s how a real puzzle mod should be made!

    I found the puzzles more silly than “logical” and often I passed the chambers without knowing exactly what I did. I am pretty sure I cheated on a least one chamber, the underwater one.

    The elevators were quite troublesome too, which is more than a little annoying.

    There were only a few chambers that looked interesting but the Ep2 engine was never used to its potential.

    It’s hard for me to give this mod anything other than a MAYBE recommendation and I will be surprised if anybody genuinely gives it a Play It Now! recommendation.

  2. Maybe?

    This actually could still[/spoiler] be a decent puzzle mod if it stripped out the excessive “find the needle in the haystack (or in the stack of needles)” situations and scripted in better feedback for when you actually accomplished something. Half of what gave me trouble was that in some cases you not only had to loosen valves(turning in one direction), you then had to tighten them(turn them in the opposite direction that you just turned them) in order to trigger whatever was supposed to be triggered.

    First Puzzle Solutions:
    [spoiler]Start out in dark flickering lights, annoying siren sounding off. First knock filing cabinets out of the way with gravity gun, head to window, pick up crowbar, go to where square wooden crates (not long wooden crates) are, and look up at grating in ceiling, stack crates to allow access to grate, break with crowbar, climb crates up into airduct system. Break grating on opposite end of air ducts and go out through striped “ending” door.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 1/5 (not hard)
    Logic: 4/5 (things work as they are expected to and give proper feedback)
    Frustration: 4/5 (that damn siren is the most annoying sound you will ever hear)

    Second Puzzle Solutions:
    [spoiler]Keep to left and make way to opposite corner of room. Find electric box with a small green square above it marked [1] clicking on this box will cause the front panel to swing open, but no other obvious signs of being activated. Go back to starting position and continue, this time keeping to right as you head for striped “ending” door.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 2/5 (it’s only hard if you don’t notice the square and what it means)
    Logic: 5/5 (if you notice the numbered square, it becomes incredibly easy)
    Frustration: 2/5 (tedious if you don’t know what you’re looking for)

    Puzzle Three Solutions:
    [spoiler]Falling in water = instant death. You cannot jump directly across to striped “ending” door, prevented by invisible wall. Broken pipe that is in water also cannot be jumped onto(more invisible wall) Platforms that are not correct will break if you land on them, but not if you land on boxes or barrels that are on them.
    At start, head onto outcropping and jump in the same direction as outcropping to suspended platform, continue in same direction jumping to larger platform at back. Turn to right and jump to platform that is against the wall, then continue in same direction to jump to the long platform on same wall as striped “ending” door. Follow this platform past one suspended platform, then turn right and jump across to the second suspended platform next to where pipe sticks out of water. Turn left and jump across to next suspended platform, and then continue to platform that has striped “ending” door. Go through.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 3/5 (no warning that platforms will break, or that water will kill you instantly until you find out by dying, the route is simple to remember once you do though)
    Logic: 1/5 (the breakaways are bad enough, but the invisible walls are reprehensible in this setting)
    Frustration:

    Puzzle Four Solutions:
    [spoiler]Head through striped door on left. you will be in room with valves and a siren will begin sounding telling you that you have 60 seconds. Jump+duck over pipes to get into back corner of room (opposite door) and select the gray valve that is ABOVE a red valve, then select the gray valve that is BELOW a red valve. Valves will only “click” when selected and will not turn, but if done correctly, siren should shut off and grate that the ladder leads up to should be open now. Head up ladder and down hall to striped “ending” door. There is also a spot where you can see smoke escaping from a pipe, that valve can actually be turned, but it does nothing. (in actuality, you don’t even need to be that specific, apparently simply clicking at the top of this set of valves and then clicking at the bottom will activate whatever triggers are in place here)[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 4/5 (between the needle in the haystack situation and the red herring, and the lack of feedback, I’m amazed I ever figured this one out. Adding the time limit to death just makes this a pure work of frustration.
    Logic: 0/5 (nothing makes sense in this. I think this is actually a broken trigger that was put in the wrong spot from the valve that you’re actually supposed to turn)
    Frustration: 5/5 (broken triggers, red herrings, time limits to death and topped off with sirens coming back in, this level can’t get any more annoying)

    Puzzle Five Solutions:
    [spoiler]Head to blue barrel, floor will break under you and you will fall in water. continue forward and to left to red valve. Turn valve, then turn valve back. Duck under water to see second valve, turn this, and then turn it back as well. Water will drain. turn to left to look t rows of electric boxes, go all the way down to the end. select the second to last box.(the closest thing to a hint for this is two green squares numbered [2][0] next to the valves) If you select the wrong box, you will get electrocuted. This can be prevented by standing on a crate while selecting the box. Once box has been opened, head to striped “ending” door at opposite corner of room from the valves that were turned to lower the water.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 3/5 (provided you use the crates, there’s no danger at all, just more tediousness)
    Logic: 4/5 (the triggers at least work this time, and generally make sense in terms of what they accomplish, though why the valves each need turned twice makes no sense to me)
    Frustration: 2/5 (Tedious and irritating if you don’t know what to do, otherwise fairly simple)

    Puzzle Six Solutions:
    [spoiler]Walk forward through water, you will drop into a pit, and a grate will come across to trap you underwater. Jump so that you don’t sink below the grate and head to the bench/computer station on the left (the one that isn’t sending off sparks) when selected, it will open the grate back up. Swim down and turn the valve that is to the right of the green square with an arrow [->] then turn it back. If done correctly, an explosion should occur and the striped “ending” door will now open. There will be a barrier just beyond the “ending” door, but this can be jumped+ducked over.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 2/5 (I got trapped the first time, and only died because I forgot valves need turned twice in this mod for some reason)
    Logic: 3/5 (triggers work, but no real sense in why they do what they do)
    Frustration 2/5 (only frustrating if you get stuck underwater)

    Puzzle Seven Solutions:
    [spoiler]Go through blue door on right with A3 stamped on the wall next to it. Inside the room you will see electric boxes and A3, B2, C1, and D8 stamped on the wall, with green squares [2], [1][2], [2][2], and [1][0] underneath them respectively. Select the second electric box on the left, it will open, and the elevator should also open. go in and press the button (not the lever) to go up to the next floor.
    As you get off the elevator, go through the blue door on your left with B2 stamped on the wall next to it. Select the first electric box on the left, of the center cluster of boxes.([1][2] = first box of second cluster?) The elevator should now be open again. Go into it and press the button to continue up.
    When you get off, continue straight ahead and break all the crates, there will be an electric box behind them with a lambda symbol above it, select this and head back to the elevator. Press the button to continue up.
    At the next level, again, break the crates, or simply jump over them, this time a cluster of electric boxes will be behind them. Select the box with the [1][0] above it, and continue through the blue door with the D8 stamped on the wall next to it.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 2/5 (The hints don’t always make sense, but they at least exist, and there’s no real danger to the level at all)
    Logic: 3/5 (there’s logic, but it’s not consistent enough to really be useful at all)
    Frustration: 1/5 (no danger, just tediousness)

    Puzzle Eight Solutions:
    [spoiler]Go into the blue door, pick up the plug, drop plug into water to connect the circuit and start the generator. Get on elevator and press button to go up.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 0/5 (no problems at all, I originally thought there was a danger of setting the gas/water jugs on fire, but they don’t seem to do anything)
    Logic: 5/5 (this is perhaps the best puzzle that I’ve seen for this entire map, and I may even steal it for use in my own mod, once I get around to making it)
    Frustration: 0/5 (There was nothing that didn’t make sense or became tedious about this puzzle, to a certain extent it was almost too easy, but this is still the type of puzzle that the author SHOULD have been focusing on)

    Puzzle Nine Solutions:
    [spoiler]go around behind desk that radio is sitting on. Look underneath to find .357. Shoot at transformer box that is on the telephone/electric pole that is still upright. If successful, box should explode and send off a large spray of sparks. Climb up to the grating that leads to the hole in the wall and jump down into the forest. (Either use the stacked crates, or you can also climb up the downed telephone/electrical pole as well) It is possible to jump up to the grating without blowing up the transformer, but not only will it be electrified, but an invisible wall will block you from exiting through the hole in the wall.[/spoiler]
    Difficulty: 2/5 (Only dangerous if you try getting around the puzzle instead of solving it)
    Logic: 4/5 (The way the puzzle is solved makes sense, but it is not made clear that the puzzle can’t simply be bypassed)
    Frustration: 2/5 (The invisible wall was annoying. Set up as it was, you should have been able to escape without even noticing the puzzle. The other problem was how the intended target was not made to stand out significantly from other potential targets)

    Personally, I was only really satisfied with the first 2 puzzles and the last 2 puzzles, and even those needed cleaned up quite a bit. If anything, I recommend this to other potential modders if only so you can see what NOT to do when you implement puzzles in your mod. Puzzle Eight stands out from the rest as being simple, straight forward, logical, without being as obvious as just pressing a button. So this mod really does an excellent job as an example of what makes the difference between good puzzles and bad ones.

  3. Think Twice

    For puzzle lovers only in my view.
    There are 20 chapters (levels or maps really).

    Chapters 1 to 18 are puzzles only.
    I found most, not all, the puzzles required not much thought to solve.
    Rather boring, actually. No combat found.

    Chapter 19 has no puzzles
    Some combat against Metrocops and the Combine.
    Chapter 20? Find out for yourselves!

    I posted this mod on the forum as “No-Combat’. It turns out I got bored to death and stopped before getting to map 19.
    That’s plonker of the week award for Jasper then. Oh well.

    The mapping looked just fine although the chapter/level changes needed more testing.
    Some changes left me outside the new map and I had to noclip into it.

    The TT RI is for fellow combat players who might like the odd puzzle but not 18 on the trot and without combat to relieve the tedium.

    If you want to jump to chapter/level 19 you might like to know:
    Chapters 15 to 20 are locked out on the main menu and I could not unlock them in config.cfg.

    If you want to avoid the interminable puzzles and don’t know how
    [spoiler]You just need to open the console.
    map esc19 Hit the ENTER Key (see Phillip’s “How To….” if needs be).[/spoiler]

    There might be a few who do not know how to suit and arm themselves when jumping straight to map 19.
    [spoiler]Open up the console again.
    sv_cheats 1 ENTER
    give item_suit ENTER
    give weapon_crowbar ENTER
    give weapon_physcannon ENTER
    give weapon_pistol ENTER
    give weapon_357 ENTER
    That will be plenty rest assured!

    If you want to spoil yourself
    Give weapon_shotgun ENTER

    The only new ammo you get is from the dead Metrocops” pistols but it’s more than enough.[/spoiler]

    18 puzzle maps, dear me.

  4. Well, this is interesting, at the end of puzzle 9, I just had the thing black out on me, I thought that was the end of the map. I’ll have to check again and review further.

  5. Think Twice

    This was one of those mods that I was happy when it ended. Too much has already been said about a mod that was uninspired, repetitive, and untested. I like long mods and puzzle mods, but this was too long given the afore mentioned disappointments. I’m sorry that I can’t say anything good about this.

  6. Think Twice

    A bit repetitive. And the map with the switches to send the generator down a track seems to occur twice. The second time nothing happens after pulling all the switches. A bit of a waste of interweb bandwidth,in my opinion.

  7. Think Twice

    When it comes to puzzles, the modder is in desperate need of imagination. The puzzles are easily solved, intelligence not required.
    The actual maps seemed OK but a bit like one corridor after another.
    After I had finished, I was very disappointed to be honest,
    Please Mr. Mapper, go and play Research and Development. Then try again.

  8. Avoid It!

    I usually try to be forgiving on custom maps since people are learning how to craft good levels. However, this map/mod has some big problems with gameplay fundamentals. I won’t go into aesthetic issues since the problems there are obvious – repetitive props usage, generic layouts, etc.

    The most notable gameplay problem is the trial by error puzzles (that kill the player without any hints of danger). The player is given no warning that they touch a switch, or land on a certain platform they will die. At the very least, sound emitters, particle effects, etc. at least tell the player the game condition and if the player fails in the attempt solution, they blame themselves for their death, not the game designer.

    Also annoying is the long unannounced intermission between chapter 10 and 11. I only knew they was more levels but the screenshots on this webpage. On a similar note, I had no clue to what the narrative of tthese maps were expect gameplay – Who were the NPCs? What did they contribute to the story? Is it a prison? Questions naturally come up in SP levels and good designers are able to answer the primary who, what, where, and why to the player so they can immerse themselves in the game.

    Sorry if it sounds harsh but this mod needed more development time before release.

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