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 a new type of Xen alien, the Antlions.

---

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, it was discovered and attacked by hundreds of Headcrab Shells, transforming almost the entire population into deadly Zombies.

---

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 a former Black Mesa Scientist and Resistance leader, Eli Vance and Alyx.

---

This chapter details the second half 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.

---

This is the third chapter of Half-Life 2. It details the first half of Dr. Gordon Freeman’s journey to Black Mesa East through the City 17 canal network.

In this lengthy chapter, Gordon acquires his first firearm, experiences a lot of combat with Civil Protection forces and encounters alien enemies such as Barnacles, Zombies during the end and Headcrabs for the first time.

---

This is the second chapter of Half-Life 2. It mostly consists of character interaction, introduction and plot exposition, setting Gordon Freeman’s goal for the next two chapters.

Freeman finds his way to Kleiner’s lab with Alyx’s help but is not thoroughly briefed on what has happened during his stasis. Clues are present throughout the game, and really, it is up to players to fill in the gaps.

---

Half-Life 2 begins with the G-Man taking Freeman out of stasis and inserting him into a train on his way 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.

---