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Leaving the train, the two proceed on foot through an underground transportation system and the city streets, fighting past disorganized Combine forces and rampant Xen wildlife. Near a Combine-held train station, Freeman and Alyx reunite with Barney Calhoun (Michael Shapiro), who is planning to use the station to evacuate refugees from the city. Freeman and Alyx escort the refugees to the station, eliminating the Combine forces there. The two take a different train out of City 17, escaping just as the reactor detonates, which delivers the Combine transmission. As several pods containing Combine Advisors flee the Citadel, the explosion's shockwave derails the train.

In April 2005, Valve announced Episode One under the working title Aftermath.[15] The title Episode One was announced in February 2006.[16] In May, Valve announced that Episode One would be the first in a trilogy of episodic games to be released over the following two years.[14] Newell said he considered the trilogy the equivalent of Half-Life 3.[17] According to Newell, whereas the original Half-Life (1998) saw the G-Man transform Freeman into his tool, and Half-Life 2 saw Freeman being used by G-Man, the episodes would see G-Man lose control.[17]

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While the plots and dialogue of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were written solely by Marc Laidlaw, the Half-Life 2 episodes were written by Laidlaw and the new employees Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw.[18] Valve's focus was character development, particularly that of Gordon's companion Alyx, who accompanies the player for most of Episode One.[19] Walker said: "It's kind of ironic that despite so much of the theme of Half-Life 2 being about other characters and other people, you spent most of the game alone."[20]

Response to Episode One was generally positive. Reviewers it for having more intricate, well paced gameplay than Half-Life 2.[12][25] The game's interactivity, particularly in the form of Alyx and her reactions to the player's actions and the events of the game, was also singled out for praise.[34] PC Gamer commented that "while this inaugural episode may not be the essential FPS that Half-Life 2 is, I can't imagine any shooter fan who'd want to miss it."[35] PC Gamer directed particular praise to the balance between puzzle-oriented and action-oriented challenges throughout the game.[7]

Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first of a planned trilogy[1] of expansion packs/episodes for the 2004 first-person shooter game, Half-Life 2. The episode takes place immediately after the end of Half-Life 2, in the war-torn setting of City 17. The player is forced to deal with the effects of their actions during the main game. The episode is a stand-alone game; while a continuation of Half-Life 2, it does not require the original game to be installed or registered to a user's Steam account to play. It takes advantage of several major upgrades to the Source engine since the release of Half-Life 2, primarily its high dynamic range rendering capabilities and the upgraded facial animation system.

Episode One's focus is on character development, in particular that of Gordon's female sidekick and friend Alyx Vance, to the extent that she accompanies the player for virtually the entire game:[2] "It's kind of ironic that despite so much of the theme of Half-Life 2 being about other characters and other people, you spent most of the game alone," project lead Robin Walker said in the episode's announcement article in PC Gamer UK.

The renaming of Aftermath to Episode One[3] was an indication of Valve's confidence with their episodic structure, an implication confirmed in February[4] and May[5] of 2006, with news of a trilogy of episodes covering the present story arc. While the plots and dialogue of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were written solely by Valve's in-house writer Marc Laidlaw, the "Half-Life 2 Episodes" are collaboratively written by Laidlaw, Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw with Laidlaw retaining overall leadership of the group.[6]

In May 2006, Valve announced a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the Half-Life 2 story, with the final episode planned for release by Christmas 2007.[31] Valve's president, Gabe Newell, said the approach would allow Valve to release products more quickly after the six-year Half-Life 2 development, and that he considered the trilogy the equivalent of Half-Life 3.[32] According to Newell, where Half-Life saw the G-Man transform Freeman into his tool, and Half-Life 2 saw Freeman being used by G-Man, the episodes would see G-Man lose control.[32]

The designer Robin Walker said Valve used Half-Life games to "solve some interesting collision of technology and art that had reared itself".[70] For the original Half-Life, they expanded the role of narrative in FPS games; for Half-Life 2, they explored characters and physics systems, and refined these ideas in the Half-Life 2 episodes.[70] Valve made several attempts to develop further Half-Life games, but could not settle on a direction and its flat management structure made it difficult for projects to gather momentum.[71] Walker said Valve failed to find a unifying idea that provided a sense of "wonderment, or opening, or expansion".[72]

Few companies tease its customers as well as Valve. 1998's Half-Life ended on an intriguing note, with series hero Gordon Freeman basically being "recruited" by the mysterious G-Man to work for him as a dimension-hopping commando. But fans were really caught off guard by the ending of 2004's Half-Life 2, as Gordon and ally Alyx Vance were caught in a massive explosion. Rather than have us wait years and years for the outcome of that cliff-hanger, Valve has taken the series into episodic territory to get us answers more quickly. Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a new trilogy of episodes that are scheduled to be released over the course of the next year. (You don't need to own Half-Life 2 to play Episode One, as it's a stand-alone product, though it would definitely help if you did.) And Episode One is a memorable romp through the Half-Life universe, with gameplay that's even more satisfying than that of Half-Life 2. The only downside is that, due to its episodic nature, it's over far too soon.

Unfortunately, Valve's storytelling remains about as cryptic as ever. The episode starts off on a wrong note, as there's an incredible cop-out to explain how Gordon and Alyx survive the explosion and how the G-Man gets knocked out of the picture, but it gets a lot better after that. Rest assured, answers are finally given, but keep in mind that new questions are raised, as well. Episode One is about the escape from City 17. Though the quisling Dr. Breen was defeated in Half-Life 2, the Combine remain on Earth, cut off from their alien dimension. Now, with the Citadel reactor on overload, it's a battle to escape the ruins of the gutted Citadel and the city itself. Of course, that's easier said than done, and you'll once again be plunged along a tightly controlled and highly scripted ride filled with a fair share of ups and downs.

There's a wonderful new team dynamic at work in Episode One, thanks to the fact that Alyx battles alongside you throughout most of the episode. After playing on your own throughout Half-Life and Half-Life 2, it's refreshing to have a companion by your side, and Valve takes advantage of this by throwing you into situations where you must rely on teamwork to survive. Alyx is a capable assistant (perhaps almost too capable, since it's pretty tough to kill her off, and she seemingly has unlimited ammo), and she's often the difference between victory and defeat in many encounters, as she'll cover your back while you're busy trying to sort out the puzzle.

This sense of familiarity has its downsides, as well. For instance, though extremely well done, the environments of the Citadel and City 17 were already explored in Half-Life 2, so you may find yourself encountering moments of deja vu as you battle through the episode. Your arsenal of weapons also remains unchanged. The versatile gravity gun gets heavy use through the episode, and it's invaluable to solving the many environmental puzzles in the game, but other than that, you're packing the same assortment of pistols, rifles, and grenades as before. It's also worth noting that there are no vehicle sequences in Episode One. That's not exactly a bad thing, though, as the vehicle sequences in Half-Life 2 felt fairly linear and dragged on for too long.

In terms of opponents, you do get glimpses of challenging new foes that are coming up in future episodes, but for the most part, the enemies remain the same from Half-Life 2, including the head crabs, zombies, Combine soldiers, striders, and so on. The Combine troops do seem to have some new abilities, such as the ability to rappel down buildings right in front of you. They're also a bit smarter, as they seemed to utilize cover better than they did in Half-Life 2, but you don't really get the sense of squad coordination that was seen in the original Half-Life. The only memorable new opponent is the zombine, a Combine zombie, and these guys quickly become your first target when they appear on the scene, thanks to the fact that their favored tactic is to charge you with a live grenade in hand.

None of those games, though, are the promised finale to the "Half-Life" series. It's been nearly 10 years since the last installment in the series, "Half-Life 2: Episode 2," arrived. A promised third episode never came, and Valve eventually stopped answering questions about the franchise.

Episode Two kicks off with Gordon Freeman climbing out of the twisted metal of a smoking train wreck. Is that a metaphor for Episode One? It's been both fun and slightly disappointing to rib Valve for the way in which its bold episodic experiment 'hit the buffers' as soon as it began in May of last year. 'Fun' in that it's oh-so-typical of Valve to be so far off with its release date predictions for the follow-up again that you can't help but give them a cheeky wink every time a new date emerges. It's disappointing because, well, we really wanted to believe that they could do what no other FPS developer had ever done and turn out three episodes of a triple-A game in the space of a year, as was the original plan. ff782bc1db