Standalone expansion

Half-Life 2: Episode One

01 Jun 2006

Linux PC (Microsoft Windows) PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Mac
Add to wishlist
8.7 rating
471 want
2791 played
65 playing
67 reviews
Developer
Valve
Developer
Valve
Publisher
EA Games
Valve

Tags

Time to beat

Main story icon

Main story

3h 44m
Main story and extras icon

Main story + extras

4h 36m
100% completion icon

100% completion

5h
Based on 48 answers
Summary

Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first of a planned trilogy 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 was released together with Half-Life Deathmatch: Source, a port of the original Half-Life's multiplayer, which doubles as Episode One's multiplayer component. The retail copies of Episode One also come with Half-Life 2 Deathmatch for those who have not previously purchased the later title.

slide 1 to 4 of 5
Half Life 2 Episode 1 is the first expansion and epilogue of Half-life 2. The naming structure of this DLC is kind of weird because I used to think Half-life 2 was just divided into 2 parts.

The story continues after the cliffhanger of HL2 and while there is a good 3 hours of story here, the story does not develop too much. Much of the story of episode 1 consists of running away from the combine and not much else.

Gameplay wise, there is nothing new here. It literally just feels like a straight continuation of the main game, which is disappointing considering they had the time to add more ideas between this DLC and the main game. Locations and assets are reused 90% of the time.

The final section where you needed to escorts civilians was probably one of the worst moments in the whole Half-life franchise and really hurt my enjoyment of this DLC.

If you like HL2, you will like episode 1 of the DLC. It is more of the same. Just don't expect anything new.
More
02 Jan 2024
I loved this continued story as well, great one.
08 Feb 2023
It's a great game, but it felt weird after playing hl2, it wasn't something i expected and it felt like nothing new, its just you and alyx escaping from city 17 and thats it. nonetheless it was still a great experience, hopefully episode 2 will be much better.
14 Feb 2024
+Commenters mode
+Great Action

-Alix AI made me replay a entire level (she stuck in a room)
- repetitive level objectives (run across the whole floor to open the door for Alyx)
17 Dec 2024
The weaker of the two new episodes. It is still Half Life 2, so it's great, but I find myself forgetting large swaths of this game from time to time.

Also that strider segment at the end just isn't very fun.
14 Dec 2024
Played: 3 hours 33 minutes
Level: Hard
Platform: Xbox360
31 Aug 2024
Load more