It adds up to probably my least favorite chapter in Episode 1. Overall the entire second half of Lowlife is a frustrating undertaking because you can’t see a damn thing. And the pathetic battery for the flashlight becomes painfully obvious in this chapter.

It feels like the game is cheating to try and spook you. It’s clear the game changes its rules a bit by reducing the amount of light that bounces off the surfaces when your flashlight is on. In contrast, I thought the very dark sections that followed the antlion battle were just cheap. I really liked the 3-level layout of the area and the open space it provides. Yes, it’s just pushing cars into the antlion holes but it’s a pretty hectic combination between combat and getting the task done. I thought the main parking area was a nifty little setpiece. I enjoyed the dilapidated parking garage and the antlion areas, but I really didn’t like the really dark areas and of course the interminable wait for the stupid elevator. This chapter is a tale of two sections for me. You can’t keep it for a magnum shot in a crab… I’ll only say that it’s here you must waste your unique allowed bullet.

An intense and stressful battle, in addition I dislike survivals. But this time enemies are in shadow and difficult to aim. The final battle at the elevator reminds me the end of Entanglement. Half-Life 2: Episode One (originally Half-Life 2: Aftermath) is the first in a series of three episodes charting the aftermath of the events in Half-Life 2.Episode One takes place in and around City 17, and it's only at the end of the episode where you finally leave City 17 for the first time a journey which continues in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It is necessary to fight while blocking holes and looking after Alyx, a real challenge. Then it is not always easy to block them, or even to find them. In the underground parking I didn’t understand easily that it was necessary to block hole with cars. In this place also discover that Antlions have invested City 17. Then we go across seedy tunnels filled with zombies, that remind me of Sandtraps. On an other hand, it’s not surprising after the train sequence. Contrary to HL2 where she was always strong, we see that she is a bit lost due to recent events. Lowlife starts on a sequence that increase the credibility of Alyx character.

The Replay Experience Experiment aka TREE.

Half-Life 2: Episode One: Lowlife | RTSL Menu

Halflife 2 episode one walkthrough