Achievement Breakdown: (13)
Story Related: (5)
Missable: (1)
Secondary Objectives: (2)
Slay: (5)

All Achievements of Half Life 2 – Episode #1 can be earned in a single playthrough. The main Achievement we will be working towards is The One Free Bullet Achievement. The only weapons we are allowed to use are: the Crowbar, Gravity Gun, Grenades, & Rockets. While we are able to fire a single bullet, it is required to progress through the game by shooting a padlock.


Half Life 2 has now been merged with Half Life 2 Episodes 1 & 2. If you owned the separate copies of the Episodes, they will no longer be visible in your Library however they can still be found in the Tools tab of it; your Achievement progress for those games will remain intact as well & can still be earned separately.

For those interested, here is an organized list of all the Achievements/Secret Achievements. This is how I derive my Achievement Breakdowns & the first reference I create before I begin my 100% journeys.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3378873640

*This guide contains major spoilers.

1. Episode #1: Undue Alarm, Direct Intervention, Low Life
2. Achievements: 6/13
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There is no Achievement associated with Difficulty, so playing on Easy will really make things simpler for you.

As soon as the Episode begins, we will find ourselves outside the Citadel in the aftermath of the dark energy singularity.

Supercharged Gravity Gun: Armed with only the Gravity, get yourself back inside the Citadel with the help of Dog & Alyx. As we navigate through the Citadel with Alyx, we will re-acquire the Supercharged Gravity Gun when we get trapped in another Confiscation Field.

Overwatch Elites: Shortly after collecting the Supercharged Gravity Gun, we will begin encountering enemies. Amongst them, will be the Overwatch Elites, who are the Combine Soldiers in white armor with a red eye in the center of their helmets; they look like Aperture Turrets from Portal…

The Overwatch Elites have the ability to fire Energy Balls out of their AR2 Pulse Rifles. For the Think Fast! Achievement we need to catch a fired Energy Ball & kill the soldier who shot it. As well, for the Conservationist Achievement we also need to kill 5 enemies with a single Energy Ball. Keep these Achievements in mind as we play, & look for good opportunities; I have two good spots mentioned in the guide in case you do not find any yourself…


Achievement #1 – Watch Your Head!: Make it to the bottom of the Citadel’s main elevator shaft in one piece.
Story Related. Eventually you & Alyx will step onto a glass elevator & it will slowly begin descending the Citadel. As we descend, pieces of rubble will fall from above & begin breaking the elevator; knock the rubble out of the air with the Gravity Gun.

Get off the elevator safely at the bottom, & we will unlock this Achievement.

At the bottom of the elevator, pass through the blast shield doors into the next area to enter Chapter #2…


Achievement #2 – Think Fast!: Kill an Elite Soldier with his own Energy Ball.
As soon as this Chapter begins, you will exit through the blast doors into a narrow hall. Save here in case you mess up! Shortly after leaving the doorway, some Overwatch Elites will round the corner & attack us; there is a very high chance one will launch an Energy Ball at you right away. When they do, pay attention to who shot it, grab the ball, & launch it back at them for the Achievement.

The Citadel Core: Alyx will soon summon an elevator that will take us down into the Citadel Core. From here on, we cannot kill any Stalkers we come across for the Pacifist Achievement. Stalkers are very annoying & will impede us.; always pay attention where you fire your Energy Balls in case you accidentally kill one. I recommend Quick Saving every time you get across a bridge, so you do not have to redo it if you fall…


Achievement #3 – Conservationist: Kill 5 enemies with the same Energy Ball.
Solve the Hard Light Bridge puzzle with the two Stalkers, then climb up a ladder in the center of the Citadel Core to get up to the next level. Cross over the small Hard Light Bridge then make a Quick Save on the other side in case you mess up this next part.

Follow the path left & grab an Energy Ball before entering a narrow hallway up ahead. When you enter, a group of 5 Combine Soldiers will charge out at you. Hold position in the hall for a second so they all bunch up in front of us in the hall then launch the Energy Ball into them to get the Achievement. If you mess up, reload your Save & try again…


Achievement #4 – Containment: Contain the Citadel Core.
Story Related. Re-activate the three dark energy stabilizers & you will have successfully mitigated the Citadel’s imminent destruction.


Achievement #5 – Pacifist: Contain the Citadel Core without killing any Stalkers.
If you did not kill either of the two Stalkers in the first section of the Citadel Core you will unlock this Achievement as well.

Escape the Citadel with Alyx onboard the Stalker freighter; exit the freighter once it stops to enter Chapter #3.

The One Bullet: After we pass through an air duct to find a way to power a locked door, we will drop down into a room with a gate locked by a padlock. In this same room, we can collect the Shotgun & Pistol; shoot the padlock firing only a single shot from the Pistol.

From here on, we cannot use our guns at all! For the entire rest of the game, we can only use the: Gravity Gun, Crowbar, Frag Grenades, or the Rocket Launcher.

Flares: While we are in this underground area, we will encounter Flares. When they are picked up with the Gravity Gun, they will ignite. For the Zombie-que Achievement, we need to use Flares to light 15 Zombies on fire! Whenever you see Flares & Zombies… use them; you can use the same Flare to ignite multiple Zombies as well!


Achievement #6 – Car Crusher: Use the cars to squash 15 Antlions in Episode One.
Continue through the underpass tunnels & eventually you will reach a section where you must turn a wheel to open a garage door. In this room will be a pit that infinitely spawns Antlions; you must use a car to cover it. Before covering it, use the Gravity Gun to bounce the car into the Antlions. There will be a number of other pits we can use throughout the rest of the Episode, or you can just farm 15 kills right here for the Achievement.

1. Episode #1: Lowlife, Urban Flight, Exit 17
2. Achievements: 13/13
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Achievement #7 – Zombie-que: Use Flares to light 15 Zombies on fire.
This Achievement can potentially cause you problems if you do not make a point of working towards it as soon as possible. After getting through the Antlion section, eventually you will reach a section where you will have to wait for an elevator to arrive. During this time, waves of Zombies will begin attacking us.

If you were lucky, you may have lit some Zombies on fire earlier with the few Flares we may have come across. Make a Save just before summoning the elevator in case you have to reload your game for more kills...

1. There are two Flares right in front of the elevator
2. One Flare is in the far-right corner near where you first entered this room.
3. There are two Flares a little ways down the left side behind a square chain link fence.
4. Another Flare can be found in a padlocked chain link fence enclosure; use an explosion to destroy the padlock.
5. The last Flare will be in the same room as where you find the elevator control box.


Achievement #8 – Elevator Action: Survive long enough to get on the parking garage elevator.
Story Related. This will unlock after you enter the elevator & begin making your way up to the next Chapter.

This Chapter will begin as soon as we exit the elevator we took from the Zombie infested tunnels…


Achievement #9 – Live Bait: Help Alyx snipe 30 enemies in Episode One.
Progress through the Chapter until you encounter a Combine Sniper in the streets. Dispatch them, then Alyx will climb up to their position & equip their Sniper Rifle. This is a pretty easy Achievement if you are going for The One Free Bullet Achievement; simply just let Alyx kill all the enemies you come across with the Sniper Rifle, & the Achievement will unlock.

In the second street area, there is an Antlion spawn pit you can farm the Achievement for if you are worried about missing it.

Antlion Guard: After Alyx is done sniping, we will pass through a Combine blockade before we exit back outside… where an Antlion Guard will be ravaging some Combine Soldiers. This fight is much more difficult with only the Gravity Gun.

Keep the Combine Soldiers alive if you can to distract/damage the Guard, & focus on locating & launching all Explosive Barrels in the area.


Achievement #10 – Attica!: Destroy the Gunship in the hospital attic.
Story Related. Fight through the rest of City 17 until you can link with Barney & more survivors. Get up to the roof of a hospital, & use Rockets to destroy a Combine Gunship that is harassing us to unlock the Achievement.

Fight through the rest of the infested hospital, & exit out at the train station to enter the final Chapter…


Achievement #11 – Citizen Escort: Don’t let any Citizens die when escorting them to the escape train.
When the Chapter begins, we will have to ferry 14 Citizens across an area & get them safely to the train evac. You will be pestered by Combine the entire way; Save after each successful trip.

Keep an eye on your squad when you are taking Citizens over. If you lose any, reload your last Save. It is easiest to try & sprint through a lot of this but be careful. Use the Rocket Launcher to quickly dispatch any Combine Soldiers in your way. Clear the area of Hopper Mines or Combine Snipers before grabbing your next set of Civilians.

There will be 5 different sets you have to ferry; the final one will have Barney in it. When Barney reaches the exit & you have not lost a single Civilian, the Achievement will unlock.


Achievement #12 – Escape From City 17: Escape City 17 with Alyx.
Story Related. When the Civilians & Barney have escaped, you & Alyx will need to find your own train. Before we can, we will need to defeat a Strider in the trainyard by working our way up to the top to collect Rockets.

Take out the Strider, & successfully escape City 17 with Alyx before the Citadel explodes to complete Episode #1 & unlock this Achievement.


Achievement #13 – The One Free Bullet: Finish the game firing exactly one bullet. Grenade, Crowbar, Rocket, & Gravity Gun kills are okay!
This Achievement will unlock at the same time as the last Achievement if you have met the perquisites. Overall, it is not too difficult, there are only a few sections that can prove challenging, but mostly just when you are being corned by enemies. Save often.

Definitely shorter than Half Life 2 was. You can probably beat this Episode all in one sitting, it only took me 3 hours to beat it on Easy Difficulty.

If this guide helped you achieve 100%, rate the guide or let me know in the comments. Helps me know if I am doing things right!



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