The Leaked Half-Life 2: Episode Two Beta

In March of 2017, an unknown person

leaked some of the original map files

for the HalfLife 2 episodes. Valve seems

to be okay with Halfife 2 beta content.

So, I will use this opportunity to take

a look at the 2017 leak and give you a

better insight into how the episode 2

maps evolved during development.

Originally, episode 2 was supposed to

start at the end of episode 1, where the

player would see the destruction of the

Citadel again. What is interesting is

that the citadel has a completely

different model and actually explodes

instead of just slowly fading out of

your view. Now, before starting with the

first level, let me give you a quick

recap of what happens in the final

version of the first map of episode 2.

We wake up in a train, find Alex, look

at City 17's destruction vista, watch a

bridge get destroyed, shoot some

zombies, solve a puzzle, talk with the

gang, watch Alex get killed by a hunter,

then a Vortigon shows up to save her,

and then we fall down an elevator.

Believe it or not, some of these

concepts were already set in stone 18

months before the release. The leak has

10 different development versions of

Outlander 1, with the earliest one,

trailer map one, being from March of

2006. Remember that shot of Alex holding

on for dear life? This is where it was

recorded. No gameplay elements were

included by this point. However, it

looks like episode 2 was originally

supposed to be a bit more foggy, and the

layout of the map was also a bit

different. The second version of

Outlander 1 is called Style Guide Vista.

We start with an animation of Alex

falling from a train, hanging on for

dear life, and then falling to her

death. The Freeman must get off the

train by walking on a cliff, jumping in

the water below, and then find the

gravity gun on his own. By the looks of

it, the City 17 destruction vista was

always supposed to be one of the first

things that the player sees after

getting off the train. The portal storms

seem to have been planned extremely

early. What was not planned is

everything else. Alex seems to be dead,

and the player has to find a way to save

her. The Vortigant picks her up and

yeah, the animations were still work in

progress. The Freeman and the Vort go up

an elevator and find a gate that must be

opened by going into a building,

completing a short puzzle, and then

turning a valve. The Freeman falls down

an elevator, and gets into the Endion

Cave. What I find fascinating about this

version of Outland 01 is just how dark

it used to be. None of the other leaked

maps have such a dark color palette,

which makes me wonder what if episode 2

ended up being dark and gritty. Outland

010 is next and Gordon.

My god, Valve, that is brutal. The

gravity gun is now here, and you still

have to jump in the water to get down.

For some reason, the city 17 vista is

gone. We find Alex, a vortigant, and a

rebel show up. And

what the hell? The rebel does not have a

name, but I'm pretty sure he's either

supposed to be Griggs or Sheekly from

the final version. Anyway, the valve

gate puzzle from earlier seems to have

also been removed, which means the

freeman no longer falls down the

elevator. Instead, the player just walks

into the cave and that is the end.

Outland 01H and Outland01 ISA are more

or less the same with a couple of small

gameplay changes. So, let's move on. The

June 2006 edition of Outland 01 is where

Valve started changing a lot of stuff.

Alex dies like usual, and everything up

until finding her is the same, but then

a city scanner shows up, gets destroyed

by a vort. The vort clears the way for

us. Combine soldiers show up and must be

dealt with. Then the player has to get

into a building and solve a very clever

physics puzzle before getting in an

elevator and going down the end cave.

The July 2006 version of the map is

almost identical with the only

difference being the puzzle inside the

building which was replaced with

something a bit worse. Apparently the

play testers were stupid and could not

figure out a simple physics puzzle which

led to Valve having to change it. Moving

on to September of 2006, Alex still

dies. And I have to mention that the

fall from the train is far more

dangerous. Oh, and the Vista is back. As

usual, we find Alex, but then some head

crabs show up and then the Vort saves

her. I am guessing this is what inspired

the scene in the final build where the

vort saves Alex from the end lion. No

idea why, but the developers decided to

go back to the old level geometry from

the style guide Vista version of the

map, aka the one where you have to get

into a building, open a gate using a

valve, and then fall down into the end

lion cave. The cave seems to be a bit

bigger and even includes a part that

isn't the final release. And lastly,

Outland 01 from October of 2006. Alex

dies again. The train fall seems to be a

lot less dangerous. A head crab shell

was added here to show where the head

crabs came from. and everything else is

the same except for the vort who might

be having a little bit too much fun.

Okay, Outland O2. The leak only has one

version of it, but do not worry, it is

way more than enough. The way things

play out is very different. You see, in

the beta, Outland 01 goes straight into

Outland O2, but in retail, Outland 01

goes into Outland 01A, which happens to

have a similar layout to Outland 03 from

the beta. So, for comparison purposes, I

will skip Outland 01A for now and we'll

compare it to Outland 03 a bit later.

For reference, in episode two, during

Outland O2, the Freeman drops down from

the ceiling, meets two dumbasses, fights

a bunch of ant lions, three vortigans

show up, a big battle starts. One of the

vorts tells Freeman they need to get an

ant lion extract to heal Alex. They

leave, get the extract from another map,

come back to Outlando 2, heal Alex. Jimn

then interrupts with a speech and then

Alex, Gordon, and the Vortigant go up

the elevator. The beta was a bit

different. Instead of dropping from the

ceiling, we use this entrance, which by

the way was completely cut. The tower

defense section is also very different.

There are way more end lines coming out

of the holes, we get three turrets

instead of two. The turrets cannot

break. And also, instead of hoppers, the

game gives the player gas cans to throw

at the enemies. Three vortigans still

drop from the ceiling and we still get

the big battle, but Alex gets healed

instantly without the need of the

extract. A combine drop ship finds our

location and instead of going up like in

retail, the elevator goes down and

proceeds to crash. There is even this

part that got completely cut. Like

mentioned, the Outland 03 map layout

used in the beta uses the Outland 01A

layout used in retail. In the retail

version, the Freeman must drop in the

cave, drop down a hole, get introduced

to the ant lion worker, drop down

another hole, kill a bunch of ant lion

workers in a big cave, go underwater to

get past an obstacle, fight a few more

ant lions, and load into the next map.

In the beta, because Alex was already

healed by this point, her and the

Vortigant are with us. We drop where the

ant lion workers get introduced, but

instead of just a couple of ant lions

ambushing us, it's like a million of

them. There is no second drop down like

in retail. The player can just get to

the big cave instantly. The underwater

section from retail is also not present,

probably because Alex and the vort

cannot swim. After the first half of

Outland 03, the beta transitions into

the layout used in retail. Basically,

the retail Outland 01A and Outland 03

maps use map layouts from the beta

Outland 03. Outland 03 from the beta was

too big and had to be cut into two

parts. So, for the second part of

Outland 03 beta, I will be comparing it

to the actual Outland 03 from Retail. In

retail, the Freeman fights more ant

lions, breaks some wood to open a gate,

solves a puzzle, the Vort opens the

gate, Freeman almost dies two times,

goes back into the cave, finds this

location, fights a bunch of dumb asses,

gets on the elevator, moves obstacles

out of the way to open a door, gets a

glimpse at the end guard, and then

Outland 04 loads in. In the beta, the

Freeman fights antlands in a cave,

breaks some wood to open a gate, just

like in the retail, but here there's no

Valve puzzle. A lot of antlands ambush

us. Freeman almost dies, but not two

times, only once. goes back into the

cave, finds this location, protects Alex

while she tries opening a gate, moves

obstacles out of the way to open a door,

gets ambushed by a million ant lions,

gets a glimpse at the end guard, walks

into a room that was removed from

retail, and Outland04 loads in. In

retail, Outland04 starts with the vort

asking us to jump here, get into a cave,

spend around 5 minutes running away from

the end guard. Fix the elevator by

placing a prop here. Wait for the vort

to come down and get the extract and

then go back with him to heal Alex in

the beta outland 4. Alex is already with

us, but the vort still wants to drop

down. Get to this part, which was

removed from retail. Spend 5 minutes

running away from the endline guard. get

here and fix the elevator, which has a

bit more complicated puzzle. Instead of

just taking a prop and then putting it

here, there are two generators here,

which need to be turned on by using the

gravity gun. The problem is that it's

extremely difficult to find the prop. I

found it by complete accident. The vort

does not come down to get the extract,

but instead everyone goes up the

elevator, and that is it. All right.

Now, Outland05, one of the first maps

made for episode 2. We have 10 different

leaked versions, so get ready. In

retail, Outland05 starts with the

Freeman, Alex, and the Vort finally

getting back to the surface and noticing

the big Combine army heading to White

Forest. They fight more ant lions and

the player has to fight an ant lion

guard and an ant lion guardian at the

same time. After that, the Freeman fixes

the elevator and everyone goes up.

Development for Outland05 started all

the way back in 2005, which is why the

name of the first version of it is

Canyon Test. Honestly, I love how

everything looks. The Halfife 2 assets

combined with that skybox and the

structures in the distance give me a

Halfife 2 beta vibe. The map is

unfinished, but funnily enough has the

same layout used in the retail. Version

two is from June of 2006, and the name

used is Outland05A,

which is interesting considering there

is no Outland05B.

The Combine Army is present, but no

Advisor pods can be seen. The color

palette is made of a bunch of brown and

green, which in my opinion looks

awesome. The double antline guard boss

battle seems to have been planned from

the beginning, so I'm not going to

mention it too much. Something else that

was planned was having a citizen lower

the elevator for us. No idea what his

name is, but he has the same model as

the first citizen we see in HalfLife 2,

which maybe was supposed to be a thing

that at some point maybe the developers

wanted to make that guy a character. No

idea. Fun fact, there was a lot more

detail in the distance in the beta

version. Look at the number of

structures and buildings compared to

retail. In my opinion, they were

probably cut due to performance issues.

Next is episode 2, Demo Canyon, which

features no gameplay. The only big

change is that the skybox is now blue

instead of white. Version 4 is from

October of 2006, and the citizen

elevator section was replaced with an

extremely slow turn the valve puzzle.

Also, the combine bridge part is

completely broken. November 2006,

Advisor Pods finally got implemented and

can fly exactly like an episode 1's

ending. Not sure why Valve redcon their

own episode one year after release, but

in the final version, the pods cannot

fly at all. Why would you make them fly

in the beta, but not in retail? December

of 2006. The advisor pods can still fly

and even have wings now. No idea who was

in charge of the level design, but what

kind of goofy ass idea is this? And why

is there a head crab stuck in a hole?

The next one is a map from the same day.

The only difference is at the elevator

puzzle. The slow valve puzzle is still

there, but you also have to go up a

ladder, unstuck the elevator, and

you also have to go up a ladder, unstuck

the elevator, and

man, what is happening? Version 8 of

Outland05 is from January of 2007. The

advisor pod now has some flying effect,

which is similar to what was used back

in episode 1. The stupid supply caches

are still here, and one of the mappers

decided to put a supply crate on top of

the cache. Something that I have not

mentioned yet is just how much the

terrain changes in every version. We go

from the map having a lot of holes in

it, looking like a war zone, to

everything being mostly flat. The puzzle

is the same, but a dead citizen was

added here, and now a crowbar is

blocking the elevator. Oh, and obviously

the elevator no longer sends the player

flying. April 2007, the big vista

finally got implemented, and the advisor

pod no longer flies. Why, Valve? Why?

Thankfully, they also decided to remove

the stupid supply cache, and the boring

Valve puzzle has been replaced with a

generator that can only be activated by

the vort. One of the weirdest changes is

that this specific ladder was moved from

the right to the left of the elevator.

Why? No idea. At least the dead citizen

is a bit more beautiful. Now, the last

version of Outland05 is from May of

2007. A light was added here for better

visibility, I guess. And the crowbar

that was stuck in the elevator was

replaced with a pickaxe. A question that

has always bugged me is how Alex was

able to jump off here without hurting

herself, considering she just got

revived after being impaled by a hunter.

The drop has been present since at least

December of 2006, yet no one at Valve

decided to remove it. Could this be an

oversight? Maybe. If so, then Valve,

please fix. Next, we have Outland 06. In

retail, the Freeman is given the task of

getting to the master car. He sees Gman

stalking him from a bridge. Spends a few

minutes getting through a bunch of

zombies while Alex tries protecting him

with a sniper rifle. Gets into a big

zombie ambush. Completes a puzzle. Does

some platforming to avoid touching toxic

goo. Gets to the car. Pushes cars off a

bridge. Drives the car to the other

side. Picks up Alex and drives off. The

story and map layout for Outland 06 was

pretty much the same in the beta, but I

think it's a good idea to look at all

eight versions of the map just to get an

idea of what Valve was thinking during

development. Trailer map 8 is from July

of 2006 and does not feature any

gameplay. There is no Gman sighting yet

and instead of showing the car using a

combine screen, the game uses the

combine binoculars that were only used

like once in the entire Halfife 2

campaign. Alex's sniper rifle seems to

be a bit unfinished. Surprisingly, the

first five minutes of gameplay are the

same as in retail. Some differences are

that the room with the barnacles is not

yet on fire. The section where the

freeman gets ambushed by the zombies is

not present at all. The drop down here

is a bit different and my most favorite

one, the toxic goo section was extremely

foggy, which again shows that the

direction for episode 2 might have been

a bit different in 2006. One of the most

controversial changes is the car. In

retail, you get a nice muscle car which

seems to have been inspired by the 1969

Dodge Charger. In the beta, the car used

to be called the Jelopey and looked a

lot like the buggy from Halfife 2. The

Jellope seems to have been built on top

of an old Volkswagen Beetle and is

mostly made of trash. Apparently, the

play testers were very disappointed with

how it looked and that led to Valve

having to change its design. Staying on

the topic of the Jalopee, three of the

leaked maps, Jeep Cow Puncher, Jeep

Zombie Baseball, and Jeep Zombie Zapper

show that the car was originally

supposed to have some kind of weapon

attached to it. One could push zombies,

one could slap them, and the other one

could electrocute them. Version two of

Outland 06 now has NPCs, but the Gman is

still not on the bridge. A gameplay

element that got cut from episode 2 is

this. I don't even know what to call it,

but basically, let's say gas propeller

that could be shot by Alex to blow up

zombies. This room seems to be an early

version of the zombie ambush section

from episode 2. Also, unfortunately, the

fog was removed from the platforming

section. Version 3 still does not

feature a Gmatch sighting. Valve

probably only puts these in when a map

is close to being finished, just like in

the Halfife 2 beta. Now, to something a

bit different. We have Protoz zombie, a

concept for what would become the big

zombie ambush in episode 2. Valve liked

the prototype so much that the retail

version is almost identical. Outland 06

from December of 2006. A combined screen

and a new fence have been added. Jimn is

also finally here. The zombie ambush

area has been implemented. Alex's sniper

has a better model. And yeah, February

2007, a fire has been added in the

barnacle room. Valve decided to remove

the gas propeller thing. The Vista is

back and Alex is very sad about the

state of the car she's in. 6 months

before release, we got test hold out.

The Gman can be seen on the combine

screen and it's very creepy. April 16th,

2007. Alex is no longer sad. Yay. One

thing I have not mentioned yet is the

interior of this house. Mostly because I

wanted to share just how many versions

it went through. At first, the interior

did not even exist and the house had a

bunch of missing textures. An interior

then gets added and inside we can find a

dead zombie, a dead citizen and a radio.

Usually, whenever Valve places a radio

somewhere, it means that the NPCs who

are dead near the radio probably

communicated with the player at some

point. So maybe episode 2 was supposed

to have more citizen characters, but

then they all got removed because I

don't know. Anyway, in the next version,

the dead NPCs are replaced with two

rebels who might be referencing the

counseling couple from Halfife 2. The

radio then gets removed and in retail,

the female rebel gets replaced with a

male one. One last change is at the

bridge. Originally, there was no ladder

here and the player had to pretty much

do platforming to get to the other side.

Outland 06A. In retail, we drive on the

street, take a left turn, drive through

the forest, find a couple of buildings,

complete a plug puzzle, hunters show up,

we kill them, talk with Magnus, lose

connection, and leave. The first

prototype is called Trailer Map 5. It's

very bare bones, but by the looks of it,

one of the first things made for Outland

06A was the building where we talked to

Magneson in retail. Prototype 2 is from

June of 2006. You drive on a street and

the street looks a lot like Highway 17,

mostly because of the HalfLife 2 assets.

My only curiosity is why these big

buildings are in the background. Was the

player supposed to see another city in

episode 2 or episode 3? Some driving

later, the Freeman and Alex find a

couple of buildings and must get in by

turning on the electricity. Alex talks

with Magnus. The power shuts off and the

Freeman must fix it by going to a vent

and turning it back on. Hunters appear

out of nowhere and ambush us. We get in

the car, drive past some obstacles and

drive off. Version three is from 10 Days

Later and has a completely different

layout. Alex says to get to the radio

tower, and the Freeman must drive to a

very dark and gritty forest to get to

the building. Here, the player was

supposed to see Alex's reaction to the

vista because, you know, she was dead

beforehand and did not have a chance to

see it. She talks to Magnus. The power

turns off. Same story, but now would not

have to take another route because

there's no truck blocking the road.

Style guide radio tower from July of

2006 does not make any special changes.

So, skip. By August of 2006, Outland 06A

was slowly starting to turn into how it

would be in episode 2. You drive on the

street, take a left leg in retail, reach

the building, and stop because the path

is blocked by a gate. For some reason,

the entrance here gets opened again, and

you even get a hunter sighting, which

probably inspired the other hunter

sightings in the final build. Speaking

of the hunters, in the beta, the only

way to hurt them was by either using

explosives, using the crossbow, throwing

props at them, or running them over.

Valve ended up changing it so they could

also be hurt by bullets. Alex talks,

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Power cuts off, Freeman investigates,

blah blah blah blah. And to be honest,

every version plays out in a similar

fashion. So, I will try not wasting your

time and just give you a quick summary

of the changes. What Valve seems to

struggle with is not including a Valve

puzzle in every single map. They

redesigned this puzzle countless times.

First, it looked like this, then like

this, and then like this. And one of the

maps even includes a second Valve puzzle

because why not? Outland07 in retail.

The Freeman and Alex vans find a crashed

adviser pod, go into a building, wake up

an adviser, almost die. The adviser

flies away, combine show up, the Freeman

and Alex drive away, a helicopter chases

them, and then they go into a tunnel. In

March of 2006, everything was extremely

broken. The structure here is just

copied from Halfife 2, and the advisor

scene does not seem to work. There was

supposed to be a combine APC waiting for

the player here. Outland07 July 2006.

You spawn near the building and the

Combine helicopter just happens to be

there. Valve added some strider remains

here which were obviously later replaced

with the crashed advisor pod. The

original plan was for the Freeman to

unplug some plugs and then the adviser

would fly away. Also, there was no

combine ambush. Only the APC and the

helicopter would be following us. August

2006 episode 2 demo driving. As the name

suggests, the whole purpose of the map

was to test the driving.

Why was that removed? The APC is no

longer here, and instead of waiting

until the next map, a fast zombie jumps

on our car. December 2006, adviser

prototype battle. That's right. Episode

2 was supposed to have a physics-based

adviser boss battle, where the adviser

would be able to pick up props near him

and throw them at the player. The more

damage you deal to him, the angrier he

gets and more props he throws. In the

end, he flies away. The last leaked

version of Outland07 is from February of

2007. The adviser pod has been added,

but is not destroyed like in the retail.

Going to the adviser, the boss battle

prototype unfortunately never got past

its prototype phase. The animation used

for the cutscene has some similarities

to episode 2. The nicel looking blue

effect has been completely removed and

we were originally supposed to get a

different angle of the adviser flying

away. Combine ambush us and everything

else is the same. In the retail Outland

08 starts with us crashing into things,

driving away from the helicopter,

finding a rebel outpost, crashing the

car, destroying the helicopter, and then

going into a garage. As for the beta,

well, even though only one version of

Outland08 ended up being leaked, the

leak reveals that everything about this

map was different. When finding the

rebel outpost, a rebel shoots down the

helicopter instantly and invites us in.

We are greeted by a guy named Nigel, who

wants us to go destroy a gate using a

train. The map was originally supposed

to take place in a train station. First,

you have to go up here, jump on the

trains, turn on the electricity, get

into a train, solve a puzzle that is

exactly like something you would see in

Honor Rail in Halfife 1, ride the train,

and crash it into a wall before getting

back into the car and driving away.

Unfortunately, Outland09, 10, 10A, and

11 are not present in the leak. Luckily,

trailer map 11 has a part of what would

later become Outland 11A and Outland

11B. In retail, White Forest gets

ambushed by the Combine, and a silo door

must be sealed off to keep them out. You

fight hunters, soldiers, and turrets.

And after closing the door, Alex, a

vortigant, and a rebel show up and lead

us to the gang. Everyone watches the

Judith transmission, find out about the

Borealis, the Gman controls Alex, and

everything else is not really relevant

for the comparison. In the beta, it

seems Outland 11 would start with the

Judith transmission, but have no mention

of the Borealis or Alex telling Eli to

prepare for unforeseen consequences. The

room is also in a whole different part

of White Forest. In retail, the room is

close to the entrance. Here, however,

it's below Magnus's big rocket. After

watching the transmission, the Freeman

leaves and

the Combine ambushes White Forest and

the Freeman has to close the silo door.

Some of the rooms used here seem to have

the same concept used in the final

build, like the corridor with the

turret, the face-to-face hunter battle,

and even going up the ladder to go to

the silo door, Outland 12. I don't think

you need a long explanation for this

one. Basically, the Freeman has to

protect White Forest from a million

striders and hunters. Do not get fooled

by the name of the first version.

Prototype final number one does not mean

it's the final prototype. It means it's

a prototype for the final battle. The

concept is the same as in the retail,

but the map layout is completely

different. Something that needs to be

mentioned is that in prototype number

two, the weather is rainy and the

hunters can get wet. The final battle

also lasts much longer, 25 minutes to be

exact. There used to be a very big pool

of water in the middle of the map, which

was very annoying and ended up being

removed.

Valve was also playing with the concept

of bringing back Odessa. Prototype

number three is the same, but some

Overwatch soldiers ambush the player in

the forest before starting the actual

final battle. Pretty sure this is

exactly where the awesome hunter clip

from the trailer was recorded. Episode

2, Demo Strider, is a bit weird. Valve

used this map to record a gameplay demo.

What is funny is what is going on in the

parts of the map that are not shown to

the viewer. The mountains and the trees

are shooting at each other.

In the beta, the final battle was

supposed to have vortiggons and combine

Overwatch soldiers, but all of them

ended up being removed, probably to make

things a bit less complicated. Lastly,

Outland 12 from October of 2006.

>> Freeman striders are coming.

>> Yeah, the map starts with the

introduction of the Magnus device. The

device the Magnus device was created in

looked a bit different in the beta.

Freeman, just go up that ladder there.

Oh my god, it's Odessa Kovich. I am

guessing the only reason he got removed

is because Valve did not want him to

die. Either way, the final battle is

very similar to Retail, except for a few

small things, like the hunters not being

able to destroy the Magnuson devices and

the car not having a radar or a tracker,

which made it a lot more difficult to

find Magnuson devices and find the car

after fighting something on foot.

Outland 12A. Time for the ending.

Unfortunately, the scripted sequences do

not seem to work, but the player was

always supposed to shoot a rocket into

space. Now, here's a plot twist.

Originally, episode 2 would end with the

Freeman getting into the helicopter and

flying away. Knowing Valve, however, the

helicopter would most likely crash, and

that would be the actual ending. Now,

wait, do not close the video yet. You're

going to miss some interesting stuff.

First, here are some scripted sequences

that were used for the trailer. Be aware

that some of them are broken.

Oh, GOAT.

>> [groaning]

[groaning]

>> SECOND, before I get to the main event,

Valve had a particle benchmark and a

particle zoom map where a lot of cool

looking effects would appear on the

screen. Now, what is interesting is that

almost none of these effects actually

appear in episode 2, which makes me

wonder if these, you know, particle

benchmark tests were actually for

episode 3. Onto the main event, the last

map I want to showcase is demo blob. The

blob NPC might sound very familiar to

those who watched HalfLife 2's 20th

anniversary documentary, or those who

just know everything about HalfLife.

What you are seeing on the screen is a

concept for the blob. Do not let the

snarks fool you. All of them only count

as one single entity. The entity can

detect surfaces,

can dynamically interact with

environments,

have physics integration.

can create a HalfLife logo

and eat an NPC alive.

Oh, but um yeah, I mean I do not see how

episode three pushes anything forward.

Yeah, thanks Gabe.