Exit 17

The Train Station

You’ve made it to your destination, but you haven’t made it to safety quite yet; you still have to get as many civilians to the train as possible. After meeting up with Barney, he’ll give you the rundown; you have to take small groups of civilians from his position and maneuver them through the junkyard nearby, then guide them through the trainyard past Alyx’s little turret before they’re home free. You’ll obviously have to fight off plenty of Combine soldiers along the way, but if you keep moving, your followers will generally manage to keep pace with you.

Blast this sniper with a rocket to ensure safe passage back to Barney.

The first route is simplicity itself; no one will fire on you at all. When you reach the small corridor between the junkyard and the train station, be sure to open the lockers for more crossbow and magnum ammo. You’ll find a magnum when you drop off the civilians in the train depot.

On your way back to Barney to pick up more civilians, take your time to prepare for the upcoming onslaught. A few flipmines will be dropped in your path here, so grab them with your gravgun and place them further up the hill, near the large building there. Soldiers will soon be rapelling off of the building, so any mines set up there will likely take out an enemy or two when they arrive. There’s also a truck full of medical supplies near Barney’s door, so grab the crates there and smash them so that their contents are right in your path; you’ll pick them up automatically as you make your routes later on, assuming you’ve been wounded.

The second run-back will feature a sniper in the building, so fire a rocket up and over the garbage dumpster and guide it into his little window. With that done, replace the second wave of flipmines and grab another group of citizens to bring along. The caveat here is that a Combine Elite will drop one of the trains in the trainstation, forcing you to take a longer route up and around the building, where you and your wards will be closer to the windows that the Combine like to jump through. Be especially wary of shotgun-wielding foes, as they can quickly kill off your soldiers if you let them; it’s a good idea to quicksave before you start walking past these windows.

The third runback will be plagued by a Combine tank; again, use your rocket launcher and the infinite rocket ammo box to take it down. If you duck down behind the dumpster or the ammo box, you should be immune to the damage from its own rockets. After that, your task is almost complete; just ferry a couple more groups of civilians over to the train stations. When Barney comes along for the ride, you’ll know you’re almost done, so get him and the last group over to Alyx, then head out for your train!

Strider Was A Cool Game

Last, but not least, you’ve got a final challenge to deal with as you attempt to take on the strider that invades the trainyard as you and Alyx attempt to bust out of City 17. You can’t actually kill it until you manage to get a supply of rockets, and reaching the rockets here is going to be a Rube Goldbergian production.

After the strider attacks you at the wheel that raises the gate, hide behind the metal sheeting nearby and wait for it to blast down the nearby container that will allow you to move on. Around the corner from that, wait for its laser to kill the two Combine soldiers that drop down from the ceiling, then poke around to find another container near the health station. Head through there, then find the half-fallen container that effectively forms an upwards ramp.

When passing through the next container, try to blast your way through with your grav gun before the strider gets a chance to blast the side of the container; if it does so, the headcrab missiles will pop open, revealing toxic crabs. Just run past them before you get caught in their venomous clutches, then turn left and run up the next ramp to reach the upper level here. Make the small jump over to the upper level of the containers, then sprint and jump to the upper walkway here. Now would be a good time to save your game, preferably after you avail yourself of the health station here.

Video Walk-through

Taking down the strider is going to be a tall order, but if you know the route you have to take, it can be accomplished.

Watch It »

With that done, blast the explosive barrels nearby, then dash forward and duck behind one of the low-lying barriers on the edge of the walkway; it’ll protect you from the strider’s fire. Kill the soldier that appears above you, then dash forward and grab the flipmine with your alt-fire to destroy it. You’ll need to do this a couple more times before sprinting ahead and dropping down behind another large container, that the strider will attempt to kill you with by smashing it into the wall. Before it can do so, run forward and to the right to drop down to the gated-off area nearby.

After the first two soldiers are dead, and all of the explosive barrels here are smashed, run forward and eliminate the flipmines in your path. Off to your left, you’ll find a small gap between two of the trains that you can head through to find another platform; grab the armor from the crates, then make a mad sprint up the ladder here to finally reach the rocket ammo.

Killing the strider at this point should hopefully be fairly easy, assuming you have enough health to survive a couple of blows from the beast. To do so, just fire a rocket off to the side of the platform (timed to coincide with the end of the strider’s gun salvos), then dart out so that you can see the beast and guide the rocket into his gaping maw. Repeat this process six or seven times to finish off the beast, and you’ll be able to climb down the nearby ladder to reach Alyx once again. When she’s got the train ready, hop onto the rear to get going, and get ready to wait another six months or so for Episode II.

Don’t forget that there’s a trailer for Episode II that plays after the end of the credits. Just let your computer run the credits, then sit and wait for it to drop back to Windows; the trailer should start automatically, although it can take a few minutes to chunk through your processor.