My Favourite Chapter In Half-Life 1

Yesterday I finally finished my replay of Half-Life within the HL: Legacy mod! And by playing the entire game again I've really been able to solidify some of my more specific thoughts about it, and I wish to talk about one of those today.

Although Half-Life 1 is certainly a good game, I don't feel as much of an urge to go back to it compared to Half-Life 2. This is because some parts of the game are, frankly, not that good. HL2's bad maps were just a little tedious or confusing at worst, the original game's are straight-up annoying and unfun.

That being said, the game is overall still very enjoyable due to some of the sections that are extremely fun! And I will talk about my favourite of all of them now.

There is one chapter in the game that pretty much everybody agrees is the best in the game: Surface Tension. Don't get me wrong, this chapter is definitely good! Especially its first parts, such as the dam, the large minefield, the fights against the tanks and choppers, and of course the iconic cliffside section.

Some sections later on are pretty good too, such as the room with the nuke where you have to stealth across tonnes of explosives. However, I honestly can't really call this my favouite chapter in the game.

It is by far the longest in the game, it took me about an hour and a half to beat, and although that's not a bad thing by itself, not every part is that good. Yes, all the parts I mentioned previously are fantastic, but there are quite a few duds as well, to be honest.

Some of my least favourite parts include the ones with snipers, and the part where you control the rocket turret. I feel like the chapter just generally drags on as well, especially considering how the chapter afterwards, "Forget About Freeman", is super short.

Surface Tension is still a fantastic chapter overall, but if it isn't my favourite, what is?

Well, that chapter would be Blast Pit! The sixth chapter of the game, which I previously thought of as my second favourite.

Being the sixth chapter of the game, it is actually extremely simple gameplay-wise. You don't even have half of the weapons unlocked yet, you only have the crowbar, glock, MP5, shotgun, and hand grenades — plus technically the .357 Magnum but you only get it at the very end. And the only common enemies you face against are the more basic aliens: Headcrabs, Zombies, Barnacles, Houndeyes, and Bullsquids.

That being said, though, this chapter mainly focuses on one thing and one thing only, and it does it super well.

After you travel through an area of the facility flooded with toxic waste, you find yourself in a rocket silo, infested by three large monsters: The Tentacles. These are large beak-like tentacles that are blind, but react aggressively to noise, pecking wherever they hear it. If you just so happen to make a noise, you're lucky to not get one-shotted.

You are told how to kill them by an injured scientist right outside of the main silo entrance. You must activate a rocket to set them ablaze, however you have to turn on the power, oxygen, and fuel to do so, which requires getting to other rooms via the silo, where the Tentacles are. While you are there you can avoid them by crawling, or by distracting them with grenades.

This is shown in a nice direct way, as a Security Officer outside the entrance barges in and tries to shoot at the Tentacles, and immediately gets annihilated.

Each section outside of the silo is very fun in their own right! They both have some standard combat, platforming, and a few puzzles.

The first one I usually do is the oxygen and fuel, which are both activated together. When you exit the silo you can immediately explode the bridge connected to it to get rid of a Zombie, and cross via the pipes that are still connected. The section is infested with Headcrabs, Zombies, and a few Bullsquids in a small sewage area.

Then you reach a room with a gigantic fan, which is definitely the highlight of the section. You have to make your way below it to turn it on, immediately climbing back up via a ladder so it doesn't hit and kill you. Once it's on it will blow you up to the ceiling, where you can go through some vents to finally reach the room to turn on the oxygen and fuel — filled with a couple of Zombies to kill, of course.

The second section is the one where you turn on the power. Even before you exit the silo, some of the metal grating on the floor is falling apart, so you must jump across a lot of it. Then you make it through a section that's admittedly much shorter than the first one, but here you encounter some more of other enemies like Houndeyes, Bullsquids, and Barnacles, as well as some inconspicuous puddles of water.

This section is more of an agility test than a puzzle, as you have to go up some ladders to reach the power generator, while dodging some lifts which are going haywire and can easily push you off.

After you turn the power on, though, you must backtrack, and now you have to find a way to make it through the water without touching it, as it's now electrified. Although it's quite easy to just tank the damage, it is very fun to figure out that you can move the boxes to get on top of the pipes and cross safely from there!

Once you power everything on, you must make your way back to the control room at the top of the silo, avoiding the Tentacles once again, and once you're there you can turn the rocket on and set them ablaze! After they disappear, a tunnel opens up where you can continue the rest of the game — and also get the .357 Magnum, which is a very nice reward!

And that's pretty much it!

Blast Pit is a very early chapter in the game — in fact, its maps are the last ones to start with the "c1" prefix. Despite that, it utilizes its few mechanics, weapons, and enemies to their fullest potential, with an amazing set piece that ties the entire thing together nicely, and just a little bit of non-linearity as well!

After replaying the whole game I now know for a fact that Blast Pit is my absolute favourite part of Half-Life 1, and I am very glad to be able to share why in detail after experiencing the entire thing once again.

It's definitely a blast!