Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Hooks you almost right away
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 15 reviews are negative (7%); after 5h it's 1 in 40 (3%).
- Fully opens up by hour 3.
- The opening is criticised less than in 95% of games we track.
- 68% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Secondary Silo Secured” (Secure the launch doors on missile silo 2) and “Defense of the Armament”: from 78% to 68% of starters.
- 89% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 41,412 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 268 reviews: 6.7h for positive, 7.1h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (88.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Into the Breach Help Griggs and Sheckley hold off the antlion invasion inside the mine shaft. 92% −8
- Twofer Defeat both antlion guards outside the White Forest. 85% −8
- Meet the Hunters Survive the Hunter ambush with Alyx. 82% −2
- Gunishment! Destroy the Combine Autogun in the junkyard. 80% −2
- Quiet Mountain Getaway Survive the ambush at White Forest Inn. 79% −1
- Secondary Silo Secured Secure the launch doors on missile silo 2. 78% −1
- Defense of the Armament Save the missile silo from the Combine offensive. Most players quit here 68% −10
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (23)
story milestone ending side
- Acid Reflex Kill an acid antlion worker. 100%
- Into the Breach Help Griggs and Sheckley hold off the antlion invasion inside the mine shaft. 92%
- Twofer Defeat both antlion guards outside the White Forest. 85%
- Meet the Hunters Survive the Hunter ambush with Alyx. 82%
- Gunishment! Destroy the Combine Autogun in the junkyard. 80%
- Quiet Mountain Getaway Survive the ambush at White Forest Inn. 79%
- Secondary Silo Secured Secure the launch doors on missile silo 2. 78%
- Deadly Harvest Kill an enemy by planting a hopper mine. 77%
- Defense of the Armament Save the missile silo from the Combine offensive. 68%
- Gordon Propelled Rocket Unlock the rocket launcher lambda cache in chapter Under The Radar. 67%
- Cache Checker Find every radar cache in chapter Under The Radar. 52%
- Pedal to the Metal Beat DOG in a race to the White Forest base. 43%
- Grave Robber Steal a Zombine's grenade. 42%
- Hit and Run Run over 20 enemies with the car in Episode Two. 41%
- Gnome Alone If you are reading this achievement, Gabe Newell has successfully launched Gnome Chompski into space. If you did not also receive the achievement 'Manufacturing Ascent', Newell has abandoned his plans to shoot Noam Chomsky into space. 32%
- Bone Breaker Kill 30 enemies with thrown physics objects. 28%
- Payback Kill a Hunter with its own flechettes. 24%
- Piñata Party Find and break every web cache in Episode Two. 17%
- Puttin' On a Clinic Defeat the chopper in Episode Two without any misses. 14%
- Hot Potat0wned Kill a Combine soldier with his own grenade. 13%
- Little Rocket Man Send the garden gnome into space. 11%
- Neighborhood Watch Save all buildings outside the missile silo from destruction. 10%
- Get Some Grub Squish every antlion grub in Episode Two. 8.9%