Half-Life 2 – Aftermath Q&A

If you played Half-Life 2, last year’s blockbuster first-person shooter, then you know that the game ended in a cliff-hanger that left more questions than answers. The good news is that Valve is in the final stages of prepping Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the first expansion for Half-Life 2, due out later this year. Valve likes to describe Aftermath as a new “episode” for the franchise, and we know that it picks up immediately after the events of the main game. However, further details are few and far between, thanks to Valve’s tight-lipped nature. That didn’t deter us from throwing some questions at designer/programmer Robin Walker, and he helped fill in the bigger picture. For those of you who wish to remain totally in the dark about Aftermath, we should warn you that there are some minor spoilers below.

Robin Walker: We don’t want to spoil any surprises by getting into specifics. But to answer this in general terms, the entirety of the episode is set in City 17, and the driving force is the fact that, thanks to Gordon’s actions at the end of Half-Life 2, the Citadel is about to give up the ghost in such a way that anyone left in the city will be killed.

You can check out the full interview, and it’s a good one, over at Gamespot.