Half-Life 2 — Achievement Walkthrough
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After the canals tutorial, you'll be in an apartment block when CP raids it. Run, don't fight — follow the rooftop / window path Barney sets up. Achievement pops on reaching the canal exit. Unmissable on a normal playthrough.
On the table near the teleporter when you first arrive at Kleiner's. Walk up, pick it up. Iconic Half-Life weapon, unmissable progression.
Unmissable. The airboat is the chapter's vehicle. Climb in when it's introduced. Achievement pops automatically.
Story-tied. Mid-canals, a friendly Resistance member welds a mounted gun onto the airboat. Achievement pops on installation. Unmissable.
Same opening scene. Pick up the can, walk to the trash bin nearby, drop it in. Officer thanks you and lets you proceed normally.
Mutually exclusive with 'Defiant.' Play through once each way, or use a save before the can scene.
Final boss of Water Hazard. The Hunter-Chopper finally lands in a courtyard. Use the airboat gun to keep firing until it explodes. Gravity Gun + bouncing back its dropped mines also works. Story-critical fight.
Eli/Alyx introduce the Gravity Gun in the lab. Pick it up when prompted. Becomes your most-used weapon for the rest of the game.
Father Grigori sets up a wave-defense scenario in the cemetery — zombies come in waves while you defend with him from a tower. Stay in cover, prioritise fast zombies first, let Father Grigori snipe with his shotgun.
Achievement pops at the end of the sequence. Unmissable on a normal Ravenholm run.
After Captain Vance Odessa Cubbage gives you the RPG, a gunship attacks. Fire rockets and guide them with the laser pointer (hold trigger to keep guidance). Dodge between buildings to avoid the gunship's tracer fire while reloading.
Unmissable progression.
## Best spot
In the canals chapter, look for sections with multiple barnacles clustered close together. Use the Gravity Gun to lift a red explosive barrel into one barnacle's tongue. When the barnacle pulls it up, the barrel explodes and chains kills.
## Tactical tip
The nicest 5-cluster spot is in Route Kanal — a small underground room with 6+ barnacles hanging from the ceiling. Position the barrel in the middle for max overlap.
## The opening
In the train station opening, a Civil Protection officer kicks a can over and tells Gordon to put it in the trash. Throw the can AT him instead (left-click with the can equipped). He'll knock you down and beat you, but the achievement pops.
Direct opposite of 'Submissive' — you can't get both in one playthrough.
After getting the Pheropod in Sandtraps, throw it at enemies — antlions swarm and attack them. Each kill credited to antlions counts. Spam pheropods in Nova Prospekt and Anticitizen One; 50 cumulative is easy.
Mid-Nova Prospekt, you place 3 Combine turrets around a doorway and survive multiple waves of soldiers. Keep the turrets upright — pick fallen ones back up with the Gravity Gun. Achievement pops at the end of the wave.
Story-tied. During the City 17 uprising, you accumulate Resistance squadmates. Achievement pops when you have a full squad following commands.
The 'Follow Freeman' line is iconic in the HL2 community.
A radioactive tunnel filled with green sludge. HEV suit auto-warns you. Run through fast — don't linger; the radiation ticks damage rapidly. Aim for the manhole / exit at the end. Achievement pops on exit.
Defend the rebels' generators against waves of Combine soldiers in an open plaza. Use the RPG on the gunship phase, automatic weapons on infantry. Stay near cover; the open plaza chews through HP if you stand still.
Key: protect rebel squadmates — they help DPS the waves.
Mid-Anticitizen, you destroy 3 generators powering a Combine Suppression Device. Each generator is a small puzzle / shootout. Unmissable; achievement pops on the third one.
Multiple gunship encounters in HL2 (highway, Nova Prospekt, City 17). Each destroyed counts toward 6 total. Just keep shooting them down naturally — at 6 cumulative the achievement pops mid-game.
Final HL2 rooftop sequence: multiple Striders attack while you run between buildings. Use the RPG with guided rockets — fire then guide with laser pointer into Strider 'eye' weak points.
Squadmates help suppress; rotate between cover positions. Achievement pops at end of sequence.
Final boss fight: destroy Breen's escape teleporter using the Super Gravity Gun on the reactor cores around him. Three cores total. Achievement pops at the cutscene.
Famously abrupt ending — Episode One picks up immediately.
In the junkyard with the crane control booth, operate the magnet. Pick up cars, swing them over Combine soldiers below, drop on them. Each crushed enemy counts.
Line up your crane swings carefully; the controls are jerky. 3 crushed = achievement.
In Eli's scrapyard outside Black Mesa East, look for a pile of debris near the back fence. The orange HEV Suit faceplate sits among scrap. Walk up to it for the achievement.
Reference to Gordon's original HEV suit from Half-Life 1. Easy to miss if you sprint through to Kleiner's reveal.
Mid-Highway 17, there's a Combine ambush near a billboard. The Crossbow's rebar bolts can pin enemies to surfaces if the shot hits them at the wall. Aim for soldiers standing in front of the billboard with a wall behind them.
Reload saves and retry — getting the right pinning angle takes 5-10 attempts.
After Breen's tower the Gravity Gun upgrades. Energy balls held mid-air can be lobbed at soldiers, vapourising them. Cumulative 15 across the Citadel level.
Key: energy balls are ammo — pick them up after firing if they bounce. The final levels have plenty.
In Kleiner's lab, after the failed teleport sequence, the small teleporter device sits on a table. Hit it with the crowbar. Lamarr the headcrab reacts. Achievement pops on the break.
## Where they are
Multiple Combine snipers nest in windows throughout the rooftop section. Each you encounter needs a grenade thrown into their window or an RPG rocket.
## Find them all
- Scan rooftops with the binocular zoom
- Listen for the rifle crack — snipers fire even when you can't see them
- Use rebel squadmates as bait; they aggro snipers, revealing positions
Some snipers are off the main path. Wiki has the full count + locations.
During DOG's training scene, he plays catch with a metal ball using a hoop overhead. Grab the ball with the Gravity Gun and shoot it through the hoop yourself. Achievement pops on the basket.
Great physics-puzzle intro to the Gravity Gun.
Joke achievement that references the gnome saga and Gabe Newell. If your account has this listed but no real conditions, it may have been retroactively granted. Some users get it as a meta-achievement linked to viewing the achievement page itself.
If it hasn't popped naturally, check if completing 'Little Rocket Man' triggers it.
In Water Hazard, look for a side branch off the main canal — typically marked by a small dock with crates. The cave is dark; head deep inside to find a vortigaunt cooking a headcrab while singing softly. Achievement pops on proximity.
Most-missed because the side branch looks like a dead end.
Story progression. After Alyx and Gordon enter the collapsing Citadel, you ride a damaged elevator down through falling debris. Stay near the elevator walls; debris hits the centre. Unmissable on completion.
Toilets are scattered in bathrooms throughout City 17 buildings. Detach with the Gravity Gun, throw at a Combine soldier or Civil Protection officer. One toilet kill = achievement.
Found easily in Anticitizen One's apartment-clear sequences.
## The challenge
No other weapons used — no crowbar, pistol, shotgun, grenades. Just the Gravity Gun + environmental objects.
## Strategy
- Saw blades are everywhere; pick up and fling — kills zombies instantly
- Propane tanks clear groups
- Logs, crates, barrels all work for melee at point-blank
- Father Grigori's church has lots of saw-blade ammo — stock up before pushing further
Restart from chapter start if you accidentally hit fire on another weapon. Saves are forgiving here.
Manhacks (flying buzz-saw drones) can be caught with the Gravity Gun mid-flight. Then fling them at other enemies for instant kills. 5 cumulative across HL2 / Episodes.
Best spots: any area with overlapping Manhack + soldier combat (Nova Prospekt, City 17 rooftops).
Unmissable. You and Alyx perform a stabilisation puzzle on the broken Citadel core to delay its detonation. Follow Alyx's instructions; the puzzle is scripted.
Acid antlion workers (yellow-ish, spit acid) appear in early Episode Two. Kill any one with any weapon. Easy on first encounter.
Combine assault while you wait for the elevator. Stay in cover, use the SMG / shotgun, throw grenades into chokepoints. The elevator door eventually opens — sprint in. Unmissable on survival.
Wave-defense with two friendly Resistance soldiers. Hold a chokepoint against incoming antlion waves. Use grenades, the SMG's grenade launcher, and Pheropod sparingly.
Key: protect Griggs and Sheckley — they survive the sequence in canon. Don't friendly-fire.
RPG with guided rockets. Stand in the attic opening, fire rockets at the gunship, guide them with laser pointer. Dodge behind cover during reloads. Unmissable on completion.
Antlions burst from sand when you step on it. Use the Gravity Gun to make stepping-stones from rocks, planks, and crates — only walk on hard surfaces (rocks, debris). Even one footfall on sand fails the achievement; reload from the last save.
Follow the natural debris path; it's all there for this exact achievement.
Final sequence. Survive the Strider attack at the train station, board the train. Cinematic plays as City 17's Citadel detonates behind you. Cliffhanger ending. Unmissable on completion.
Two Antlion Guards (giant armoured antlions) fight you simultaneously in a large arena. Strategy:
- Magnusson Devices (sticky bombs) — the strongest anti-Guard weapon. Plant one then shoot to detonate
- Stay mobile — Guards charge in a straight line; sidestep at the last moment
- Pillars in the arena break line of sight if you need to heal
Defeat both for the achievement.
Three Hunters (the smaller bipedal Striders) attack the cabin you and Alyx hide in. Phase 1: Alyx gets hit. Phase 2: you defend the cabin. Use the SMG, shotgun, anything fast. Hunters take heavy damage; aim for their eye-glow.
Story-tied; achievement pops on survival.
Big stationary Combine cannon in the junkyard. Sneak around its line of sight, use the Gravity Gun to drop large objects (cars, scrap) onto it. Or use multiple RPG rockets from cover. Unmissable on progression.
Combine hopper mines (jumping spider mines) can be 'reprogrammed' to your side by hitting them with the Gravity Gun. Place down on the ground in an enemy patrol route, walk away. Enemy walks near, mine jumps and kills.
One mine kill = achievement.
Combine soldiers ambush you in the inn. Use the inn's interior cover, the shotgun for close encounters, grenades to clear rooms. Story progression — survive to pop.
Final Episode Two arc: multiple Striders attack the missile silos. Drive the muscle car to silo 2, use Magnusson Devices to destroy Striders, close the silo doors. Achievement pops on completion.
Final Episode Two achievement. Win the Strider battle, survive, watch the cinematic. The Episode Two ending is famously emotional — Episode Three never came, so the cliffhanger remains.
Achievement pops on the credits start.
Mid-chapter, a Lambda Cache is locked behind a puzzle: an RPG rocket needs to be guided through narrow openings (or trigger a specific door mechanism). Aim carefully; multiple resets often needed.
Walkthrough video helps — the exact rocket-path isn't obvious without setup.
## Lambda Caches
Lambda Caches are hidden ammo + health crates marked with the λ symbol. 45 total across HL2's chapters.
## Where to find them
- Most are off the main path — explore side corridors, rooftops, vents
- Sometimes locked behind environmental puzzles (push crates, jump platforming)
- Some only reachable via specific weapons (RPG to break walls, Crossbow to pin platforms)
## Strategy
Use a Lambda Cache checklist + walkthrough video. The most-missed are in Highway 17 (cliffside paths) and Anticitizen One (apartment interiors). Plan a full collection run on a save dedicated to this.
## The hard part
Citizens are fragile. Combine soldiers, antlions, and gunfire all kill them quickly. You must keep ALL alive.
## Strategy
- Take aggro yourself — stay between citizens and enemies
- Clear ahead before bringing citizens through a section
- Tell citizens to STAY (whistle/command) while you push forward; come back to lead them once an area is safe
- The station approach is the trickiest — Striders attack; rush to the RPG cache fast
Reload to last save on any death. Expect 5-10 attempts.
## What they are
The chapter 'Under the Radar' has radar dish caches hidden in various locations. Each contains useful supplies + counts toward the achievement.
## Finding them
- Look up — many caches are on rooftops or upper floors
- Follow the road less travelled — caches are off the main path
- Magnusson markers sometimes hint locations
Use a walkthrough for the complete list. Most-missed: the cache in the abandoned house near the radar tower.
DOG runs alongside you on the road. Stay in the muscle car, drive fast, take corners efficiently. The race is scripted-ish but you have to actually win — DOG won't slow for you.
Check your speed and steering; don't crash into roadblocks. Achievement at the finish line.
Zombines (Combine soldiers turned zombie) sometimes pull a grenade and run at you. Use the Gravity Gun to grab the grenade from their hand mid-charge. The Zombine still explodes; you get the grenade.
Quick reflexes. Practice in Episode One's hospital sequence — Zombines spawn often there.
Elites fire energy-ball projectiles. Catch one mid-air with the Gravity Gun, fling it back at them. One-shot kill. Triggers when the firing Elite himself dies from the returned ball.
Nova Prospekt and the late Citadel have plenty of Elites — practice catching their projectiles.
In a dark hospital-like building, Alyx has a sniper rifle and you have only the flashlight. Shine your light on zombies / soldiers — Alyx headshots them.
Cumulative 30. Each spotted-and-killed enemy counts. Take your time; the sequence isn't on a clock.
Once you get the muscle car in Episode Two, ram zombies, Combine soldiers, anything in your way. 20 cumulative. Easy on the open-road driving sections.
Don't sweat being precise — just plough through any group on the road.
Cinder blocks, barrels, planks, radiators — anything thrown via Gravity Gun counts. 30 cumulative across HL2 + Episodes. Easy if you commit to using the Gravity Gun as your primary murder tool. The Super Gravity Gun in the Citadel makes any object lethal.
Cars are everywhere in destroyed City 17. Pick up with Super Gravity Gun, drop on antlions. Cumulative 15.
Best spots: the early-Episode-One street sequence has many antlion swarms in tight alleys.
Hunters fire flechette darts that stick to surfaces and explode after a delay. Catch a dart with the Gravity Gun mid-flight, fire it back into a Hunter before it detonates.
Delicate timing — the dart's fuse is short. Practice in the Hunter-heavy sequences. The kill credit must come from the returned flechette.
Stalkers (the silent mutilated humans) wander the Citadel near the core. Most players reflexively shoot them. To avoid:
- Don't shoot any humanoid figures in the core area
- Run past them — they're slow and easily evaded
- Use the Gravity Gun to push them away instead of killing
Reload from before entering the core sequence if you accidentally kill one. Watch your collateral fire.
Catch an energy ball with the Gravity Gun, then fire it into a crowd. The ball bounces between enemies and walls, killing multiple. Catch the same ball mid-flight (it doesn't dissipate immediately), throw again.
Best spot: any Combine-soldier dense corridor in Anticitizen / Nova Prospekt. 5 kills with one ball requires careful aim + a tight enemy cluster.
Web caches are spider-web-covered ammo/item caches scattered in Episode Two's underground sections. Each breaks open to drop loot. Total: 25 caches.
Follow a wiki tracker; many are in non-obvious side paths. Easiest to do on a dedicated 2nd playthrough where you know each location.
## The challenge
Fire RPG rockets, guide each one into the chopper without any going off-course or missing.
## How to land every shot
- Steady camera — don't pan the laser pointer wildly
- Fire only when stationary — moving while guiding causes drift
- Use the laser to circle into the chopper's body — don't chase its tail directly; predict its arc
Quicksave between successful hits in case a later one misses. Restart on any failure.
## The rules
Only ONE bullet fired across the entire game from any firearm. Allowed unlimited: crowbar, Gravity Gun, grenades, RPG (rockets don't count as bullets).
## Strategy
- Save that one bullet for the parts where there's no Gravity-Gun-able physics object available — usually the elevator standoff or the train station
- Use grenades on infantry waves
- Use the crowbar on zombies and headcrabs
- Gravity Gun for almost everything else — saw blades, propane tanks, bricks
Many players use the one bullet on the final Strider — a Pulse Rifle shot to its eye works. Or save it for an unwinnable corner.
Flares are stocked in Ravenholm-style areas (Episode 2's Ant Lion sequences, dark Episode One spots). Pick up with Gravity Gun, fling into zombies. Fire spreads if zombies are close.
15 cumulative. Easy if you commit to lighting every flare you find.
## The infamous gnome
A garden gnome appears very early in Episode Two outside Alyx's family cabin. Pick it up with the Gravity Gun. You must carry it ALL the way to the end-game missile silo and place it in the rocket cargo bay.
## Why it's hard
- The gnome is easily lost in combat (drops on death, falls off ledges)
- You can't put it down to use the Gravity Gun on something else without risking losing it — keep it in your inventory slot
- Vehicle sections: place it INSIDE the muscle car (in the passenger seat) — it'll stay
- Climbing: drop it carefully, push it ahead with the Gravity Gun, pick up again
The achievement pops as you watch the gnome's rocket launch into space. Worth the patience.
Combine soldiers throw grenades that you can catch mid-air with the Gravity Gun. Fast reflexes required — the grenade's fuse is 2-3 seconds. Catch, aim back at the soldier, release.
Best spots: open Combine-heavy areas where you have time and space. The achievement pops when the soldier dies from THEIR thrown grenade.
## The challenge
Striders shoot at buildings as they advance. Each direct hit slowly destroys a structure. Zero destruction allowed.
## Strategy
- Kill Striders on the road BEFORE they reach buildings — interception kills with Magnussons
- Stay in the muscle car for fast positioning
- Use the radio to call Magnusson airdrops to your position
- Hunter accompaniment is the real threat — Hunters strip Magnussons off Striders. Take Hunters out first
Multiple attempts. Quicksave between successful Strider kills.
## Grub count
333 grubs (yes, three-three-three) across Episode Two. Squishing each gives a tiny health/ammo drop AND counts toward the achievement.
## Strategy
- Step on them — instant kill, no ammo cost
- Listen — grubs make a chirping sound. Track audio to find them in dark corners
- Most are in caves in the early Episode Two antlion sequences
- Wiki tracker is essential — missing even one fails the achievement
This is a complete-collection achievement. Plan a dedicated save for it.