Chapter 1: Entanglement - Half-Life: Alyx Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to your first day in Half-Life: Alyx! This walkthrough will guide you through all 11 chapters of the campaign, including as many of the items, Resins, and ammo pickups as we could find.

Look out over the horizon to drink in a perfect view of the Citadel, a towering superstructure which serves as the head of operations on Earth for the oppressive Combine empire, which you may remember as a returning player from Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episodes.

Take in the fresh air, and get ready for a grand adventure. The first things you’ll notice around you are some loose objects, a radio, and a lot of Combine activity. Take as much time as you need to get accustomed to the controls, play with the physics, and attenuate yourself to being in the shoes of Alyx Vance.

You can crush those pop cans on the shelf and toss them over the ledge, or you can even tune the radio to check out what’s on the airwaves in City 17. Once you’re ready to get a move on, head up the stairs and into the windowed room. Press the yellow-highlighted button on the microphone console, and watch as Eli and Russell brief you on the day’s errands.

The yellow door on the far side of the room will unlock. Grab the red bars and pull them toward you, sliding open the door and leading you into a dimly lit hallway. Walk down the stairs to the end, open the door (by grabbing the handle) and walk out to a terrace overlooking another part of City 17. Watch the Strider climb over a nearby rooftop and wire up a power substation leading to the Citadel.

Head left up the next staircase and into a tightly packed studio. There are a few interactive objects in here. You can move the video camera on the far window by grabbing and pulling it, and you can look through its viewfinder.

When you’re ready to leave, just head through the next door, which will be immediately on the left of the door you entered the room through (or, to the left of the desk, opposite from the window on the far side of the room) and continue on into the enclosure. Press the red button next to the elevator door, then step inside once the door opens. Once inside of the elevator, press the green button at the bottom of the panel. It’ll let you out in a laundry room. Step forward a few feet and watch the Combine soldiers push the civilians around.

Head on through the door at the opposite side of the room and continue onward. Continue down the passage and open the next door. Go up the stairs and let the civilian talk to you for a moment through the bars until more Combine sweep through and set up the blue shield across the street. Turn all the way around and walk down the street, past the plaza, and take a right when you near the parked car. Continue up the staircase and through the door. After watching a civilian cross the hallway and close their door shut, walk up the staircase and take a right at the top.

You’ll come out onto a balcony with a ladder. Climb up the ladder onto the rooftop, and follow the wooden planks all the way to a shuttered window with a red handle. Grab the handle and lift it up, then mantle through it by pushing forward on your dominant hand’s analog stick or thumbpad.

Drop into the elevator below, and press the green button. A couple of Combine guards will be waiting for you as the doors open, and you’ll get to watch your father, Eli Vance, get taken captive. When the two Combine guards tell you to freeze in place and put your hands up, there’s no point in disobeying them, so sit tight and wait as the scene plays out.

After a short loading screen, you’ll wake up in the back of a Combine transport. Once again, sit tight and wait for the scene to play out. After the transport is “stopped”, Russell’s drone will come and deliver a headset to you. Grab it and throw it onto your head, then teleport out onto the other side of the transport door. Continue on down the street and take a left through the tunnel passage onto the next street. Continue once more until you come to a ramp, then travel to the top and teleport across to the shingled ledge opposite the ramp.

Hop off the ledge and continue down the alleyway into the nearest open door. You’ll find yourself in a fenced-off garage space with a parked car that has its driver-side door swung wide open. Work your way around the car (and close the door, it’s only polite!) to continue through the opening in the fence, opposite of where you came in. Head to the right, and you’ll find another open door. This time you’ll be greeted by Russell’s drone! Continue on past the playground and climb up the nearby ladder to another balcony. Walk down the balcony and teleport over the fence onto an impromptu walkway made of metal bars.

On the opposite side of the walkway is another shuttered window with a red handle. Grab it and pull it upward to enter the next room. In the next room, you’ll find a set of lockers on the far right side of the wall from where you first came in. Open the furthest locker to the right, and press the red button on the wall inside. The lockers will disappear, revealing a passage into Russell’s private headquarters. Grab literally any item nearby, and place it onto the glowing holographic circle on top of Russell’s studio table. It will activate a short scene where Russell explains his plan to break Eli out of confinement.

Grab the geiger counter off of the shelf and run it up alongside Russell to earn the Eye of the Geiger achievement.

Place the little baseball player onto the circle to earn the Little Slugger achievement.

Once Russell finishes speaking, turn around and stick your hands into the two tube-shaped machines that open up. When you pull them out, you’ll officially have your very first Russells (™), Russell’s prototype Gravity Gloves that let you grab items from far-away distances. Just point at whatever you’d like to grab, and it’ll highlight on your screen. You’ll also feel a gentle rumble, depending on what VR controller you’re using.

To pull an object close to you, grip it while it’s highlighted, then flick your wrist toward you. There will be a slight delay as the flicking motion only whips the object in your direction, so you’ll want to reach out and physically grab it as soon as it gets close to you. Continue through the door on your left, then jump down onto the crates below and keep moving. You’ll go through another door (to your left) and come out into a small parking area with another parked car. Russell will shout at you through the window to practice grabbing various items. Once you're done with that, he'll then drop a pistol for you to pick up. He’ll also throw you a single clip of ammo.

Shoot the lock, then move directly forward to the open train car. A single clip of pistol ammo will be sitting in a box directly in front of the train car. Throw it on your back to collect it, and keep moving.