Just finished Half-Life 2: Episode One for the first time in 10+ years (Posted about my experience with Black Mesa and base HL2 in the general thread for whatever reason) and wow, I actually enjoyed that way more than I was expecting, a lot lot more. Better than base HL2 I'd say barring the obvious shortness. One of the best parts of the Half-Life games is the escalation pacing they provide. At Black Mesa, things start off survival drama/horror-ish, then when the US Army arrives and the mid-game becomes a survivalist action movie, then the late-game is all-out war, total chaos and ends with you killing a cosmic god in another dimension. HL2 has similar, with you beginning as a civilian in a totalitarian nightmare, then a fugitive taking potshots at Civil Protection and fleeing through sewers and canals, then you're on a mission to make a surgical strike on a concentration camp which turns into an all out siege preparing you for the return to City-17 under total uprising as you take down chokepoints and bring the resistance closer to the alien citadel of their control.
I'd expected since Episode One is a direct continuation of the chaos that Hl2 ends on and due to its brevity it wouldn't have that, but it does in its own way. Reaching the Citadel reactor is a creepy and tense experience, and fighting through the pitch black car tunnels with less than 8 shots of shotgun ammo and no crowbar puts you on the backfoot and disarms you without it feeling cheap at all in many sequels that strip you of your previous game's late stage power, and then it builds up again as you chaotically escape City-17.
What's really great about Episode One, is Alyx. She's a fun character in HL2 but is basically an afterthought to the experience. Episode One puts her in a central role and tbh I have not seen a game handle an NPC follower/escort, ESPECIALLY an FPS, as well as Alyx. She feels like she has legitimate purpose and function alongside Gordon and in some of those earlier resource-scare levels she saved my ass, but she still feels like she needs you as much as you need her. It's a great symbiosis.
Writing wise she's great as well. She's a self-assured and badass girl but she wonderfully avoids the headache inducing "Strong woman" archetype perfected by Joss Whedon that you see so much. She feels like a real person. She cracks jokes and fights competently, but she's also scared shitless by stuff that would be terrifying to a person in that situation, and even stuff like switching off your flashlight in the pitch-black tunnells she gets nervous and a little bit panicked under pressure. She also avoids the annoying trope-y female character writing in that whilst she can handle herself without Gordon and helps him considerably in a fight, she is legitimately appreciative and in awe at your actions as a hyper-competent vidya protagonist, poorer writing would have her making jokes at Gordon's expense or somehow trying to say that she is "better" than Gordon. I'd list some examples of characters that do just that, but there are just too many.
Instead she feels like an actual person and your mutual partner in survival, and it's achieved in less than a couple hours. Weirdly, the budding 'romance' between her and Gordon feels shockingly natural despite the fact that Gordon is a silent protagonist. I always remembered it as being really weird and out of place but playing through now, I actually get it.
Really looking forward to Episode Two.
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