"Did you see it? They say it came from the Challenger Deep, but I'm certain that creature never swam in terrestrial waters until a week ago!"
Gordon winds up stumbling into an area of Black Mesa where many of its sections have become flooded and underwater. After navigating through the flooded portion of the facility and encountering the terrifying Ichthyosaurs, Gordon has a surprise battle with Black Operatives. Gordon almost escapes to the surface... but is "apprehended" by a HECU ambush, putting him in extreme peril. He briefly wakes up seeing two HECU marines carrying him elsewhere prepared to kill him off before falling back unconscious.
This Chapter contains examples of:
- Automatic Crossbow: A badass one is found to help combat the underwater menaces.
- Awesome, but Temporary: You have the crossbow for all of half a chapter before the Marines knock your ass out and take all your weapons.
- Combat Pragmatist: Gunfights in well-lit areas haven't been working, so the Marines lock Gordon in a dark room, jump him, and beat him into unconsciousness.
- Down the Drain: The setting is a dingy, flooded silo of some sort with a dreary mood to it (a recreation
has been made of how it looked before it fell to disrepair). - Hazardous Water: The Ichthyosaur is a vicious, shark-like monster that swims in dark, murky water. There are several of them in this chapter.
- Hell Is That Noise: A rare human example: the footsteps of the black-ops assassins are surprisingly intimidating.
- His Name Is...: Near the end of the chapter, a security guard starts to relay a message that begins with "Make sure you don't..." before he drops dead, indicating the presence of the Black Ops assassins in the area.
- Inescapable Ambush: The HECU pull one.
- Jump Scare: The assassins make their entrance as such; see Killed Mid-Sentence below.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: A guard tries to warn you about something (possibly the ambush), but is shot in the back of the neck by a silenced weapon before he can get the warning out. And the shooter is invisible.
- New Weapon Target Range: The crossbow is found in a shark cage that immediately drops you into the water with a big, swimming enemy, giving you the chance to learn that the crossbow is both the only weapon besides the pistol that works underwater, and it's also quite powerful.
- Psychological Horror / Nothing Is Scarier: Being unable to see both the Ichthyosaurs and the black ops assassins most of the time makes them that much scarier.
- Safe Zone Hope Spot: You can avoid the Ichthyosaurs by staying on the catwalks until they break.
- Sequence Breaking: In the first Ichthyosaur room where you pick up the Crossbow, there's a Barnacle tongue that can pull you up to an unreachable door to the next area. Thus, skipping the need to take the underwater path that's guarded by the Ichthyosaur.
- Sidetrack Bonus: While traversing the flooded tunnels before encountering the first Ichthyosaur room, there's a locked off underwater room that requires a bit of thinking to get into. Breaking into this flooded room provides a lot of ammo for the Crossbow that you're about to pick up.
- Spoiler Title: If the title of the chapter is interpreted as "an arrest/capture" then it may tip off a player to Gordon's upcoming capture. At the same time, "anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen." fits the tone of the chapter because of the final battle with the Black Ops before capture.
- Underwater Boss Battle: Calling the Ichthyosaurs bosses is a slight exaggeration, but they are rather formidable.
- Under the Sea: Gordon has to make his way through a section of Black Mesa that's become partially flooded. Some tunnels even needing to be swam through.
- Video Game Setpiece: Your introduction to the first Ichthyosaur has it leaping from the water to grab a scientist and pull him below.
- Wham Episode: Gordon's One-Man Army streak is broken as he is subdued and captured.
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: Double Subverted. Two marines who capture Freeman decide they should kill him instead of taking him in for questioning, in case he escapes and causes more trouble. But they don't shoot him; They just leave him in a trash compactor, still breathing. Cut content for Decay revealed that they WOULD have shot Freeman if Cross and Green didn't get involved.
