Nightmare House 2

Nightmare House 2 is a mod for Half-Life 2: Episode 2 using Valve's Source engine. Nightmare House 2 is the sequel to Nightmare House, a horror themed map pack for Half-Life 2. Set an unknown amount of time after Nightmare House, Nightmare House 2 resumes with the player lost and confused in the middle of a mental asylum section of a hospital.

Plot
Continuing the story from the first Nightmare House, the player wakes and finds himself in an asylum-style padded room. He then proceeds to leave and has visions of a ghostly woman, whose name is Emily, while exploring the general area. Eventually the player is contacted by one Dr. Romero, who is seemingly trapped in the hospital as well and guides the player through various obstacles as well as directly assisting him. After a brief journey through the hospital where the player encounters strange anomalies as well as zombies the player meets a dispatched SWAT team who are at the location for an unclear search and destroy objective. The men enlist the player's help due to his seeming knowledge of the hospital layout. As they fight their way past various enemies, a member of the SWAT team is killed and the player is separated from the group. After continuing his trip through the hospital and witnessing more strange phenomenon as well as visions of Emily, the player regroups with the SWAT team. Once again, the team is forced to fight their way past various enemies, but suffers a tragic death when a SWAT member is overwhelmed by the paranormal energy and is killed out of self defense. Weary of the mission, the SWAT leader decides to call an evac and abandon their mission. Another casualty occurs as the group attempts to retreat when a mysterious enemy drags a SWAT member underneath a garage door and out of sight. Despite the tragic losses and heavy resistance the remaining team members finally arrive at the extraction point, only for their helicopter to be destroyed by some sort of psychic energy which knocks the player unconcious and critically wounds the SWAT leader. When the player awakens, the SWAT leader reveals that their objective was Dr. Romero all along, as he has built a psychic device capable of killing. The player is left alone when the SWAT leader sucumbs to his wounds and goes to find Dr. Romero alone. By this point Dr. Romero, recognizing that the player has discovered the truth, gives him two choices:leave the hospital, or continue his quest to kill him.

If the player chooses to leave, he enters into a lobby like area. From there he can leave out the doors, or, if he changes his mind, he can go back into the elevator and continue to the basement to fight Dr. Romero. Going outside causes the announcer to thank him for visiting Never Lose Hope Hospital. After an extremely short pause, she then whispers a desperate warning: "DON'T GO OUT!" Continuing on, Emily will appear, knock you to the ground, and kill the player using what is apparently a psychic attack (which is animated by the finger gun taunt from Team Fortress 2). A black screen comes on, and the credits roll.

If the player chooses to eliminate Dr. Romero, a large fight will occur between the player and Romero's psychic "core" machine, after which the ghostly woman, Doctor Romero's wife, will appear and kill him. She will then approach the player, lying paralyzed on the floor, and say "Thank you." Then the screen goes white and the credits roll.

There is controversy as to whether the player character dies at this point (either by Emily's hand or his wounds from the effects of the core) or simply passes out, free to leave the hospital upon awakening.

Development
Nightmare House 2 has been in development since 2007. Unlike its predecessor, Nightmare House 2 has a serious plot and features several new characters. Nightmare House 2 is also considerably longer than Nightmare House and Nightmare House: Remake. During development Nightmare House 2 has been restarted from scratch multiple times for various reasons. Two trailers and a teaser have been released for the mod. The most recent trailer was released in August 2009.

Release
Nightmare House 2 was released on the 22nd of August, 2010. It is available for free download and only requires a copy of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to play. It contains a prologue chapter which is a remake of Nightmare House: Remake which does not require Counter-Strike: Source to play, as opposed to the original remake.