The Half-Life Story Guide, widely known as the best fan-maintained site dedicated to unraveling and documenting the cryptic fiction of Valve's going Half-Life series, has now been updated to take into account Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The guide is maintained by Shacker ventro, who in other circles goes by the name Chan Karunamuni.

Karunamuni mainly compiles his research into an impressive and attractive timeline, breaking down events not only by game but by year--and starting some five years before the events of Half-Life itself. Of course with any project like this, particularly given how cryptic the plot revelations in the Half-Life games tend to be, Karunamuni has to make some inferences and speculations but, as Valve's Gary McTaggart once told him, "Good job! [Valve lead writer] Marc Laidlaw pointed this out to me as being pretty darn accurate for the most part."

For those who disagree with his summary of the events, he has a FAQ page addressing many common questions and criticisms. There's also a bit of extra background information on the Combine and their place in the saga.

It's a hugely impressive effort, an attractively-designed one to boot, and it has an unofficial endorsement from the guy who wrote all this original fiction in the first place. If you're interested in the adventures of Gordon Freeman and the fiction behind them, go check it out.

Spoilers abound.