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I think it makes sense to write at length about how alone he (and you) is with his thoughts, and it gives you time to think about lore

That doesn't really make for a good game though, and personally I think the decompression levels are the ones like Black Mesa East where the story even kinda stops just so you can play with the new weapon in a zero-risk area for a couple minutes, after dumping some more lore for the player in Eli's lab.

Water Hazard though, that comes after Route Canal and the escape from City 17, both chapters that didn't have much direct storytelling, so by the time I get to the air boat, I'm already wanting for more than just combat encounters, but instead it's just a string of riding and stopping. I think I heard this analogy from Errant Signal, but it's like a book with the pages stuck together: you want to get to the next page but every time you have to stop and unstick them, it only gets in the way.