In an official documentary published on the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, Valve employees spoke not only about the development of the legendary shooter, but also about unsuccessful attempts to release its sequel.
Image source: Valve
Let’s remember that after its release in 2004, Half-Life 2 received two episodes: Episode One in 2006 and Episode Two in 2007. Episode Three never came out. At first, the threequel was hampered by the original Left 4 Dead.
The co-op shooter needed help to release, and some of the Episode Three developers were distracted from the main project. By the time the experts started thinking about returning to creating the game, “it was already late”.
Concept art of Half-Life 2: Episode Three
The developers admit that they could finish the threequel in one and a half to two years. “It wouldn’t be that hard… But I couldn’t see how making Episode 3 was moving anything forward.”complains Valve CEO Gabe Newell.
At the time of cancellation, the team had managed to create working versions of several levels. The documentary showed (see video below) a selection of concept art and a couple of developments for Half-Life 2: Episode Three:
- ice cannon – allowed to form barricades and lay a path of ice underneath;
- enemy-slug – could change shape and split into several smaller slugs.
According to Newell, for the studio, Half-Life has always been a tool for demonstrating innovation to gamers and promising unprecedented gaming experiences, and currently “We have no shortage of such opportunities in the industry.”.
According to the findings of data miners, Valve is now busy developing a game codenamed hlx – a non-VR sequel to Half-Life: Alyx, which takes the place of Half-Life 3 in the chronology of the universe.
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