Where's Half-Life 3? When is Half-Life 3 coming out? Ever since Half-Life 2: Episode 2 left us all hanging, fans have been asking when and where we'll get to see the next chapter of Gordon Freeman's story. But according to a Game Informer interview with an alleged Valve insider, the answer is probably never.
Now before we go any further, make sure you've got a big ol' heap of Sodium Chloride on hand, because even Game Informer suggests we take this interview with a grain (or three) of salt. That being said, let's dig into some of the biggest takeaways:
First, the source clears up some misconceptions. "There is no such thing as Half-Life 3," they proclaim. "Valve has never announced a Half-Life 3. The closest they’ve come is after Half-Life 2, they said there would be three episodes. We only got two of those. That is arguably an unfulfilled promise. Anything else that we might think about as a full game or sequel has never been promised. I only mention that because it’s sometimes frustrating when people sort of assume or have wishful thinking about the future."
Okay, so Valve has never officially announced the game. Fair enough. But what about internal prototypes, you might ask. Was the game ever even in development? Well, that's a bit trickier to answer. According to Game Informer, Valve's interior structure isn't like a traditional studio, with teams delegated to working on set projects. Ideas pop up from all over the company and disintegrate as quickly as they're formed. As the anonymous source puts it:
"I know at various times there have been different groups of people that have started things that they hoped and imagined would be Half-Life 3," the source says. "I’ve heard that some teams have had two to three people working on it, and they eventually ran into a wall, and some teams may have gotten up to 30 or 40 people before it was scrapped."
"Some [ideas] are all over the place, from one end of the spectrum being what you would expect – a single-player narrative-focused game – to completely different entertainment ideas that are as wild as they are weird. They were thinking about using the Half-Life characters as a brand for entirely different purposes. Some were bizarre, like turning Half-Life into an RTS, or a live-action, choice-driven game. These things have been contemplated by people, but were never being considered by the whole of Valve as 'Yeah, that was the plan.' The nature of Valve is there aren’t plans like that. That’s not how Valve operates."
Although the alleged insider sees another standalone Half-Life game as a possibility, he or she doesn't seem to have much faith in the idea. "I don't think there will be any more [Half-Life games]," they say. And if this makes you feel a stabbing sensation in your heart, Game Informer's source has words that, while not the most comforting, may help: "The pain subsides with time."
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