After over six months of development, Geoff Keighley’s latest interactive deep-dive into video game production is available today. Since its initial announcement last November, Valve andHalf-Lifefans alike have been eagerly waitingThe Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyxbecause of its inside look into both the VR adventure’s development process and Valve’s long hiatus from making video games. Now, the Steam app’s users are discovering new details aboutValve’s many shelved projects,including the mythicalHalf-Life 3.
Details from Keighley’s new fifteen chapter feature reveal that Valve considered “at least” fiveHalf-Lifefollowups leading up toHalf-Life Alyx. However, the making-of documentary does not go into further detail about these pitches and sharpens its focus on the one game that Valve actually namedHalf-Life 3.Unfortunately,like series writer Marc Laidlaw’s plans,this project did not last long before its cancellation.
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According toThe Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx,Valve developed itsHalf-Life 3project between 2013 and 2014. Although the games' creators intended to build the game in the Source 2 engine, the software was still in its infancy at the time of development. Influenced by the success ofLeft 4 Dead,the developer intended to emulate the zombie shooter’s gameplay and procedural generation of environments and missions.
To elaborate further, Keighley described a scenario where the game created randomized buildings, objectives, and enemies.Half-Life 3would then create a route for the player to follow and achieve the missions between established story beats.Due to Source 2’s incomplete state,the developers ultimately gave up on the project, but not before the development team scanned Frank Sheldon, who portrayed G-Man, into the game’s files.
While this version ofHalf-Life 3seems intriguing, the difficulties in developing such an ambitious game on an unfinished engine do explain the project’s cancellation. However,Valve’s vision for the lostHalf-Lifegameis still in line with its desire to re-define how video games are made. Although the developer has finally released details onHalf-Life 3,it does not necessarily mean that the franchise won’t continue. After all,Half-Life: Alyx’s ending opened up new possibilities for the series, and the VR game’s developers are open to continuing their story.
The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyxis available now on PC and Steam.
