The year was 2004. Six years had passed since Valve released its seminal first-person shooter, Half-Life, and anticipation was high for whatever shenanigans the game’s protagonist, Gordon Freeman, would get up to in the sequel.
When Half-Life 2 finally dropped, it was a groundbreaking revelation that introduced beloved characters like Alyx to the world and redefined what a first-person shooter could look and play like.
But beyond the critical and commercial acclaim Half-Life 2 got, its greatest legacy will forever be the epic troll job Valve pulled following the game’s release.
Valve stated that there will be a sequel in the form of three episodic games rather than one big game. This was done so the studio could release more Gordon Freeman content far more quickly compared to the usual method of toiling away for years on end and making fans wait. As further clarification, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell said these three episodes are essentially the first part of Half-Life 3.
While Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively, Episode Three missed its Christmas 2007 release date… and has been missing since.
At first it seemed like a simple delay, but as the years ticked away and the slew of news updates from Valve quickly dried up. Since Episode Two ended on a massive cliffhanger involving Gordon Freeman and Alyx, having no closure to that unresolved storyline slowly ate away at fans, especially as year after year went by without nary a peep from Valve.
Half-Life 3 gradually worked its way from anticipated title to legend and finally to a trolling masterclass.
Fans were at a loss as to why the game disappeared off the face of the earth and soon rumours started forming. Are Valve slowly working away on it this whole time? Was the game scrapped and forgotten? Is it actually done and Valve have been sitting on it?
No one knows for sure besides those who work at Valve but based on reporting from Game Informer, Half-Life 3 never existed or even properly announced. The closest thing were those two episodes after Half-Life 2 and even those are considered to be “an unfulfilled promise.”
With long-time Valve writer Marc Laidlaw departing from the company in 2017, Half-Life 3 is considered to be dead. For what it’s worth, Laidlaw himself thinks this was all part of Valve’s modus operandi as every installment in the series ended on some big cliffhanger, and there was never any intention of tying up all the loose ends in Half-Life 2.
Seeing as how Valve have said virtually nothing regarding Half-Life 3, gamers are still holding out hope that the game will come out someday.
What began as a missed deadline soon gave way to an unintentional masterclass on how to troll a massive legion of gamers. The fact that we’re still talking about this 15 years since 2’s release speaks volumes to the power the game still holds among the faithful.
Valve have clearly not forgotten either and saw fit to announce a new Half-Life game on 2‘s 15-year anniversary. The catch?
It’s not the mythical Half-Life 3 but rather a VR game titled Half-Life: Alyx, which takes place between the first and second games.
To be fair, Valve did give everyone a new Half-Life game. It’s just not the one fans expected. Seems like after all these years, memes and articles, the folks at Valve are still trolling us over the mythical third game and are destined to do so forever.