It Doesn’t Look Like Half Life 3 Will Be Happening This Year…Again

Without a doubt, the Half-Life series has given us some of the best games to ever exist on this sacred planet. The first two installments combined awesome gameplay with a compelling storyline, something very few franchises have ever managed to achieve.

But it’s been over a decade since Half-Life 2 was released. And here we are still waiting.

Half Life Series Rumor Mill

Rumors of a third installment first appeared in 2012. Back then it was said that the big reveal would be made at that year’s E3. Coincidentally, Game of Thrones fans were also waiting for George R.R. Martin to release the next novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series that year. Fortunately, Mr. Martin delivered and the books have gone on to be a hit television series produced by HBO.

If only Half-Life fans could be so lucky. Everything’s been speculated about HL3 – from survival horror elements to it being an open-world game. But in all in these years, we haven’t heard anything official nor definite Valve. Some have even accused the company of intentionally leading people with false leaks.

Take this comment by Reddit user digital_refugee.

“The biggest indicator so far is that Valve picked up merchandise again… Gives credence to all other leaks which were most certainly intentionally placed to test for reactions. Alas, they made leaks intentionally cringy to retain plausible deniability and test public reactions without actually saying anything officially.”

Fan Game

A glimmer on this otherwise gloomy horizon is Project Borealis. This fan-made game is based on the unofficial Half-Life 3 plot synopsis by Marc Laidlaw. He is a former Valve writer who worked on the series.

You can watch what these amateur developers have done so far here.

Still, it’s not HL3. Another Reddit commenter stressed on the fact that it won’t be a proper Half-Life game if it isn’t made by Valve. But given the potential of Project Borealis, the devs behind it could be employed by the company for access to full resources.

Whether it’s episode three or a third game, we don’t know. Still, here’s hoping that we haven’t seen the last of Gordon Freeman and the Half-Life series.