Half-Life 3
When it happens to come back to talk about Half-Life 3, there are many fans who are overwhelmed by a whole series of very conflicting feelings. We all know very well what the fate of the third main chapter was, and even today there are those who have not given up hope of being able to really see the game in action one day or another. To date everything is still a distant mirage, but every now and then the web manages to exhume some anecdotes or details of the game never made.
These important artworks come from a friend of the youtuber, who defines himself as an assiduous collector of everything that gravitates around the Half-Life universe and managed to get his hands on some of these concepts directly from Valve. As we can see from the video, the world that we would have lived in Half-Life 3 would have been decidedly more desert than in City 17 and its surroundings.| ); } In addition to this, the artwork in question also shows us a new fauna of aliens and monstrous creatures, along with characters already known as Alyx. In short, if the Half-Life 3 wound is still open within you, these images could bring you some pain, but it is certainly fascinating to be able to see real finds related to one of the most anticipated, requested and, unfortunately, never released projects of the entire videogame history.
Half-Life 3 artwork from Valve suggests plans for sequel
Half-Life 3 artwork created by Valve has been unveiled on YouTube, suggesting what the long-absent sequel to sci-fi FPS hit Half-Life 2 might have looked like had it ever actually made it to Steam, alongside new production images for Left 4 Dead 2, and a possible early version of Half-Life: Alyx.
Of all the great mysteries in the world – the lost city of Atlantis, the disappearance of Shergar, how they managed to ruin the final season of Game of Thrones – the Half-Life 3 release date is perhaps the most plaguing. Almost 20 years since the launch of Half-Life 2, there has been so little by way of official news that it almost seems like Valve has forgotten that Half-Life 3 was ever even pitched or considered for production. It’s a bizarre, almost Mandela Effect kind of thing, where we all remember there once being a potential sequel to Half-Life 2, but Valve swears it never happened.
And so, these new images feel almost like artefacts from a parallel dimension, that have somehow slipped through a wormhole and landed in our own, bleak, Half-Life 3-less universe. Posted by YouTuber and Valve mega aficionado Tyler McVicker, they allegedly come from one of McVicker’s friends, a passionate collector of Valve merchandise and memorabilia. When Valve relocated its main offices, McVicker’s friend supposedly contacted the developer to ask if there were any mementos from the original building that they could obtain or buy. In amongst the haul, they eventually found several works of concept art connected to Half-Life 3.
Judging from what’s on show here, Half-Life 3’s world looks considerably more desolate than the Citadel and suburbs of Half-Life 2. There’s twisted Combine machinery, barren desert, and alien fauna encroaching further and further onto Earth. There’s also a concept piece for what looks like another member of the Combine race. Tiny and shrivelled, with no discernible features, it’s essentially a pale, chubby blob, almost like a gigantic tic or termite. It’s difficult to tell, but this looks like a child version of the gelatinous, horrifying Combine Advisors that are behind the entire invasion of our planet, and that we expected to learn more about if Half-Life 3 ever released.
You can also see an image of Alyx and her robotic pal Dog wandering through a strange, Dune-looking valley, which may have been intended for either an additional spin-off focusing on the two characters, or to serve simply as an early concept for Half-Life: Alyx. It also seems that Left 4 Dead 2 initially had more enemy types, as well as various different iterations of its iconic cover art.
There’s plenty here to speculate about, especially since the landscapes on display seems to contradict the icy, arctic environments teased at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Perhaps Half-Life 3 would have been a more globetrotting adventure, or perhaps the story would have been spread across a third Half-Life 2 episode and then a full sequel. We’ll never know.
Or will we? Check out everything we know about the Half-Life 3 release date, rumours, and news and see if you can piece the mystery together. You should also check out some of the best sci-fi games and best FPS games on PC, to help pass the months, years, and decades before Half-Life 3 finally surfaces.