Valve canceled five projects, including Half Life 3, before releasing Alyx

For years there has been speculation about the release of Half Life 3, which has become a meme. Now that Half Life Alyx is out, Valve has opened up about what happened to the series.

The documentary Half-Life: Alyx – Final Hours, appeared a few days ago on Steam. The documentary promised “an unprecedented and unadorned look at the last decade inside Valve«. Includes a look at multiple cancelled projects, one of them called Half-Life 3, plus Alyx concept art and other additions.

Valve canceled Half Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3

What is most striking about the documentary is that they detail that a complete Half-Life 3 was developed. It was briefly, between 2013 and 2014. Valve wanted to combine the procedural stage generation with a certain linearity to make the game more replayable. This idea was inspired in part by Left 4 Dead, which offers a procedural position of the zombies on fixed maps. However, it was eventually canceled because the Source 2 engine it was initially being developed on was not finished.

There were also a couple of Half-Life-themed VR projects, including one that fits the synopsis for Episode 3 that was leaked by writer Marc Laidlaw. According to an IGN report on the documentary, at least five projects from the Half-Life series were proposed and scrapped between the release of Episode 2 and Alyx. Those other canceled projects include Left 4 Dead 3 with open world, an RPG inspired by The Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls and a Minecraft-style voxel game. There was also “Vader,” a virtual reality headset idea that reportedly sold for $5.

In the documentary it is seen that the majority of the team wants to make a new Half Life. But they have doubts about whether Valve wants to take on a project of that magnitude or whether it will continue to focus on virtual reality for the foreseeable future. But the possibility is at least on the table.

Source: PC Gamer