A new Half-Life 3 rumor may be disappointing for those waiting for a big resurgence for the series. In 2004, Valve unleashed something that would change gaming forever. Half-Life 2 was a game changing release thanks to its physics, storytelling, and more. Not only that, but it showcased Valve’s Steam experiment was a success and showed that big games could release on this digital storefront. Valve continued to innovate by releasing episodic continuations of the game which allowed fans to stay updated on Gordon Freeman’s journey without having to wait 3 – 5 years for a sequel. Unfortunately, this all went awry when it came time to make Half-Life 2: Episode 3, which has been simply referred to as Half-Life 3 at this point.
Half-Life 3 was in the works at various points at Valve, but various obstacles prevented Valve from ever seeing it through to the finish line. It hurt a lot of fans who wanted closure to the story, especially after the second episode had a massive cliffhanger that left fans wondering what happened next. It has now been almost 20 years and we still have no official word on Half-Life 3. However, in 2020, Valve released Half-Life Alyx which also ends on a massive cliffhanger that connects back to the end of Episode 2. It seems like Valve wrote themselves a new ending so that they could keep this story going in a very specific way.
There have been rumors that Valve is working on Half-Life 3 since 2020, which seems to make sense. Why would Valve give fans another big cliffhanger if it had no intention to follow through, it would only create more backlash. Rumors indicate that Half-Life 3 could be coming sooner than we think, possibly later this year, but Valve has yet to comment. However, a new rumor from DanielRPK on Patreon indicates that Valve wants to leave the series behind after Half-Life 3. The leaker claimed that Half-Life 3 has been designed to be the “final chapter in the franchise”, which may make sense. Given the amount of time and pressure that has come from trying to bring this game to life, Valve may not want to trap themselves into another long-term commitment with Half-Life fans.
It’s hard to imagine the series fully going away after Half-Life 3, but it could be the end of the mainline series and Gordon Freeman’s story. Perhaps there will be more spin-offs in the vein of Half-Life Alyx in the future or something of that nature. The Half-Life universe is massive and it would be a shame to just abandon it once the main story concludes, unless there’s some world-ending event to prevent such a thing from even existing.
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Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/half-life-3-rumor-last-game-trilogy-valve/
