What Half-Life 3 could have looked like – Unexpected update from former Valve writer

Abandoned project

Marc Laidlaw is the one who is responsible for the narratives of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2 and he was also lead writer for both Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and Half-Life 2 Episode 2.  Naturally, Half Life fans were convinced that the series will continue and Laidlaw will keep writing. Valve appeared to confirm those rumors back in 2006, when Half-Life 2 was called “a trilogy”. However, back then the company also declared that the last installment in the series will be launched by Christmas, 2007. That did not happen and the third game was never released. Eventually, Marc Laidlaw left Valve.

Epistle 3

Laidlaw managed to make the entire fanbase fall apart. He recently posted a text that had the title “Epistle 3”. It was very obvious that he used different names and genders for the characters of Half-Play and many are convinced that this letter is actually the plot for Half-Life 3. However, it is not clear if this is (/was) the official narrative or if it is just Laidlaw’s take on the ending.

His website went down

Thousands of fans accessed his website right away, which led to the site’s crash. Now it is back up and you can read the full letter on marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/. The situation appeared to amuse Laidlaw. “My website’s down for now. I guess fanfic is popular, even a genderswapped snapshot of a dream I had many years ago.” he tweeted. Is “a dream I had many years ago” Marc’s way of telling us that Half-Life 3 will never become a reality? Or is this letter a subtle sign that Valve hasn’t abandoned the project? Only time will tell.

No matter what the truth is, this new update brought hope for the fans once again.