Unreleased Half-Life games

On November 23, 1999, GameSpot reported that 2015, Inc. was developing a Half-Life expansion pack to follow Half-Life: Opposing Force. 2015, Inc declined to comment.[2] On March 18, 2000, the Adrenaline Vault reported that the new expansion was named Half-Life: Hostile Takeover, and that it had appeared on retail product lists with a release date of late August.[3] On August 7, the Adrenaline Vault reported that Half-Life publisher Sierra had informed them that Hostile Takeover had been canceled. The stock keeping unit for Hostile Takeover was repurposed by online retailers for Half-Life: Counter-Strike.[4] On June 21, 2001, Valve filed a video game trademark for "Hostile Takeover". After several extensions, the trademark expired on October 3, 2004.[5]

On February 14, 2000, Sierra announced that a port of Half-Life to the Dreamcast console was in development by Captivation Digital Laboratories with Valve and Gearbox Software. The Dreamcast port would feature several improvements over the PC version, including higher-polygon player characters and new lighting effects. Gearbox, who had developed Opposing Force, would create a new single-player campaign for the Dreamcast port, Half-Life: Blue Shift, focusing on the security guard character Barney.[6] The port was delayed to September,[7] then November.[8] At the European Computer Trade Show that September, a Sierra representative told the press that the Dreamcast port would not feature online play.[9]

In November, game publications began to receive early copies for review. Reception was mixed, with criticism for the inconsistent framerate, long loading times, and lack of online play.[10][11] Recognizing the demand for online play, Sierra planned to release a version of the port with online multiplayer using SegaNet. According to Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, he had discussed including Half-Life's deathmatch mode, Team Fortress Classic, Opposing Force's multiplayer modes, and one or more multiplayer Half-Life mods in the multiplayer Dreamcast release.[12][13] Sierra delayed the game again to ensure that the "high expectations of consumers" were met, stating that they hoped to finish development by the end of the year.[14]

Sierra announced on March 29, 2001 that Blue Shift would be released for Windows[15] along with the new models that had been developed for the Dreamcast version as part of the Half-Life High Definition Pack.[16] On June 16, 2001, four days after the release of Blue Shift, Sierra announced that it had cancelled the Dreamcast port, citing "changing market conditions".[17] It was only a few weeks away from its release date and was virtually complete.[18] In 2013, a late build of the Dreamcast version leaked online, featuring complete versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift.[19]

Valve president Gabe Newell in 2018

In May 2006, Valve announced a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004).[20] Valve president Gabe Newell said the approach would allow Valve to release products more quickly after the six-year Half-Life 2 development, and that he considered the trilogy the equivalent of Half-Life 3.[21]

Episode One was released on June 1, 2006, followed by Episode Two on October 10, 2007.[22][23] Episode Three was initially planned for Christmas 2007.[24] Concept art surfaced in 2008,[25][26][27] and reports surfaced that Valve was working with sign language and on a deaf character.[28][29][30] Valve released little information about Episode Three in the following years; though Valve still discussed Half-Life, there was no clarity on whether further games were coming.[31]

In March 2010, Newell spoke of "broadening the emotional palette" of the series, and said the next Half-Life game may return to "genuinely scaring the player".[32] In 2011, he said: "We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles ... For me, 'entertainment as a service' is a clear distillation of the episodic content model."[33] That year, Wired described Episode Three as vaporware.[34]

After Episode Two, Valve abandoned episodic development, as they wanted to create more ambitious installments. According to level designer Dario Casali, with Episode Two, "We found ourselves creeping ever forward towards, ‘Well, let's just keeping putting more and more, and more, and more stuff in this game because we want to make it as good as we can,' and then we realized these episodes are turning more into sequels."[35] Additionally, Valve had started development of a new game engine, Source 2; as developing Half-Life 2 and the original Source engine simultaneously had created problems, Valve delayed development of a new Half-Life until the engine was complete.[35]

In 2016, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw left Valve.[36] Laidlaw said he had intended Episode Three to end the Half-Life 2 arc, at which point he would "step away from it and leave it to the next generation". He planned an ending similar to previous games, with player character Gordon Freeman left "in an indeterminate space, on hold ... So one cliffhanger after another ... I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever."[37]

In 2017, Laidlaw posted a short story, "Epistle 3", on his website.[38] The story features characters with names similar to Half-Life characters, such as "Gertie Fremont" for Gordon Freeman.[39] Substituting the characters with their Half-Life counterparts, the story sees Freeman and his allies travel to the Arctic to board the Borealis, a ship that travels erratically through time and space, where they "confront myriad versions" of themselves. They rig the ship to travel to the heart of the Combine empire and self-destruct, but the explosion is not sufficient to destroy the Combine's Dyson Sphere. Alyx is taken by the G-Man and Gordon is rescued by the Vortigaunts, with most of the Resistance dead and the success of their uprising uncertain.[39]

Laidlaw described the story as a "snapshot of a dream I had many years ago".[38] Journalists interpreted it as a summary of what could have been the plot for Episode Three; alternatively, it may have been intended for Borealis, another canceled project.[40] After Laidlaw published the story, some players left negative reviews for Dota 2 on Steam, believing that Valve had forgone the Half-Life series.[41] The story led to a number of fan efforts to create Episode Three.[42][43][44] In 2020, designer Robin Walker denied that the "Epistle 3" story had been Valve's plan for Episode Three, and said that it was likely just one of many ideas by Laidlaw.[45]

Warren Spector (pictured in 2010) led development of a cancelled Half-Life 2 episode.

Another Half-Life 2 episode was developed by Junction Point Studios, led by Warren Spector. The episode showed how Ravenholm became the town seen in Half-Life 2, infested with headcrabs and zombies, and saw the return of the character of Father Grigori.[46] It included a "magnet gun", which fired projectiles that magnetized metal surfaces and attracted objects and enemies, and would have been used for combat and puzzles.[47]

Junction Point worked on the game for a year, producing enough content to demonstrate one section of the game, and a vertical slice that demonstrated the magnet gun. Valve became uninterested in the project and Junction Point dropped it to develop Epic Mickey.[48][49] Images of the game appeared in early 2017.[46]

In 2007 or 2008, Valve gave the Junction Point project to Arkane Studios in Lyon, France. They developed it into a standalone game[50] with the working title Ravenholm. Players controlled Adrian Shephard from Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999), working alongside Father Grigori, who had taken refuge in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Grigori was experimenting with the effects of headcrab venom on himself, and would mutate through the story. The player would use the magnet gun and traps created by Grigori against enemies. Arkane also implemented a nailgun that could create paths to conduct electricity and set traps.[50]

Valve gave Arkane freedom to develop Ravenholm, as they had with Gearbox and Opposing Force, providing feedback and technical support.[50] With approximately one year left of development, Valve canceled the project; Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio believed that Valve decided it would be too expensive,[50] and Laidlaw said that Valve felt the premise was creatively constrained.[51][52][53] Ravenholm was first shown to the public in a 2020 Noclip documentary.[50]

Half-Life 3 was in development between 2013 and 2014. Valve planned to use procedurally generated levels alongside a "crafted experience", similar to the Left 4 Dead series; for example, the game would generate different routes through environments each time it was played. For the project, the team re-scanned the face of Frank Sheldon, the actor whose likeness was used for the G-Man character in Half-Life 2. The project was canceled early in development as the Source 2 engine was not yet stable.[1]

Before his departure from Valve in 2016, Laidlaw led a virtual reality project on the Source 2 engine named Borealis, set on the time-travelling ship alluded to in Episode Two and Portal 2. The game would skip between the time of the Seven Hour War, the period in which the Combine conquered Earth before Half-Life 2, and a time set shortly after the events of Episode Two. A minigame in which players would fish off the bow of the ship was also proposed.[1] Borealis may have been the project that inspired Laidlaw's "Epistle 3" story.[40]