I was seven years old when Eli Vance died at the end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. As the screen faded to black, leaving me alone with the haunting cries of a grieving Alyx, the excitement for what would come next was truly bittersweet; I vividly remember turning to my dad and saying “I can’t wait” through the tears. This classic game’s closing moments promised a revenge-fuelled trip to the Arctic, a reunion with Judith Mossman, and a chance to finally put an end to the Combine (or at least, their Orwellian control over Earth), all wrapped up in a Portal-themed bow. I’m 24 and still waiting.
Episode Three, and even the Arkane-helmed Episode Four, were both cancelled. The series was, ironically, put on ice. Valve would return with a VR-exclusive spin-off/pseudo-sequel 13 years later named after Alyx, but this too ended on the same cliffhanger, albeit remixed. Now, Eli was alive, but Alyx had been taken by the elusive G-Man.
That long-awaited return was five years ago, and we’re no closer to finding out where the story will go once we leave that White Forest hangar than in 2007.
It’s Time For Gordon Freeman To Hang Up The Crowbar
But that finally looks set to change. A game called “HLX” has been found in the backend of several Valve games for years now, and it’s widely believed to be Half-Life 3. At the end of 2024, it was reported to have undergone late-stage playtests with family and friends, and it appears to have spent the last couple of months in the optimisation phase. And just yesterday, reliable leaker Gabe Follower made a bold claim — “Half-Life 3 will be the end of Gordon’s adventure”.
However, when announcing this, he made sure to temper expectations, saying that “this may upset some people”. But it shouldn’t. This is the best news we’ve had yet. Half-Life 3 won’t end on a cliffhanger – there will finally be a resolution.
I understand the reluctance to move on from Gordon, and the appeal of anthology-style stories where he’s interspersed throughout humanity’s future, fighting the good fight, but we’re talking about Valve here: the studio that rakes in billions of dollars from Steam every year, and which isn’t beholden to shareholders. It’s a double-edged sword that means projects regularly get cancelled on a whim so that developers can focus on more fulfilling work, but when devs are truly passionate about something, they aren’t rushed to a deadline.
It’s also worth noting that Gordon’s story coming to a close still leaves room for spin-offs. C’mon, give us another Barney game.
Alyx was internally delayed a year to undergo rewrites, and the final story is one of the most poignant in gaming history, let alone VR. But that approach is also what led to numerous iterations of Episode Three and Half-Life 3 being cancelled, as Valve felt it wasn’t pushing the envelope forward enough. It’s a miracle that HLX appears to be going as well as it is; for many, myself included, Alyx felt like a fluke. Wanting Gordon’s story to continue means HL3 has to end in a place where that’s possible, and I’d much rather his arc finally wrap up, because there’s no guarantee that we’ll get another sequel — and even if we do, we could be waiting another 20 years.
I have no idea if the ending will be good or bad. There are some pretty big risks, from ripping away G-Man’s mystique to upending the cosmic horror of the Combine in a low-stakes shootout, worries that have no doubt plagued Valve for years as expectations snowballed among the community. But I’m excited for Valve to at least finally attempt an ending, and to be left with answers instead of dangling on the precipice yet again. I don’t want to be in my 40s, waiting for the next ‘chapter’ in a story losing its lustre with every decade that passes, desperately clinging onto leaks and rumours.
I’ll just be happy to see the series retire with Gordon, so we can all move on with our lives and leave Half-Life behind on our own terms.
Half-Life
- Released
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November 19, 1998
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Publisher(s)
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Sierra Studios