Sometimes speculating about what the games we never got might have looked like had they graced us with their presence can be more fun than playing those that did actually arrive as planned.
Whether it’s Sleeping Dogs 2 or another entry in the Burnout series designed to build on the great work that went into Paradise, the mind truly boggles.
That said, there’s one series that arguably trumps all others in this regard, with Half Life 2: Episode 3, aka Half Life 3, having gained meme status and still being tantalising enough to reduce 2022’s Redditors to a giddy mess.
What do you think of these glimpses into Half Life 2’s elusive third chapter?
This giddy mess resides in a thread on the subreddit r/GamingLeaksAndRumours, which began with user Awkward96 sharing some links to supposed rare concept art from the development of both Half Life 2: Episode 3 and another cancelled Valve game, Stars Of Blood.
Some of this art has been shared on Twitter by the account of Half Life community LambdaGeneration, which credited the scans to 2K games Senior Producer David McGreavy, a Valve enthusiast, who collects various memorabilia from the publisher’s titles.
Meanwhile, some more Half Life concept art, in addition to the Stars Of Blood art, appeared in a YouTube video by Tyler McVicker, which you can check out below.
Naturally, the Redditors reactions to this ranged from excitement to disappointment, with user bigchonkyyoda symbolising one side by saying: “This makes me want to cry man. I want HL3 so bad. Gotta keep hope for something post-Alyx.”, while JuiceHead2 epitomised the other by declaring: “(I’m) so hyped for this game.”
Meanwhile, others trod the fine line between the two states, such as user NagashPL, who surmised: “The concept art looks very gritty and punk, which makes me wonder if the Episode 3 could have looked even more like the Half-Life 2 Beta that we never got... one can only wonder though.”
On the other hand, some decided not to subject themselves to this state, with user Soulless_conner saying: “I'm not looking at any of these to avoid spoilers. For the future.”
Regardless of whether you think Half Life 3 will ever arrive, make sure to follow us for more coverage of Valve’s games.