Entitled ‘Return to Ravenholm’, it was to put the player in control of a new character and revisit the zombie-infested titular town during a period before Episode Two’s conclusion. Between 20 Arkane, the studio behind Dishonored 2, was developing Half-Life 2: Episode Four. While the concept art leak helps keep the candle of hope burning, the story of Return to Ravenholm offers an opposite viewpoint. Half-Life 2: Episode Four – Return to Ravenholm Concept art is generally part of the pre-production process however, so it’s not an indication that the third episode ever even reached a greybox build. The art was acquired by the fan website ValveTime, who claimed the images were from a 2008 project. Among them were various drawings of Alyx Vance, men wearing cold weather gear, and a return to Xen. Valve couldn’t possibly release a four-hour episode to an audience that’s spent almost a decade in waiting, could it?Ģ012 saw the leak of a series of concept art images reportedly drawn for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. If Valve has been working on a Half-Life 3 game all this time, it’s logical to presume that Episode Three is no more, and a full-size Half-Life 3 game is now what to expect. Episode Two promptly arrived the following year in 2007.ĭuring that time the general opinion on Episode Three has changed. Half-Life 2: Episode One suffered a delay, but released just two years after Half-Life 2’s 2004 debut. Let’s take what we would ordinarily do and break it up into piecesĪnd the format worked, almost. Here’s the story of Half-Life 3 so far, leading up to the release of Half-Life: Alyx. So, what is Half-Life 3, especially now Half-Life: Alyx has been released? Over the years there have been two quite different answers – it’s either a collection of three short, episodic games – two of which have already been released – or it’s a full-length sequel to both Half-Life 2 and its expansions. Although it’s still unclear on what this means for Half-Life 3 (or if this is even Half-Life 3) and PC players, Half-life: Alyx launched in March, 2020, and will hopefully open the doors for more Half-Life in the not too distant future. The Half-Life hiatus has finally ended, after a rumour that a VR Half-Life game is in the works, we have confirmation of Valve’s third full-length entry in the series, Half-Life: Alyx. More intriguing than the actual magic that makes your GPU work, and more elusive than a good movie tie-in game, so what is the current state of Half-Life 3?

Half-Life 3 is the greatest mystery in PC gaming.

Half life 2 mission improbable