Valve was heavily speculated to reveal Half-Life 3 alongside a couple of new hardware this week. The company has since lifted the curtains on the Steam Machine, a VR headset, and a controller this week but unfortunately, the follow up to Gordon Freeman's story is yet to be seen.
Despite this, fans are still hopeful that Half-Life 3 is real and it will be revealed soon as industry insiders are saying that there's a major announcement that could beat GTA 6.
All these rumours have kept hope of a nearby reveal alive. Just these past couple of years, there have been numerous leaks showing what the game might be like at launch.
Procedurally Generated Combat Scenarios
Early builds of the game from 2013 show that Half-Life 3 would use procedurally generated combat scenarios, as opposed to script fight sequences like in the first game. The experience would be similar to Left 4 Dead, in a sense that no playthroughs to levels are alike.
Valve is building upon the story though so there will still be linear narrative segments for the game. Unfortunately, this build of the game was scrapped because the Source 2 engine being used at the time wasn't finished yet. Still, we might see this as part of the core gameplay loop in the sequel.
No Longer A VR Experience
The last entry for the series was Half-Life Alyx which was essentially a VR experience that serves as a prequel to the events of Half-Life. It was a spinoff title that fans of the series highly appreciated but it's not the one that they want.
A leak last year revealed that Valve is working on a mainline entry, that's not a VR experience. This led the community to believe that the upcoming Half-Life game will be a full experience like before and it won't be a simple VR tech demo like Half-Life Alyx.
Featured Levels
Early this year, a leak revealed what seemed to be three levels coming to Half-Life 3. Take these with a grain of salt though as the leaks came from an unverified source. The three levels are:
- Xen: Revealed to be a level that will feature weird new creatures like the Xen Gorilla, Xen Jellyfish, and Houndeye. The leaks also show that Xen will have acid geysers that players will need to worry about.
- Offworld: This is said to be a work camp where Combine and Citizens are sent to if they misbehave. The location is in a different planet, meaning that Gordon will be traversing from far off lands this time.
- Foundry: The leaks show this as a metal foundry that has spots for welding and communications. It's not yet known whether this is a smaller level within Offworld, or is set in a different area entirely.
Valve is good at hiding secrets. If Half-Life 3 was in development after all these years, the leaks don't justify what's to come. It's one of the most hyped up games, quite possibly in gaming history and it's exciting to see what comes next for Gordon Freeman. Hopefully, we get the reveal for this title soon.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
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