Canceled Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Revealed

The recent released documentary revealed canceled Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

Footage from Half-Life 2: Episode 3

Half-Life 2 has turned 20 on November 16, for this, Valve released a 20th-anniversary documentary providing a comprehensive overview of how one of the most influential first-person shooters of all time came to be. The film can be viewed for free on Valve’s official YouTube channel.

The 10th epilogue chapter of the two hour video goes over the making of Half-Life 2’s episodic sequels. While this segment is largely focused on Episodes 2 and 3, it also spends some time on Episode 3, to the point that it even shows some gameplay footage from the long canceled sequel.

The documentary also reveals some of the plans that Valve’s developers had in store for the shelved game. For instance, it confirms the long-standing rumor that Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was intended to take place in an arctic environment, a theory many fans have speculated about for years, based on some previously leaked concept art. Keeping in line with that theme, Valve initially wanted to have the game feature an ice gun, allowing players to freeze enemies and create blocks of ice. These chunks could be used for various purposes, like creating pathways or raising makeshift defense barriers. The weapon was hence essentially envisioned as Episode 3’s counterpart to the iconic Gravity Gun that much of Half-Life 2 was designed around.

Half-Life 2: Episode 3 was planned to focus on Alyx, writer Marc Laidlaw revealed during the documentary. Software engineer Brian Jacobson also recalled how he was working on blob-like enemies for the canceled sequel, which would have been capable of changing shapes, passing through grates, and splitting into chunks of smaller blobs, thus potentially being annoying to deal with.

Reflecting on Half-Life 2: Episode 3’s cancellation during the documentary, Valve co-founder and President Gabe Newell characterized the decision as his own “personal failure,” admitting he was “stumped” about how Episode 3 could break new ground, which is something that was always important to him when it comes to pursuing new games. Unable to answer that question, the team eventually moved on to other projects, like Left 4 Dead and Portal 2. “I couldn’t figure out why doing Episode 3 was pushing anything forward,” Newell recalled.

Read More: Half Life 2 is Free for a Limited Time