He also says he doesn't recognize the company any longer

Aug 25, 2017 07:30 GMT  ·  By

The story for the unreleased Half-Life 2: Episode Three has been published by Marc Laidlaw, the writer that’s been responsible for all things Half-Life.

Marc Laidlaw departed from Valve a while back, with no explanation as to his reasons. Now, Marc Laidlaw has just published what’s most likely his interpretation and ideas for the final Half-Life 2 story arc, bringing a little bit of peace to people that wanted to how everything ends.

The writer does complete the story, but the ending is bittersweet. If you expect a nice and clean story ending where the good guys win, you’re not going to like it. If anything, it makes things even more complicated and kind of leaves the door opened for a continuation of the struggle against the combine.

Out of the blue, but not cannon

Valve’s failure to deliver the final episode in the Half-Life 2 saga is probably one of the biggest mistakes the company has ever made. The situation was made even worse by the promises and delays that accompanied the development of Episode 3, culminating with the fact that it never canceled as a project.

Half-Life 2: Episode Three was scheduled to be released in 2007, but that obviously didn’t happen. There was no explanation as to why the project has been delayed, and Valve never officially dropped the project. As far as we know, they might still be working on it.

Now, the former Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw has published a short story on his blog, with the names changed, bringing people a conclusion to the series. It’s not clear whether this is the official story for the third episode, or if it’s something that he imagined. Given that the game had a released date, it’s probable that most of the plot is real. There is no guarantee that this short story is actually canon for the Half-Life universe.

No reaction for Valve

Valve has yet to respond to the publishing of this story, and it’s quite likely that they are not going to take a public position on this matter. In fact, Marc Laidlaw ended this story with a message for Valve, saying that he no longer recognizes his friends at the company and that basically Valve has simply lost its way.

The writer also made it clear that this story and his commentary on the company won’t be followed by anything else.

If the official link to the Marc Laidlaw blog doesn't work, you can check the story on Imgur or in the gallery below.

Photo Gallery (6 Images)

HL2: Episode Three
Half-Life 2: Episode Three - page 1Half-Life 2: Episode Three - page 2
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