During the adventure, they encounter the Disparate (Combine), Dr. The story of “Epistle 3” details the journey of Gertrude Fremont and Alex Vaunt to the Antarctic to find the mysterious ship known as the Hyperborea - stand-ins for Gordon Freeman, Alex Vance and the Borealis, the research vessel designed by Aperture Science that was revealed in Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Laidlaw left Valve about 18 months ago after nearly two decades with the company, and the remaining portions of the letter detail what appear to be Gordon Freeman’s final adventure (bookended with subtle acknowledgement about the situation surrounding Episode 3 and Valve itself). In the time since, I have been able to think occasionally about how best to describe the intervening years, my years of silence.” This was the case until eighteen months ago, when I experienced a critical change in my circumstances, and was redeposited on these shores. “I can hear your complaint already, ‘Gertie Fremont, we have not heard from you in ages!’ Well, if you care to hear excuses, I have plenty, the greatest of them being I’ve been in other dimensions and whatnot, unable to reach you by the usual means. “I hope this letter finds you well,” the letter begins. In a post titled “Epistle 3,” Laidlaw presents what appears to be a thinly-veiled summary of Gordon Freeman’s long-missing adventure in the form of correspondence from someone named “Gertrude Fremont.” Pick up my sci-fi novel series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is now in print, online and on audiobook.Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw, who left Valve in 2016, may have just revealed the proposed plot of Half-Life 2 : Episode 3 on his personal website. Read “Episode 3” for yourself here, and wonder what could have been.įollow me on Twitter and on Facebook. It’s definitely one of the most unusual and unexpected things I’ve seen in quite a while, and will be curious if Valve itself has anything to say one way or the other.
#Half life 2 episode 3 the closure review series#
But I think this is a nice gesture to fans and the series itself, given the circumstances. The exact story of what happened to Half-Life over the years despite the massive success of the second game may never come to light, but is likely more complicated than “Valve liked making money from Steam and stopped caring.” Laidlaw seems a bit forlorn that things are ending with just an outline like this, not an actual game, separated from his original team.
![half life 2 episode 3 the closure review half life 2 episode 3 the closure review](https://media.runthinkshootlive.com/admin/header/1920-hlwar-demo-header.jpg)
Except no further correspondence from me regarding these matters this is my final epistle. I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it. I no longer know or recognize most members of the research team, though I believe the spirit of rebellion still persists. Old friends have been silenced, or fallen by the wayside.
![half life 2 episode 3 the closure review half life 2 episode 3 the closure review](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aByTOAmxQIU/hqdefault.jpg)
At this point, the resistance will have failed or succeeded, no thanks to me. Enough time has passed that few remember me, or what I was saying when last I spoke, or what precisely we hoped to accomplish. It has been a circuitous path to lands I once knew, and surprising to see how much the terrain has changed. While it’s interesting, it’s almost a bit sad, and the last paragraph especially reads as a message to fans about the game and the team on a meta level:Īnd here we are.
#Half life 2 episode 3 the closure review full#
I won’t break the post down with a full summary, as I really think if you’re a fan you should just read it yourself.