We have been waiting seventeen years for Episode 3 of Half-Life 2. This makes us suspect that it will never be released. Just like Half-Life 3, it is a chimera. Valve will never develop it. As much as we would like to play it, their need for it to be superior to its predecessor has led them to a dead end. Expectations are too high. Disappointment is certain. And faced with the certainty of not being able to live up to it, it’s better to do nothing. Or so they think at Valve. Because the fans, surely not.
Half-Life 2: episode 3 is called Project Borealis
Project Borealis is a fan project that aims to recreate what could have been Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Based on the synopsis published in 2017 by the writer Marc Laidlaw, it has been in development since that same year by a group of fans called Icebreaker Industries. Now this group has released Project Borealis: Prologue, which is, in their own words, “a condensed, standalone, playable experience that offers a glimpse and a preliminary feel of the final product.”
Using the Unreal Engine 5 engine, they aim to perfectly recreate the movement and mechanics of Half-Life 2, while creating a story that provides a satisfactory conclusion to the episodes initiated with Valve. Once again stepping into the shoes of Gordon Freeman to finally close this chapter of his adventure.
Although the possibility of Valve making Half-Life 2: Episode 3 seems remote, if not impossible, it doesn’t seem impossible for them to return to Half-Life in the future. This makes the effort of these fans more notable. Not when Valve’s CEO, Gabe Newell, confirmed in 2021 that the company is developing several video games and that they want to make efforts in developing more single-player video games after the success of Half-Life Alyx. The virtual reality game that acts as a spin-off of Half-Life 2.
If you are interested in Project Borealis: Prologue, you can download it for free from its Steam page. However, to play it, you will need to have a copy of Half-Life 2. Something we assume you have because if you’re interested, it’s because you’ve played Half-Life 2 and because, who doesn’t have Half-Life 2 in their Steam library in 2024?
