Back in 2017, Marc Laidlaw, the writer behind the Half-Life games, shared a rough version of what he planned for Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Since Valve never made an official Episode 3 and Laidlaw left the company in 2016, fans decided to bring his vision to life themselves.
Now, if you own Half-Life 2, you can download a free demo on Steam for a fan-made project called Project Borealis, which aims to continue the story from Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (released in 2007). The demo is a prologue to the fan game and takes place in a snowy version of the Ravenholm level from Half-Life 2.
Background
Valve originally wanted to release three short episodes after Half-Life 2. Episodes 1 and 2 came out, but Episode 3 never did, despite being teased for years. When Laidlaw left Valve, he shared his story idea for Episode 3 online under the title "Epistle 3," changing the names to avoid legal trouble. Fans later corrected it and put it on a Half-Life fan site.
Project Borealis
This fan project is inspired by Laidlaw’s story and named after a mysterious ship hinted at in the Half-Life games. Instead of using Valve’s Source engine, the developers are building it with Unreal Engine 5, which brings more modern graphics while staying true to Half-Life 2’s gameplay and physics.
Here it is being enjoyed on the Steam Deck.
System Requirements
To play the demo, you’ll need:
- Minimum: Windows 10, Core i5-8500 or Ryzen 5 1600, 8 GB RAM, a DirectX 12-compatible graphics card, and 6 GB of storage.
- Recommended: Windows 11, Core i5-12600K or Ryzen 7 5700X3D, 16 GB RAM, and a DirectX 12 Ultimate-compatible GPU.
The Future
While Valve hasn’t confirmed anything about Half-Life 3, the company did release Half-Life: Alyx in 2020, a VR game set before Half-Life 2. Some leaks suggest Valve may still be working on Half-Life 3, but it could have a completely different story from Laidlaw’s draft.
No release date for the full version of Project Borealis has been announced, but fans are continuing to work on it regardless of Valve’s plans. If Half-Life 3 ever happens, it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to this fan-made vision.
