How Valve Should Make Half-Life 3
With Half Life Alyx reviving the series, what should Half Life 3 look like?
After over twelve years of silence, one of the most beloved gaming franchises has returned to the masses. Released a couple of months ago, the VR game Half Life: Alyx successfully brought the series back from the dead. This time Valve went full throttle with virtual reality tech, once again progressing the industry forward and creating easily the best AAA title on the platform to date.
It did more than that though; Half Life Alyx's positioning as a a prequel delivered a great story that both fits into the greater narrative and moreover, left us excited to see where things will go next.
No spoilers here, but Half Life: Alyx very much has Valve turning to the fans towards its end and saying, "We're back, and Half Life is here to stay".
All eyes now point to future entries, and with Half Life 3 seemingly back on the table, we're all wondering which direction it could take.
Such a mythical sequel might still be a ways off, but here are some pointers for Valve to note.
5. Bring Back Adrian Shepherd And Barney Calhoun
The main characters of Half Life has always made an impact with excellent characterisation and brilliant facial animation that really got across their humanity. Then we have the side characters, who represent more dangling threads for Half Life 3 to pick up and run with.
First up is Barney Calhoun. This unsophisticated yet likeable security officer helped out the resistance all the way through Half Life 2 and Episode One. He ferried the last of the civilians out of City 17 at the end of the latter, boarding a train to an unknown fate. With a crew of volunteers to bolster the Lambda resistance at his back, Barney is primed for a comeback.
As for Adrian Shepherd, well we haven't seen him in over twenty years; ever since the G-Man pulled him out of Black Mesa and stuck him in stasis. His evaluation remains pending to this day, surely now would be the perfect time for this silent marine to make a return?
Just what kind of role does he have to play? 2018's Hunt Down The Freeman from Royal Rudius Entertainment briefly touched on the character, but it turned out to be an abysmal piece of fan fiction that went horribly wrong.
Perhaps the returning Shepherd could do one of two things; support Gordon in his attack on the Borealis, or if you really want to push the boat out, assassinate the good doctor on behalf of the G-Man. Both characters certainly need to make a comeback in some form.