Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Writer On What It Would Have Been About

Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw reveals an unofficial synopsis for the long in development third installment in the gaming series. It’s been just shy of a decade since the last Half-Life game was released, and fans certainly have not forgotten it. Players hoping each year for an update on a new entry in the series have turned Valve into one of the most infamous developers for leaving fans hanging. While an official sequel to Half-Life 2: Episode Two still appears to be nothing but a dream about what might have been, now that dream is a little bit clearer thanks to Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw.

Laidlaw left Valve in 2016, further cementing that Half-Life 2: Episode Three was most likely nothing to hold your breath over. Many fans have given up hope of the game ever seeing the light of day after all these years. However, it appears Laidlaw has put a lot of thought into what the sequel would have looked like, and finally decided to share his vision for the game.

Related: It’s Been a Decade Since Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Was Announced

On his website, Marc Laidlaw now has a significant breakdown of the events that would have transpired in Episode Three, written from the perspective of Gordon Freeman. Names of places and characters have been altered and genders have been swapped, perhaps to avoid legal trouble due to Laidlaw no longer being a part of Valve, but fans will still easily be able to recognize the world of Half-Life. So the actual signature at the end of the entry is “Gertrude Freemont” and the chronicle of events refers to people such as “Alex Vaunt” but these pseudonyms aren’t going to confuse anybody.

The synopsis begins with “Gertie” apologizing for the long delay in giving everyone an update, and then picking things up right from the end of Episode Two with the death of Eli. After the burial of Alyx’s dad, the next part of the adventure begins with what the player presumably would have been given the role of controlling. Gordon and Alyx set out to finish Eli’s work for the resistance, but their aircraft is brought down and strands them in the frozen wild. Gordon and Alyx traverse through the blizzard, seeking the Borealis that Eli had warned of. When they finally locate the ship, it is phasing in and out of their world. Alyx sees this as her chance to finally stop the alien threat of the Combine and avenge her father, so she programs the ship to crash into the hub of the Combine.

We even see another familiar face as the G-Man (or Mrs. X, as he’s known in this entry) appears to save Alyx from the crash, but leaves Gordon behind this time. It looks sure that Gordon’s life will end in a kamikaze aboard the crashing Borealis, but then the Vortigaunts pull him from certain death. This explains why Gordon is alive to write the entry, but fans hoping for a definitive ending to everything will have to settle for some ambiguity in this denouement.

As Gordon’s entry draws to a close, he reveals that the world he now survives in has changed tremendously from what he once knew, and few now remember him. He is uncertain whether the resistance has been successful or not, but leaves it to the addressed “Playa” to decide what course of action to take with the rebellion. The entry closes saying this will be Gordon’s final episode.

Laidlaw fully acknowledges that this is basically just his own little fan fiction, but that he hopes it will provide closure to the many fans who have followed Half-Life and may have given up hope on seeing a proper resolution to the story. Obviously fans would prefer to experience it in the official Episode Three game, but if that never happens, then at least fans now have this unofficial synopsis from the mind behind the games about where the characters finish their journeys.