One of the most popular Steam mods (and later full games) of all time may finally be getting its long-awaited sequel. Built on top of a modified version of Valve's Source engine and then, due to the mod's own popularity, bought by Valve itself and released as a standalone project, Garry's Mod was one of the most-downloaded programs on Steam for a long time and still elicits fond memories from anyone who spent time poking around with Valve's toys.
Garry's Mod not only led to thousands of players being able to create their own toybox-like experiences with assets from official Valve games like Half-Life 2 and Portal, but also allowed them to mod the program themselves. The game also gained popularity due to being bundled with Counter-Strike: Source, which it had to do because Newman's program required a working Valve Source-coded game to function properly. Now, many, many years later, it looks like the much-fabled sequel to Garry's Mod, GMod2 may finally be resuming production, at least in spirit.
By utilizing a popular meme known as the "Distracted Boyfriend" on Twitter, it appears that Newman has resumed work on Garry's Mod 2, or is at least thinking about it. However, when speaking with PCGamesN Newman said that the image he posted was not actually about the literal Garry's Mod 2 (which was originally announced as a work-in-progress in 2015) but instead is referencing its spiritual successor, S&box. Sandbox was initially revealed by Facepunch Studios (a video game company created by Newman) in 2017, but progress on the project was halted in 2019. Now, however, it appears to be back up and running, if Newman's recent message (embedded below) is any indication:
After the onslaught of support and messages from fans who were ecstatic about the potential return to the Valve and Steam modding scene, Newman posted a secondary message thanking all of his followers for their kind words. "Holy sh*t, thanks for the support," he said, before jokingly adding "hope you're not gonna be disappointed when you find out GMod2 is an iOS match 3 game made in unity."
Whatever form Garry's Mod 2 (or Sandbox, which is what Newman has previously said he wished he had called GMod in the first place) takes, it's likely to be quite a popular platform for people who remember all of the fun which was possible in the original version. Whether or not Facepunch Studios will be able to retain the rights to all of the classic Valve games, as well as using new features and assets from projects like the recently released Half-Life: Alyx, is still unknown, but anyone who is still using Steam and is interested in the potential of user-generated content should keep an eye on Newman's social media in the future for any more updates.
Sources: Garry Newman/Twitter, PCGamesN