Development of the next Half-Life game

This article aims at gathering what is currently known about future releases set in the Half-Life and Portal universe.

After the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Two within The Orange Box in October 2007, Half-Life 2: Episode Three was to follow soon after. However it has been delayed several times since, while Valve has been concentrating on releasing games outside the Half-Life and Portal universe, until Portal 2 was released in April 2011, after being delayed as well.

Half-Life 2: Episode Three
Half-Life 2: Episode Three was originally to be the third and final installment of the Half-Life 2 episodes trilogy story arc, after Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, but not the end of the Half-Life franchise. Its current development status is currently unknown, to the displeasure of the Half-Life community, which frowns at the lack of communication between Valve and their original fanbase.

2006
Episode Three was originally announced for a Christmas 2007 release, which did not happen.

2007
At the end of Episode Two, released in October 2007, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were about to leave to Arctic locations, in search of Judith Mossman and the newly recovered Borealis, the Aperture Science icebreaker, suggesting this is what the sequel to Episode Thwo will be about despite Eli Vance's death, with Gordon confirmed as the main protagonist once again.

In November 2007, the first concept art for Episode Three was released by GamesRadar.

2008
In April 2008, source code for three entities, heavily armored Combine infantry, City Scanner with a bolt gun and weapon_proto1 (which appears in the Source Particle Benchmark and Episode Two as a testing weapon), was released in the Source SDK in an "Episode3" folder, and was removed shortly after. However, it was later confirmed by Valve that the code is a leftover of old stuff, possibly Aftermath.

In July 2008, the second Episode Three concept art was released through the Into the Pixel contest of that year, involving Gordon Freeman and his crowbar face to face with a Combine Advisor, and made by Valve artists Ted Backman, Jeremy Bennett, and Tristan Reidford. The same month, the third and last concept art so far was revealed again by GamesRadar.

In an October 2008 interview, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi stated that news or an announcement of Episode Three might be revealed near the end of 2008. That however did not happen. In that interview, Lombardi also stated that the distance between Episode Two and its sequel will be longer than the distance between the 3 current Half-Life 2 games.

2009
In a video involving Gabe Newell and two interpreters discussing deafness and video games with a small audience of hearing impaired people, the inclusion of an unidentified deaf character in a future game set in the Half-Life universe was said to be tested by Valve, as a new Source engine feature aimed at providing better support for hearing-impaired players.

Newell suggested that before Alyx met Gordon, she had a crush on a hearing impaired Resistance member, so she programmed Dog with knowledge of sign language so she could practice and easily communicate with him. Then this person went away from Alyx to fight the Combine someplace else, and Alyx and Dog started signing with each other when they wanted to communicate without making noise or without other people knowing.

2010
In a March 2010 interview, Newell hinted that Valve intend to return the Half-Life franchise to its psychological horror roots by exploiting the fans' deepest fears, which he summed up as "the death of their children" and "the fading of their own abilities".

In an April 2010 interview, Newell stated that Gordon Freeman will go unchanged in the next Half-Life game - he wants him to "largely remain an arm and a crowbar". There also are no plans to make him a talking character, as "right now, making your companions more interesting and compelling seems a more fruitful avenue to explore."

In both of the previous interviews, Newell never explicitly said he was referring to Episode Three.

Shortly after Alien Swarm was released in July 2010, unused hint nodes were found in the SDK, under the names "Ep3 Blob Shake Position", "Ep3 Fire Cover Position", "Ep3 Brain Cover Position", "Ep3 Brain Regenerate Position", "Ep3 Spit Position", "Ep3 Spawn Generator Position", and "Aperture: Nest". Given the prefix "Ep3" and the use of the name "Aperture", these may be leftovers of the sequel to Episode Two.

Half-Life 2: Episode Four
Though it has not be confirmed by Valve, Half-Life 2: Episode Four is said to be a canceled project that was to be developed outside Valve and released after Episode Three.