2015: The Mysterious File “hl3.txt”
On October 9, 2015, another game from Valve, Dota 2, received the “Reborn” update, but while downloading, fans discovered a strange file named “hl3.txt”. Upon closer inspection, this file revealed some information that did not fit with Dota 2. These include:
- NPCs had matching squad names. They could share information about enemies and alternate attacks while covering each other.
- Terms like “VR Chaperone” and “VR Movement” were found. Reference to Valve’s Lighthouse technology, their form of virtual reality.
- “Combine Impulse-Cover-Tower”
- Zip lines
- Many passages about procedural generation of the map
Some fans on Reddit speculated that some of the points regarding the map could also hint at a Left 4 Dead 3, but once again, there are only speculations and no clear statements.
According to the text, an alternative dark ending was revealed, in which Gertie Fremont faces his end and gives in. The Hyperborea, the only weapon against the Dyson Sphere, could not inflict any damage. The resistance has failed.
What happens to Gertie Fremont = Gordon Freeman now remains open. The story can be well adapted to Half-Life if you know the franchise. However, what seems strange now is the fact that Marc Laidlaw took the story offline in 2022. To this day, no one can access the story again, unless they use sites like web.archive.org.
Fans speculated that this might be due to Half-Life 3, but Marc Laidlaw clarified the situation in an interview with rockpapershotgun.com. He felt that his actions were not fair to his colleagues. He stated:
It also created the impression that a possible third episode would have resembled my draft, while the actual story development occurs during the development process of the game. Therefore, what people received was not an actual third episode.
As a creator, this idea for Half-Life 3 was swirling around in his mind at the time, but it was not canon despite his status. He would rather let others take the lead regarding the future fate of Gordon Freeman, as he did with the development of Half-Life: Alyx.
