One year after Marc Laidlaw left Valve in 2016, he released the written story Epistle Three. Described as “fanfic”, this blog post follows Alex Vaunt and Gertrude Fremont in the wake of Elly Vaunt’s death. They’re clearly placeholders for much more recognisable characters, as in reality, this story is a loose idea for whatHalf-Life 2: Episode 3 could have been if Valve hadn’t scrapped several iterations of the game.
Naturally, fans made it their mission to bring this vision to life, using Laidlaw’s outline as a foundation. If Valve won’t give us Episode 3, fine, we’ll do it ourselves.
Cue Project Borealis, which formed way back in 2017 shortly after Epistle 3 was released. They quickly showed off a library of concept art, music, and even early model designs, with over 80 people joining as excitement grew. But we haven’t heard from them in four years — where originally we had frequent large-scale updates showing off progress, the team has remained quiet since 2020.
Project Borealis is being developed in Unreal Engine to give it “the updated look thatHalf-Lifehas deserved”, rather than Source.
However, that all changed last month. Project Borealis started up an ARG teasingsomething,and that something turned out to be an entire playable prologue launching in Fall of this year.
We’re Going Back To Ravenholm
Epistle 3 is set right after Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The rebellion holds a short memorial service for Eli Vance before heading off to the coordinates that Judith Mossman provided for the fabled Borealis, an Aperture Science-designed interdimensional ship. The Combine want it to expand their empire, but the rebels are divided — the late Eli was adamant that it should be destroyed, arguing that it’s too dangerous to be left unchecked, while Dr. Kleiner wants to use it to bolster the resistance.
The ending of Episode 2 serves as a catalyst for the Rebellion, as they ultimately decide to honour Eli’s wishes regarding the Borealis in the wake of his death. So, Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman head to the Arctic to find the mythical ship and hurl it at the Combine Empire in a self-sacrificial play. But this plan goes awry as G-Man plucks Alyx from the deck while the Vorigaunts work to save Gordon. To make matters even worse, the Borealis doesn’t make so much as a dent. It’s completely futile. This is the story that Epistle 3 seeks to tell.
Half-Life: Alyxnow contradicts this story as Eli Vance is alive and the titular Alyx is missing, not to mentionthe countless leaksofHalf-Life 3 being in development again. But that clearly hasn’t deterred Project Borealis.
Given the Arctic theme Epistle 3 and thus Episode 3 would have explored sothoroughly, developer Icebreaker Industries has remade Ravenholm with a coat of snowy paint for the prologue, showing off its fuzzier headcrabs and ice-cold atmosphere. It’s a far cry from what we’re used to seeing in Half-Life 2. But already, this is looking a lot closer to Black Mesa than Hunt Down the Freeman, and that’s worth getting excited over.
Half-Life 2
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Half-Life 2 is a critically acclaimed FPS from Valve. It continues the story of Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist formerly with Black Mesa. This time, he must fight the alien Combine empire.
