Half-Life 2: Episode 3's plot revealed (Spoilers?)

Half-Life’s writer has revealed plot of the final episode to Half-Life 2, gender swapped and with alternative names, but still clearly Half-Life nonetheless.

A nice meta-narrative at the end, explaining why, very likely, this is the end.

And here we are. I spoke of my return to this shore. It has been a circuitous path to lands I once knew, and surprising to see how much the terrain has changed. Enough time has passed that few remember me, or what I was saying when last I spoke, or what precisely we hoped to accomplish. At this point, the resistance will have failed or succeeded, no thanks to me. Old friends have been silenced, or fallen by the wayside. I no longer know or recognize most members of the research team, though I believe the spirit of rebellion still persists. I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it. Expect no further correspondence from me regarding these matters; this is my final epistle.

I am torn with what he wrote. Continuation is great, but it ends with another cliff hanger regarding Alex. Still doesn’t answer who the G-man is nor who the Vortigaunt really are. I guess at this point I am looking for closure to the Freeman story with an ending so I don’t have to wait anymore to get answers. Thoroughly disappointed in Valve. They forgot the fans who gave them their start by not finishing the story.

Yup, I also am disappointed in Valve. It’s not like Shenmue where the product wasn’t a financial success, there really is no good reason not to make Half Life 3.

It sounds like this plot is more for an episode-length instalment, which I guess explains the cliff hanger. I think I’d be more disappointed if he’d written up something with a satisfying ending that I never got to play.

My understanding is this was the intended ending for just Half-Life 2 (episode 3), with no intention of there being a third game.

The ending seems similar to Half-Life 1. Gordon Freeman is transported into the future again, to be called on when needed, or not. In a sense it’s not a cliffhanger to Freeman’s story, as this is wrapped up in the final paragraph, but it leaves a larger universe that may or may not be explored. The G-Man and Alex may still make an appearance in the future Valve game. Laidlaw revealed on Twitter that he did not know the relationship between G-Man and Alex. So maybe we’ll see them in another game like Portal set in the same universe.

But yes, it is disappointing that this is the way we were presented with an ending to Half-Life 2, only one of the greatest games of all time.