Former Valve Writer Reveals Vision for Half-Life 2: Episode 3's Plot

One of the greatest mysteries of the last ten years lies in the absence of any true conclusion to the last entry in Valve's critically-acclaimed series, Half-Life. This week, however, former Valve writer Marc Laidlaw's non-disclosure agreement for the planned Half-Life 2: Episode 3 expired, and he published a post on his website to offer closure on a cliffhanger that has left fans suspended for almost a decade.

In the post (which changes all proper nouns to avoid legal trouble with Valve), Laidlaw outlined the plot for Episode 3, which involved Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance trekking across Antarctica searching for the Borealis, a ship stuck in a space-time boomerang, while also conflicting with various Combine factions. Finally, the game would end with the elusive G-Man intervening moments before Freeman and Vance plunged the Borealis into the Combine command centre, taking the latter with him through a portal.

Laidlaw then ends the post with a more personal message to the reader, hinting that the future of the Half-Life series lies with its fans:

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.

Considering Episode 3 has been stuck in development hell for over a decade, it's likely that this is the only closure fans will get from an official source.

You can read Marc Laidlaw's post here; or if the altered names confuse you, here is a fan-translated version with the original nouns.