Every Cancelled Half-Life Game (New Discoveries) Ft.

[@DidYouKnowGamin]

We put hundreds of hours of research into this video. Giving it a like, comment or a share would help us out a ton. Cheers 👍

[@LGR]

Thanks for having me on-board again!

[@sofluffer]

HUNDREDS ????

[@Trash_prince]

@@sofluffer It's Valve, man... I'm surprised they didn't employ thousands

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

A lot

[@Anon0nline]

Disclosing someone's medical history is a scumbag move. You didn't need to do that.

[@nikital.6523]

Note to self: if ever subcontracted by Valve, do not add monkey monsters into a project.

[@Charades.]

ngl the description of the zombie monkeys sound a lot like the fast zombies in HL2

[@Mankey619]

@@Charades. that explains everything.

[@dickkickem329]

Have you seen an animal call "monkey"? I have. -Gabe Newell

[@dickkickem329]

We were going to add a headcrab zombie gorilla to this game, but then I thought "Nah that's too cool, lets make this game suck more" -Gabe Newell

[@creamdogg]

monkey zombies sounds dope tbh

[@charlodynatimberheart4860]

It's kind of ironic when you think about it, just like the borealis, episode three is constantly blinking in and out of existence.

[@LegendStormcrow]

Alternative realities of it as well. It's very Hal-Life.

[@coolbeans1998]

I never thought of it like that. Kind of beautiful

[@Bhjdk]

@@LegendStormcrowwhy do people think the ending to alex means multiple timelines? I always took it as a retcon

[@LegendStormcrow]

@@Bhjdk I never played Alyx, but the alternate realities thing is a reference to the multitudes of different abandoned HL3's. Alyx is not part of that statement.

[@derekvuong5207]

@@Bhjdkalyx was a key part to getting to the cliffhanger of episode 2. Because we are still at that part of episode 2 and not an alternate timeline because alyx was taken away, many people have taken that there are multiple realities.

[@Providence..]

7:21 It's stuff like this that truly opens my eyes to just how crazy the butterfly effect is. Imagine, had Tom Kurdika been a likeable guy and HL: Hostile Takeover came out, Infinity Ward wouldn't exist which means Call of Duty would never exist, but we'd have more Half Life expansions. Wild.

[@juniperburton7693]

Maybe more hl2 expansions too.

[@imembridibuddha]

And maybe even Medal of Honor would have died much sooner without Allied Assault (the Call of Duty before Call of Duty)

[@rawpowerjagg]

Canon event

[@Immolator772]

you just made me hate COD, even the good ones.

[@AJ-po6up]

LGR and DidYouKnowGaming, the perfect crossover. What an extremely enjoyable episode as always 10/10.

[@LegendStormcrow]

Especially for this project.

[@DaveRicher705]

Really through me off there for a sec.

[@JoeySkirmish]

LGR is mundo cringo....

[@NoclipDocs]

Thanks so much for the shoutout guys! We really appreciate it!

[@DJIVision]

Thanks for lettin us use the footage. Great work btw :)

[@yourfriendraptor]

thank you for the work you've done!

[@vespertinial]

I can't believe they got brand new unreleased concept art for this, that's insane

[@TheDakine911]

It was released almost a year ago. Theres a guy who collects valve memorabilia and knows valve employees. Had them for a long time without saying anything.

[@GVilleAnarcho]

@@TheDakine911 But that guy just released a bunch more right?

[@Kden21]

Hearing there was a "to be destroyed room" with stacks of concept art from previous and unreleased games, most of which left behind, literally made my heart and jaw drop, that is beyond devastating oh my god

[@gm4765]

Modern day Library of Alexandria

[@bluegum6438]

It really annoys me that all companies sit on troves of unreleased concept art, beta builds, etc. like why not release them? People are interested and it's not like people are going to not buy your products because you repurposed some old material in a new game. There's so much cool stuff sitting in a filing drawer somewhere waiting to decay into uselessness.

[@Kden21]

@@gm4765 literally the best way to put it as half-life fans 😭

[@Kden21]

@@bluegum6438 fr i will never understand why companies are so protective of production art and beta stuff but never show the public and will just treat it like trash, i really hope something in the industry changes that in the future

[@Capdukeymomoman]

​@@bluegum6438probably because its 1. Not gonna make them money. And 2. Why would they release everything? Its just concept art for them to come up with ideas for the final build

[@TheJayson8899]

“Gordon says” is a cursed phrase. Also I love LGR’s narration.

[@AleksWorkshop]

DidYouKnowGaming is the real MVP for saving the concept art

[@MarphitimusBlackimus]

ThreeWave CTF would not fall under the umbrella of Half-Life titles, at least any more than Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat would, and there's no confirmation this unreleased project was made by Valve. ThreeWave CTF was an extension of the existing Deathmatch Classic mod, and the development of DMC was outsourced by Valve to the mod team that created Holy Wars, a completely unrelated independent Half-Life mod, who they ultimately did not credit. They were even the second team Valve outsourced Deathmatch Classic to to boot, right after Barking Dog Studios dropped it. Hence, ThreeWave CTF cannot be positively attributed to Valve, and "Half-Life: ThreeWave" is a label that was simply made up by fans which actually contradicts all of its internal designations, thus never being considered a Half-Life title by whoever made it.

[@Dr.Oofers]

My brain can’t comprehend what you just posted, but thank you for this info anyway.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

DMC was made by the Holy Wars team? Holy moly I learn new things from the great marph every comment!

[@penisenvy1212]

No way they made devil may cry

[@thealandude9146]

Nice to see you here and giving more info!

[@JerryKid72]

wow, holy wars, i totally forgot about that one.

[@poposterous236]

I like how in HL: Decay the player character still gets the cart delivered to them from below, inferring that there is yet ANOTHER Black Mesa employee that pulled it out of storage and stuck it on the cart.

[@georgefrankly]

LGR is a great fit for this VO, I'd like to hear more of this collaboration.

[@onyxosprey]

Did You Know for The Sims with Clint pls 🙏

[@Minnevan]

@@onyxospreyyesss, or Duke Nukem, did they do that one already?

[@onyxosprey]

@@Minnevan I have good news for you, they already partnered with LGR for a Duke Nukem one!

[@Arcanua]

@@onyxosprey Still need him for a Sims episode though and boy will that be a fun one. Though hasn't DYKG done a Sims episode?

[@onyxosprey]

@@Arcanua They did one on the original 9 years ago with BrutalMoose. A Sims 2 video with LGR would be a fun followup!

[@amphibiousRV]

I gotta say, this channel's transition from trivia to preservation is absolutely amazing. I'm loving it! Keep up the great work!

[@prospero2405]

It's interesting how Valve planned some link between half life with other titles such as the implied connection with Counter-Strike in Condition Zero and Team Fortress with that cancelled game. Imagine if they found a way to tie in Day of Defeat and Ricochet.

[@BierBart12]

A space pirate game that's taking place during a Combine invasion of a spacefaring civilization would be so cool

[@AltimeterAlligator]

I played Decay in the early 2000's on a rental -- I just used two controllers and died a lot. It felt _super_ different from regular Half Life, definitely worth a playthrough. The single player version looks rad.

[@ProtoMan0451]

ive played it with friends in Sven co-op on PC. VERY well done, absolutely a must play for any half life fan. grab a friend

[@JamesTDG]

I actually emulated it, and fun fact, you can play it singleplayer with 1 controller, there is a button that lets you switch characters. I often just used cross as a portable turret.

[@videostash413]

I played it with a buddy, it was awesome. Get a buddy.

[@beastbro125]

Knowing we almost had a half life game from the genius of Warren Spector breaks my soul. The philosophy he had when designing games is incredible. Knowing that he almost gave us a half life episode is so cool yet so sad

[@Daniel-yz3zf]

Yesssss to LGR! I'll listen to him talk about anything. He could do a 'did you know' about the history of toasters and I'd watch every minute.

[@SterbiusMcGurbius]

Technology Connections did a very good video about toasters.

[@clutch7366]

I fondly remember playing HL Decay on PS2 with an elementary schoolmate. We were both huge HL fans. I remember that if you didn’t have a buddy to play with, you could still play Decay in single player. You would have to press the “select” button on the controller to switch between Gina and Colette, but some sequences were still near impossible to complete on your own. I’m sad that I sold all of my PS2 stuff a long, long time ago, but I’m glad that I can at least watch it all on KZbin.

[@JustJamesNotJerry]

Man, there are more cancelled Half-Life games than there are released games by Valve.

[@nakedpear3558]

Obviously

[@marsnil]

"and they made epic mickey for the wii instead" shouldn't have been such a funny sentence to me but it was

[@Zippy_Zolton]

ikr LOL

[@Arehexes]

Hearing Clint say 'Did you know' was more chilling than expected.

[@clutch7366]

It’s upsetting to learn that there was so much Half Life content that we missed out on. Interesting to learn about, but upsetting.

[@thebreadman]

This is amazing and very informative. Well done for getting some new juice out of Valve!

[@connordarvall8482]

I swear that Half-Life had some kind of curse put on it around 2005. I'm surprised Alyx even exists.

[@Grocel512]

Half-Life is a SCP Keter Class object xD

[@Zeruel132]

The curse is Valve. They kept cancelling everything like most of the way through. Valve’s only saviour was the wild accident that was Steam. Otherwise their laughably hilarious business practices would just be looked at as naive after their inevitable bankruptcy.

[@JohnSmith-fq3rg]

The abortion that is Alyx only exists to sell their hardware, and the main reason they needed a game to sell their hardware, was because they needed to sell it's massive markup "justifying" gimmick of four finger grip detection.

[@PrechtGaebolgHades]

​@@JohnSmith-fq3rgIt sucks they didn't at least try porting that for PC or consoles, like... not even today... It's fuckin vr exclusive still

[@MildManneredBen]

I feel it's worth noting: 1. Mark Laidlaw has stated he regrets releasing Epistle 3, saying "All the real story development can only happen in the crucible of developing the game." 2. In the text, Gordon is referred to as Gertie Fremont. While we can reasonably assume this is Gordon, I noticed while "quoting" Epistle 3 this video swapped the text to "Gordon Freeman" without mentioning the edit was an editorial one made by DYKG. I'd argue it's relevant to know that Laidlaw name-swapped all characters, making Epistle 3 more wink-nudge and less "direct" than this video might otherwise imply. It's always good to make it clear if you've edited the original text when appearing to quote it.

[@eliminmax]

Another comment on this video said that it was originally Gordon and the HL2 cast of characters but Marc Laidlaw changed the names and genders less than 24 hours later to avoid legal issues. Don't know if that's true, but if it is, that could explain the use of the real character names in DYKG's quote.

[@mogerus]

I haven't watched a DYKG episode for a long time. But hearing Clint from LGR narrating this was a welcome return and I never realized how enjoyable DYKG episodes were for me.

[@FatherMcKenzie66]

6:06 Triage at Dawn could make even the most stupid conversation epic and tragic at the same time, and, the way it's used in this video is perfect, it makes the scene sad because, our man Benson here, is narrating the story of what could have been, but never was because of Valve, but at the same time, it give us hope that, maybe, one day in the future, we will be able to play it. who knows, maybe on one of those USBs there's still a working build of HL:HT that it's waiting for us! amazing video, man, also great collab!

[@DJIVision]

Haha thanks McKenzie, I'm the guy who wrote the video. Triage at Dawn was a last-minute change in editing. It was originally a track from the original DOOM (1993), but swapped it out with Triage at Dawn last minute. Had kind of a hard time finding HL music that worked well as background music tbh. So much of it's either too hard or too ambient, doesn't work well for BG music.

[@FatherMcKenzie66]

@@DJIVision wow man, good job! last minute choices are alway the best one

[@thealandude9146]

This is a joy to watch with me knowing very little about unreleased content other than HL2 Beta

[@synthgal1090]

"I have what is most likely the only surviving copy of an extremely historically relevant unreleased work, but I'm too fucking lazy to find it" christ

[@synthgal1090]

"Sure, the company I'm subcontracting with is doing good work, but I am personally annoyed by one guy there so I'm gonna cancel this project, rather than just letting them finish it and *then* cutting ties with that one guy"

[@djraf]

I literally screamed when I noticed it was LGR narrating this episode!

[@Armadill0h]

I screamed when you screamed. You scared me dude.

[@tamby_teeze]

I wonder how the Team Fortress Classic crew being in a Half Life game would've impacted TF2. It likely would've at least been brought up in the comics, since the characters from TFC show up as a major plot element in them, but just having the games be directly connected like that could've had a major effect, methinks.

[@HC100_]

Just me rambling here, but one area of the Half-Life universe that I would love to be explored is the different planets/dimensions that are under combine control. We know from the already existing lore that the Universal Union is a massive monolithic bureaucracy that spans many planetary systems, all of which are taken over so the combine can assimilate the local technology and natural resources in order to facilitate further expansion and technologic advancement. So it seems reasonable to assume that there are hundreds if not thousands of other planets that have been taken over by the combine, hence there would be planets where the combine technology and "boots on the ground" forces would take a different appearance to those on Earth, whilst still retaining some overall common aesthetic. Especially as the overwatch soldiers are essentially modified human clones, then on other worlds there most definitely are other forms of foot soldiers that are tailored to the local environment (e.g the combine super soldier that was cut from the beta). A game like this could really explore what Laidlaw was trying to get into with the ending of his epistle 3 storyline in terms of showcasing the true size of the combine empire. Maybe it could take place on a punishment/prison colony (perhaps the place alluded to by Breen when he tries to send Eli and Alyx through the portal in the citadel before being stopped by Mossman), and the protagonist could be an alien species with their own special abilities. Would definitely be hard to accomplish by a team of modders though, as it would mean cultivating completely new environments without relying on HL2 textures. Just a cool idea I thought of lol

[@MistereXMachina]

dude casually has literal history sitting in a drive and hasn't shared it because "idk lol"

[@TheArkman360]

He probably hasn't shared it since there would probably be legal issues surrounding it.

[@bobthecannibal1]

I played the original Decay on PS2. You *could* play alone. There was a button combo that would switch you to the other character.

[@DukeNukem2417]

The only thing missing from this? Ross Scott, in character as Gordon Freeman, interrupting the end credits with a rant.

[@ducciboi]

Half Life is such a cursed IP. Even the lack of transparency between Valve and the devs seem pretty strange. I'm assuming Valve is just scared of the IP being tainted by a single mediocre game.

[@theoncomingstorm7903]

It is of note that Epistle 3 has another mod called Infinite Finality announced this year that's supposed to be of a more manageable scope than Project Borealis or Boreal Alyph (Which have gone silent and died respectively). We'll have to see if that pans out.

[@zaxbit]

Holy crap I was looking for those full res scans of the Ep3 and Stars of Blood concept art last week, thank you for helping preserve a special part of gaming history!! Also big shoutouts to Tyler McVicker and NoClip for being such huge contributors to a big chunk of these years ago. Please follow them.

[@gordonneverdies]

Half Life has the same problem a lot of tv shows have nowadays. They made the story too deep and obscure without knowing how to properly end it. Epistle 3 was bleak and miserable. Now with the VR game they retconned the story with time travel like the Marvel movies. They had so much to work with and so many passionate fans like myself to support it.

[@gordonneverdies]

@@baconsoup8346 For sure. The original story was so simple and badass. Just get to the surface and get tf outta there! Haha. Half-Life 2 is definitely fun and compelling but introducing an intergalactic superpower was a mistake imo.

[@parkrangermoon2334]

Laidlaws letter was originally titled Episode 3 and had all the character names from HL, but he changed it less than 24 hours later to make sure it wasn’t taken down for legal reasons.

[@madlep]

At this point I’d just be happy to find out what happened to Barney after the end of episode 1

[@andreworders7305]

19:17 it’s always interesting when people somehow stumble upon these in online art portfolios. How did they find something like that? We’re they looking in it for other reasons?

[@RiccardoMerloVegan]

Gabe is a just a clueless child, a lucky one

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Sounds like Stars of Blood would have been a Valve take on what Starfield wants to be, another massive shame to never see it made.

[@Mati_Panzer]

really happy to hear that we'll be getting Decay in some shape or form, I played pretty much everything HL related except for that one

[@Tonynater64]

Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman

[@supremo65]

....Rise and shine

[@GmNdWtchr96]

*Dr.

[@369Sigma]

I hope we get to hear those words one more time, for a story closure at the very least.

[@leou0009]

No

[@williamfletcher934]

Rise and shine Mr Newell, not to imply you have been sleeping on the job.

[@RaposaCadela]

MAN, getting to know these unreleased games is both relieving and depressing. Valve developed lots of amazing games, but they cancelled just as many. To never show us, to destroy these developers' work, and to then eventually give up and never make another game for their franchises, were crimes against art. It's infuriating, but well, I'm sure they had their reasons. But it is frustrating to see how one or a few people can decide the fate of other people's work.

[@Jacktrack7]

I think not many people is giving DYKG enough credit for giving the money for the scans, they payed for something so they could give it to everybody for free. Thanks for that, it's part of gaming history.

[@L33PL4Y]

So they could give it to everybody for free in a way that would bring them more KZbin revenue, yes. It was great of them, but let's not pretend they didn't benefit monetarily from it.

[@Spellhammerfly]

I never knew about the rumoured release of hostile takeover, what an interesting vid!

[@buggybug]

First dude casually talking about creating lost media like it's nothing :( junior gman in training sounds like such a vibe

[@Laxhoop]

Valve doing Arkane dirty is one of the biggest tragedies in gaming.

[@CamiloSinger]

That and Arkane releasing the absolute trainwreck that is called Redfall. How the mighty have fallen :(

[@Laxhoop]

@@CamiloSinger It probably wouldn’t have happened, if they’d gotten their studio attached to Half-Life.

[@azrielsatan8693]

​​@@CamiloSinger that's what happens when good studios are owned by bad parent companies. :(

[@amspook]

To be fair, Episode 3 was made during the zombie craze era And seeing how most of the enemies are made out of zombies or zombie-like creature, it seems understandable that Valve wants to cancel it

[@Gatorade69]

@@CamiloSinger To be fair... There are two parts of Arkane, Lyon and Austin. Austin, who made Redfall, was originally just a support studio however they did make Prey by themselves. The game was pushed on them by Zenimax, and of course they wanted microtransactions. Many of the staff including It's lead then left, leaving Arkane Austin understaffed. They were acquired by Microsoft and were hoping that Microsoft would cancel the game, unfortunately Microsoft didn't. A lot of people want to blame MS but it seems like MS gave them a lot more time and told them to remove microtransactions. Maybe MS should have been more hands on and cancelled the game and helped restructure Arkane Austin. So the *original* Arkane is still around, Deathloop might not have quite been as good as their previous works but the Arkane DNA in the game is present. At this point with an understaffed Austin I think they should just go back to being a support studio. Seems like plenty of people forget that Arkane has two studios under It's banner.

[@elfascisto6549]

Maybe if Tom Kurdika was less difficult we would have gotten HL: Hostile Takeover instead of Call of Duty

[@paranormalcro]

great job, this is what video game journalism should be, well done

[@ambostralian]

I love when my favourite youtube channels work together! Hi LGR!

[@zucchinii8123]

Valve some times uses details form past Ideas I wonder if any ideas for allied processing may have contributed to the portals aperture labs. maybe. maybe not.

[@Jake_Ro_X]

LGR and DidYouKnowGaming collab is 10/10. 😁❤

[@YourFoxFriendYT]

The hostile takeover guy should give it to the community to get it to work if it doesn’t out of the box.

[@Sonicfalcon16]

being a half life fan is suffering

[@Vultonized7]

Half Life: "Three"Wave We've been fooled all along

[@daboos6353]

crazy how much the quality of this channel randomly jumped, awesome stuff.

[@chrislaezur730]

The Sven Co-op port of Decay is quite good

[@TheOneHamster]

Much love for you and LGR

[@Action2me]

I long wondered why there was no Gman game or mod. His lore has so much potential!

[@superwhizz114]

LGR is the perfect guy to do a video like this!

[@redenginner]

Just remember They succ’d the bullsquid. They succ’d its juices.

[@TheFirstAtom]

Can we get more LGR/DYKG collabs? This was epic.

[@ThumpingThromnambular]

In a way, Half Life is made more special by having the end never be made. Its' potential energy survives.

[@NayJay_]

I feel bad for Tom Kurdika. I mean don’t get me wrong he was probably an ass hat. But bro was struggling with mental issues and so he lost a whole line of games in a franchise and his team left him to just make the same company but better. I know it’s a competitive industry and you probably aren’t suited for it in a leadership position if you have issues. But man was just tryna live.

[@NayJay_]

Damn I just looked it up. Tom died in 2020

[@AnthonyAdrianAcker]

In the universe where Gabe got things done Valve would have gone way militaristic in their games. That would have been weird.

[@GKTorn.]

@7:34 "...just because one guy was hard to get along with" as someone with a loved one who's diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I feel this could be a tremendous understatement

[@JallenMeodia]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Random LGR content thrown into my ear-hole without my knowledge! I'll take it but I'm still shocked.

[@anotherweirdperson5382]

Damn, nobody gonna talk about all the guitars Benson have? Man im in love with the black one

[@mort_brain]

It's funny how over the years some dudes on the internet know more than Tyler ;-)

[@critflip7235]

Was a little bit freaked out at first cause i put on a DYKG video not LGR. Love you Clint

[@TheGreatCalsby]

Im genuinely convinced we won't see Episode 3. And it's tragic that a lot of the fans of Half Life ep 1 and 2 may have actually passed away since then.

[@Tester-sh1mn]

What? Sorry to break it to you but the creators of Half Life are probably going to die earlier than the fans.

[@Terminated_Account]

Istg there are more cancelled HL games than HL games

[@MoonPrincess28]

As a Half Life fan, this is all very bittersweet. 😢

[@humanharddrive1]

i'm insanely bitter about Return to Ravenholm and The Crossing

[@EXODUS-d2q]

Same...

[@javidaderson]

I feel like this has been a year of KZbin crossovers.

[@KiraSlith]

12:22 A skip button for those of us already up to date on Epistle 3 but wanna see the new stuff.

[@xXSwagXGamingXXx]

Every video on half life sequels is horribly depressing lmao

[@Garbageman28]

“The right man in the wrong place makes all the difference…”

[@Elwood128]

So basically Valve won't make a new half life game until Gaben dies 😑 just like we won't have a real Paper Mario until Miyamoto dies 🙁

[@AdiG1]

I like how this video began with "Did you know that a Half-Life title was cancelled because Gabe Newall didn't like a guy?". It made me picture an E3/Comicon-type panel where someone asks Gabe "Why have we not got a conclusion to Half-Life?" and Gabe looks to his left and says "Yeah, DAVE! Why don't we have a Half-Life 3? You asshole!"

[@DystopianOverture]

DYKG and LGR in one video? Perfect combo!

[@The69DJ]

How many valve employees are watching this as like a trip down memory lane?

[@MrRorosao]

I don't understand how a gaming company like valve can be so anti gaming

[@deleted_messiah]

This is a great video!

[@TheArkman360]

2:11 I NEED IT!!!!!!!!!! I NEED IT!!!!!!!!! I NEED IT SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Ian99_]

Man valve sure loves to cancel projects with literally 0 explanation

[@scottmercer8066]

Best Half-Life content vid I’ve watched in a long time. Thank you!

[@gilition]

I waited years for a did you know gaming video on Half-Life and then I hear "7 year war"....

[@DJIVision]

It's a typo mate

[@Jws20]

@@DJIVision more like a slip of tongue

[@DJIVision]

@@Jws20 Gotta confess lol, I wrote the script. I checked and I had actually written "Seven Year" not "Seven Hour." I knew it was hours, especially since I did a playthrough/replay of every HL game right before writing this video (except Alyx). Just goofed while writing that sentence. Didn't notice, and neither did any proofreaders. Slipped through the cracks.

[@Jws20]

@@DJIVision oh, well then I guess it is a typo

[@theblobconsumes4859]

Valve continues to disappoint me as a game developer. I have to accept that they're a tech company now, not a game developer. They just happen to have designers.

[@raafmaat]

you could have LGR narrate ANYTHING and i would watch it!

[@spenceduggs]

I can't even imagine what Half Life would look like in the hands of Warren Spector, but I'm sad to not live in the timeline where I could find out.

[@Kinodawker]

Idk if I’m crazy but the way the tfc mercs are characterized in hostile takeover kinda sounds similar to how they are in the tf2 comics.

[@TheIncredibleStories]

I feel like HL has SO much potential for future installations, but Valve is just not bothered. A Warren Spector lead Half Life game would've been absolutely amazing.

[@musiccommands8615]

This was amazing