Half-Life 3 Left4Dead but Valve teases a Portal back to the universe

In an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell confirmed that the company is working on a new single-player game that could very well be set in the Half-Life/Portal universe.

When asked by a fan if Valve was currently working on any “fully-fledged” single player titles, Newell replied that “yes” it was, but didn’t reveal any more than that. 

At a later point in the AMA, however, another user then asked “Any chance of a new IP that takes place in the Half-Life/Portal universe?” To this Newell responded with an equally firm but also equally undetailed “yep”.

A portal to City 17

This doesn’t mean the upcoming single-player title is necessarily set in the Half-Life/Portal universe, though, so it's worth tempering your excitement. 

Valve isn’t exactly known for being overly vocal about its projects, so it’s unsurprising that these are the only details Newell was willing to reveal. 

Newell explained that the company is so secretive about the projects it has in development because its “decision making is way more conditional than most other companies.” Newell said “the one thing we won’t do is waste our customers' time and money, which means we will cancel or change stuff much later in development. Tracking our choices would be annoying and frustrating”.

It’s been 12 years since Half-Life 2 was released, but the series is so beloved by fans that they’ve been calling for a sequel ever since. However, whatever Half-Life/Portal project Valve is working on, it’s certainly not Half-Life 3, as when someone asked about the possibility of this Newell replied “the number 3 must not be said”.

Regardless, we’re still looking forward to seeing what Valve has planned for one of our favorite gaming universes. It’s likely, however, that we’ll return to the Half-Life/Portal universe in cinemas before we do so on our PCs, as Newell also confirmed that the films based on the games being developed by JJ Abrams are coming soon.

Emma Boyle

Emma Boyle is TechRadar’s ex-Gaming Editor, and is now a content developer and freelance journalist. She has written for magazines and websites including T3, Stuff and The Independent. Emma currently works as a Content Developer in Edinburgh.