Half-Life 2: Episode Three is a canceled first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was planned as the last in a trilogy of episodic games continuing the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Valve announced Episode Three in May 2006, with a release planned for 2007. Following the cliffhanger ending of Episode Two (2007), it was widely anticipated. Marc Laidlaw, the writer for the Half-Life series, said he intended Episode Three to end the Half-Life 2 arc. Valve released little information on Episode Three over the following years, and in 2011 Wired described it as vaporware. Valve eventually canceled it as the developers felt the episodic format was limiting their ambition and they failed to settle on a direction. Additionally, Valve began developing a new game engine, Source 2, and delayed development of a new Half-Life until it was complete. Another Half-Life project led by Laidlaw, Borealis, was canceled in 2016. Laidlaw left Valve later that year. In 2017, Laidlaw released a short story that journalists interpreted as a summary for what could have been the plot of Episode Three. It followed the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, as he journeyed to the Arctic and boarded the Borealis, an experimental vessel created by Aperture Science. After Laidlaw posted the story, fans launched several projects attempting to recreate Episode Three. After canceling several further Half-Life games, Valve released a virtual reality game, Half-Life: Alyx, in 2020. Premise Episode Three was to be the last in a trilogy of episodic games that would continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Episode One was released on June 1, 2006, followed by Episode Two on October 10, 2007. Valve's president, Gabe Newell, said he considered the trilogy the equivalent of Half-Life 3. According to Newell, whereas the original Half-Life (1998) saw the G-Man transform the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, into his tool, and Half-Life 2 saw Freeman being used by G-Man, the episodes would see G-Man lose control. Marc Laidlaw, the writer for the Half-Life series, said he intended Episode Three to end the Half-Life 2 arc, at which point he would "step away from it and leave it to the next generation". He planned an ending similar to previous games, with the player character, Gordon Freeman, left in "an indeterminate space, on hold ... So one cliffhanger after another ... I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever." In 2009, reports surfaced that Valve