Half-Life 3 Would Have Ended with a Cliffhanger, Says Main Writer
 

In an interview with Arcade Attack, Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw revealed that a third game in the series wouldn't have tied off any narrative loose ends anyway: in fact, every Half-Life game was expected to end in a cliffhanger. He also speaks a little bit about Episode 3 and how it would have "reset" the story, likening the transition from Half-Life to Half-Life 2. As expected, Laidlaw has no idea if Half-Life 3 will ever be released. ...I never thought as far ahead as HL3, unless you were to say that HL3 and Episode 3 were the same thing. I will say that I expected every installment would end without resolution, forever and ever…there was some rumor going around that Ep3 or HL3 would end Gordon Freeman's story, and I don't think that was accurate. My intention was that Ep3 would simply tie up the plot threads that were particular to HL2. But it would still end like HL1 and HL2, with Gordon in an indeterminate space, on hold, waiting for the next game to begin. So one cliffhanger after another.

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