‘Valve is making a new game’ is the most basic statement you can make about a developer, yet it sends fans into a complete frenzy. It’s like being excited that your local baker is baking bread — what else are they gonna do? But Valve’s idea of baking bread is popping a loaf in the oven, taking it out before it’s done, and chucking it in the bin. Again and again and again, to the horror of the customers standing in the queue, waiting for a freshly baked slice. But when it finishes a loaf? It’s the best damn bread you’ve ever tasted.
So, when news broke that dataminers like Tyler McVicker had uncovered a new project,referred to only as ‘Tf’, the frenzy began all over again. It’s probably not a Source 2 port ofTeam Fortress 2, because it would be referred to as ‘Tf_import’, and the work was already done a decade ago anyway, so it must be a new game. A spin-off? A sequel? It doesn’t matter. Valve is makingsomething.
Of course, you should take this with a grain of salt, as ‘Tf’ might be cancelled, or it could become something else entirely. Deadlock began as a Half-Life spin-off, after all.
If you’ve been following Valve leaks whatsoever in the last couple of years, you’ll know that ‘Tf’ isn’t the only project we know about.It’s also working on ‘HLX’, which is strongly believed to be Half-Life 3,a game that was even teased by G-Man and Barney Calhoun actor Mike Shapiro. That’stwoValve games. One is a miracle, I don’t have the words for two (and that becomes three, if you throw inDeadlock). It’s starting to feel oddly like 2007.
Valve Is One Game Away From The Orange Box 2
Nearly 20 years ago, Valve released a collection of some of its best games, along with a few new releases —Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2, plus its episodes, as well as the separate Deathmatch mode and Lost Coast demo. It’s called ‘The Orange Box’, and the introduction of Aperture Science’s dingy underground labs, where a rogue AI was running inhuman tests, was easily the highlight, with many reviewers praising it as a revolution in the puzzle genre.
Valve also planned a ‘Black Box’, which would’ve contained just Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.
Ever since, fans have been wondering where the sequel is. Granted, that would require Valve to actually develop sequels, and with no Portal 3 in sight, and Half-Life 2: Episode Three and Left 4 Dead 3 cancelled, the idea of another bargain bundle seemed impossibly far-fetched. But with all the new leaks, it’s never been closer.
We have a new Team Fortress and Half-Life on the way, if everything pans out and Valve doesn’t throw them in the bin, leaving just Portal. The Orange Box 2 is one game away from being complete, but it’s not a literal Orange Box 2 that’s exciting (it should be called ‘The Blue Box’). It’s the fact that Valve is developing games again.
HLX isn’t just a string of code found in a file (which ‘Tf’ admittedly is right now, but then again, so wereHalf-Life: Alyxand Deadlock once); there has been a steady stream of leaks for years that now point to it being in the polishing phase of development. No iteration of Half-Life 3 has ever made it this far.
Coupled with Aperture Desk Job, Half-Life: Alyx, Deadlock, and Counter-Strike 2, games that actually hit Steam shelves, we’re steadily putting the Valve of the 2010s in the rearview mirror. It’s not the same studio that never finishes a game, cancelling everything and staying radio silent as fans are left dawdling on forums. It’s making things again, pushing boundaries and iterating in new genres.
The Orange Box 2 doesn’t need to literally exist, because the Valve that brought us that bundle so many years ago is back. That’s all that matters.
