New rumours have emerged that seem very hard to believe, but if true would mark a huge change in direction for the lauded FPS series, as they suggest Half Life 3 will not be a linear FPS, but an open world title featuring quests, NPCs and RPG like elements.
Again it should be said that despite JournaldguGamer stating that this comes from a "person close to valve," (apparently a "her") this is very unlikely to be true. Even with Valve's development of action/RPG MOBA title DotA 2 giving it experience outside of the shooter world, I'm not buying it. However, somebody did or we wouldn't be talking about it, so let's break it down.
According to the rumours, Half Life 2: Episode 3 has been skipped in favour of Half Life 3 development, with the game having gone through several different iterations already. It supposedly began life as a standard shooter, before becoming more akin to exploration and puzzle title and then finally switching to the open world RPG that it's said to be now. It will include AI characters that will send the protagonist off on quests, though how they will work in the snowy environments we've seen thanks to leaked concept art of the game is anyone's guess.
The release date is said to be a vague "after 2013."
RPG elements presumably means levelling of some kind, but how exactly will the player character improve over time? Gordon is a scientist, he's not a mage or a sword wielding elf, he's a man that gets better at gunning down enemies as the game goes on, because the player does. The only real advancement we've seen in the past is finding bigger and better guns.
So you know where I stand, how about you guys? A hoax? A phony release by Valve? Or is there a shred of truth here? Let us know below.