Alas, it looks as if a Left 4 Dead 3 simply isn’t high on Valve’s priority to-do list. The series, a four-player co-op survival horror, is often considered to be one of the best multiplayer experiences money can buy and yet, despite such obvious popularity, the developer seemingly has other projects demanding the lion’s share of its attention, chief of which being Half-Life: Alyx.
The ambitious virtual reality title, available now for PC, marks the first continuation of gaming’s most iconic FPS in over a decade and while not the direct sequel to Half-Life 2 that many had perhaps hoped, has nonetheless managed to impress fans and critics alike. As for Left 4 Dead, however, it appears as if those hoping to team up with three others for a session or two of cathartic zombie-slaying entertainment may be in for the same long haul wait as Half-Life lovers.
In a recent interview with IGN, Valve’s Chris Remo and Robin Walker were quizzed about the Left 4 Dead franchise as well as the origins of certain leaks last year purporting to reveal assets from a supposedly cancelled version of a third game. The short answer? Remo and Walker explain how the leaked images were the result of Valve’s internal testing for Source 2; successor to the original Source game engine.
We used parts of a Left 4 Dead level as the first bit of level geometry to start building in Source 2, so a bit of that got out. It was essentially a rendering test, and people thought that meant we were working on Left 4 Dead.
Another blow to those with hopes of Left 4 Dead 3 coming sooner rather than later, then, though it’s worth noting that Valve has never explicitly ruled out revisiting the series down the road. Those eager for more content aren’t completely out of luck, however, as modders have spent the last several years creating their own unofficial expansions, one of which was recently completed. See here for all the details.