It’s been a long time since “Left 4 Dead 2” came out, and even though the game’s initial launch was surrounded by a lot of controversy over the way it was handled and the fact that it came out so soon after the first game, it was eventually quite successful and left a positive mark on the market. Recently, we’ve been hearing the occasional rumor about a possible sequel, but nothing too concrete.
Valve themselves have been keeping quiet of course, something typical for them as the company tends to be quite secretive about their current projects. However, we did see the game mentioned in their internal bug tracking databases, giving hope to players that we might indeed see it released eventually. It’s been a long time since those images were leaked however, and we haven’t heard anything since then.
It’s possible that they were developing the game as a test bed for their Source Engine 2, a major tech product that’s supposedly in development right now. The company has given us hints about the new engine on several occasions, but we don’t know when we can expect to see it released on the market officially.
We also don’t know what game it’s going to debut on. Realistically, there are many options. From the legendary “Half-Life 3” – which may or may not be released at all at this point – to “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and of course, “Left 4 Dead 3”. “Dota 2” is getting a major overhaul that moves it to the new engine as well, but Valve might end up surprising us by releasing another game with it at some point soon as well.
That would certainly be a nice surprise, although it would also be a little out of character for the company, as they are notorious for their slow release schedules and known for taking their time with every release. We’re not going to hear anything about Source 2 – or “Left 4 Dead 3” – until Valve are ready to present them to the world, and this might take some time.
Lately, there haven’t been many active rumors about “Left 4 Dead 3”, and we don’t know if the game is still being worked on at the studio or not. Valve are a relatively small studio with a lot on their plate, and we can imagine that it would be hard for them to balance their workload efficiently between so many projects that they have going on right now.
Because of this, we don’t really have high hopes for hearing anything about “Left 4 Dead 3” soon, at least not on the official front. However, it’s not rare that Valve suffer from a leak revealing their current plans, and considering how popular “Left 4 Dead” is, we wouldn’t be surprised if we heard about the game well in advance before it hit the market.
What kinds of changes could “Left 4 Dead 3” bring to the franchise? Realistically, a lot could happen in this installment, given how long it’s been since the last one. On one hand, we would definitely expect a noticeable graphical improvement. On the other, the gameplay will likely see some refinement as well.
This could mean new classes, game modes, or more ways to approach the development of each scenario. The game could very well become a very captivating cinematic experience if it’s done right, and Valve are a studio that should definitely know how to handle this sort of task.