Lead writer Marc Laidlaw left Valve in 2016, and the very next year he released Epistle 3, a short, legally distinct “fanfic” about Gertie Fremont that served as a collection of ideas for how he might have resolved the Half-Life 2: Episode Two cliffhanger. Laidlaw has expressed regret at publishing the story, mainly due to the inconvenience it caused his former collaborators, but that hasn't stopped fans from trying to adapt his vague outline into a full-fledged game.
Project Borealis is one such ambitious attempt, trying to recreate the Source feel of Half-Life 2 within the Unreal Engine – building an entire sequel from the ground up – but others, like Boreal-Alyph and Interlude, never made it to the finish line. Alyx tossed around a bit, re-contextualizing the end of episode two and setting up its own sequel, which is reportedly nearing the finish line (as evidenced by all the “HLX” leaks found in the Source 2 backend), but that still hasn't deterred modders. And now a much more modest solo project is about to be released later this year.
Jim Partridge announced All Good Things earlier this year in a blog post explaining that he has sat on the sidelines and watched overly ambitious teams try to adapt Laidlaw's writings to no avail. He argued that these teams take too long or fail outright because they have too many volunteers – which is a surprising stance, given that most teams, like Skyblivion, claim the opposite. Nonetheless, Partridge suggested that not relying on others is key, with several large-scale Half-Life and Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns under his belt to prove it.
“You can have all the concept artists, modelers, composers and screenwriters you like, but at the end of the day, your project needs fun playable levels at its core,” he said. “I think that's why I finally decided to throw my hat in the Epistle 3 ring. I know I can crank out a set of 12 or more levels that are fun to play and FEEL like Episode 2. Which, in my opinion, is what people want.”
All the good stuff is only a map and a half away from completion
Six hours ago, Partridge posted a new update, confirming that All Good Things is on track to launch in late 2026, while also sharing some screenshots of the Aperture facility. “Work has progressed steadily towards a first draft of the campaign and I'm now only a map and a half away from having a fully playable experience from scratch that can be tested to death,” he said.
Of course, unlike Project Borealis and other mods of its scope – or Black Mesa, the fan-made Half-Life remake that took over ten years to develop – All Good Things doesn't aim to replicate the experience of a brand new Valve game. A modder alone cannot achieve that, but Epistel 3 does needs to have that scope? The original post was a rough outline written by a frustrated writer, reflecting his own real-life experiences, not a full-fledged script trying to match the quality of Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two. A mod like Partridge's feels more authentic to Epistle 3, which Laidlaw himself claimed is more akin to fanfic than anything else.
All Good Things is more akin to the early map packs that tried to bring Half-Life 2 betas to life than the volunteer indie development teams spearheading entire games we see today, and there's a certain charm to that low-stakes approach. It will be fascinating to dive in and see Epistel 3 brought to life in the Source engine as if no time had passed since 2007, and hey, if nothing else, the tenacity of the lone developer is the closest anyone has come to the finish line.
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October 10, 2007
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