On November 21, Valve released a trailer that surprised the entire video game industry, showcasing the first full look into a new entry in the long dormant Half-Life franchise. While the announcement was met with a myriad of reactions from the larger gaming community as a whole, it’s clear that Valve is working on some very big things after a stretch of relative quiet.

Now, just weeks after its monumental announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, there are already rumblings of another long-awaited new entry in a beloved Valve franchise. Momentum is spreading around a possible confirmation that a new entry in the Left 4 Dead series is going to be announced this Thursday at The Game Awards. However, much life Half-Life: Alyx this new entry into the Left 4 Dead series is also rumored to be a VR title.

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This possible confirmation originated on Twitter, after Tyler McVicker, the creator of the Valve News Network YouTube channel, sent out a tweet on December 8. The tweet in question reads, “Videos are finally back tomorrow. Boneworks is out on Tuesday. Left 4 Dead VR is real. The game awards is in a few days, with new Half-Life: Alyx news. Get your minds ready, it’s about to blow.”

left 4 dead 3 fan trailer

Understandably, some might wonder on what basis could these claims be legitimate or believable? In a recent video, McVicker breaks down his thought process and where he is getting all of this information from. Datamining a handful of recent Dota 2 and Steam VR Home updates have revealed a plethora of interesting bits and pieces of code that was inserted into these games and clients.

Most of the lines of code are related to the new title Half-Life: Alyx, but some specific lines of code may very well point to he Left 4 Dead franchise. Apparently, these lines of code recently found in “a VR specific piece of software that Valve actively updates” specifically relate to Left 4 Dead 2 and read as follows:

  • “male”,
  • “female”,
  • “namvet”,
  • “teengirl”,
  • “biker”,
  • “manager”,
  • “gambler”,
  • “producer”,
  • “coach”,
  • “mechanic”,
  • “ceda”,
  • “crawler”,
  • “undistractable”,
  • “fallen”,
  • “riot_control”,
  • “clown”,
  • “jimmy”,
  • “hospital_patient”,
  • “Bride”
  • WEAPON_SOUND_BURST
  • WEAPON_SOUND_DOUBLE
  • WEAPON_SOUND_DOUBLE_NPC
  • WEAPON_SOUND_EMPTY
  • WEAPON_SOUND_FAST_RELOAD
  • WEAPON_SOUND_MELEE_HIT
  • WEAPON_SOUND_MELEE_HIT_WORLD
  • WEAPON_SOUND_MELEE_MISS
  • WEAPON_SOUND_NUM_TYPES
  • WEAPON_SOUND_RELOAD
  • WEAPON_SOUND_RELOAD_NPC
  • WEAPON_SOUND_SINGLE
  • WEAPON_SOUND_SINGLE_NPC
  • WEAPON_SOUND_SPECIAL1
  • WEAPON_SOUND_SPECIAL2
  • WEAPON_SOUND_SPECIAL3
  • WEAPON_SOUND_TAUNT
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_ACTIVE
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_AMMO
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_AMMO2
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_AUTOAIM
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_CROSSHAIR
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_INACTIVE
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_SMALL
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_ZOOMED_AUTOAIM
  • WEAPON_TEXTURE_ICON_ZOOMED_CROSSHAIR

The first series of code that appear in lowercase text relate to NPCs, while the second half relate to weapon sound effects and textures. It is important to note that these lines of code have shown up in previous Valve titles before. The question is, why are these lines of code implemented into a VR-oriented update?

That is the basis of where this claim is coming from. McVicker goes in-depth with a full analysis in his video, so readers can check it out if they so desire as he does bring up some interesting points. The claim appears to have even more credence, with Valve’s recent push for VR which has manage to cause a shortage of VR headsets following Half-Life: Alyx’s announcement.

Admittedly, it does seem plausible that Valve could follow up a new Half-Life announcement with another long-awaited revival like Left 4 Dead. Half-Life: Alyx is already garnering praise from industry higher-ups like Phil Spencer of Xbox, who recently called the title “amazing.”

Though there are still some concerns from fans of the Half-Life series, centering around what the future of Half-Life 3 could look like with Half-Life: Alyx and VR being Valve’s main focus for the time being. Unfortunately, until The Game Awards begins on December 12, fans of the Left 4 Dead series with have to keep their hopes up on baited breath.

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Source: Tyler McVicker / Twitter