No One Wants Half-Life 3? These Three Reports Are More Interesting

Gamersky’s morning roundup, published on May 18, 2026, bundled three industry stories into one package: Chet Faliszek saying in a YouTube reply that he does not want to write Half-Life 3, Take-Two revealing that the first Borderlands overhauled its art style with only two months left and cost the company $50 million, and Tom Henderson reporting via Insider-Gaming that 1047 Games is making an arena shooter codenamed Empulse. If I’m rating the roundup itself, it lands at a 7/10.

What makes these stories worth discussing is not rumor for rumor’s sake. It is the way old franchises now behave like high-voltage towers: whoever gets too close is the first to get shocked. Faliszek, who worked on the writing for Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead, says it plainly. He does not want to touch a sequel to an older series with massive established lore. It is not a flattering answer, but it is an honest one. In the current community climate, change too little and people call it a reskin, change too much and they start auditing the canon line by line. Very few writers would want that job.

It is also important not to overread his comment. Faliszek stressed that he was talking about events from more than a decade ago, not hinting at any official move from Valve. Half-Life 3 still has not been announced, and whether Valve would continue from the story direction of Half-Life: Alyx is something outsiders simply cannot know. Longtime players understand the situation well enough: this series now resembles one of those legendary PS1 cartridges everyone has heard about, but nobody has actually seen.

The Borderlands story is the one I find more revealing. In an interview with David Senra, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that late in development, with only two months left before completion, executives decided the original visual direction was wrong and lacked distinction. The result was a sweeping art reboot that burned $50 million, delayed release by more than a year, and fundamentally changed the game’s future. When Borderlands first appeared in 2007, its look was closer to the grim tone of Gears of War and Fallout. When it resurfaced in 2008, it had the cel-shaded style players now associate with the series, before finally launching in 2009 and growing into a bestseller.

Was that decision harsh? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Looking at the result, yes. Back then, shooters were already crowded with stern, realistic faces and dusty realism. Another dark wasteland-style new IP could easily have disappeared on arrival. Borderlands cut hard in the other direction, and that gave it an identity strong enough to survive and eventually become a major brand. So no, a “redo” should not automatically be read as disaster. Sometimes it is less a wipeout than an emergency save.

As for Empulse, everything we have so far comes from Tom Henderson at Insider-Gaming. He did not reveal an announcement window, release timing, or target platforms. What he did say is why people are already calling it a spiritual successor to Titanfall: wall-running, boost movement, grappling-hook mobility, and combat involving giant mechs. That certainly sounds appealing. It also points to the risk. If the final game only traces the outline of Titanfall, it could end up like some old-era Halo imitators: busy movement, plenty of action, but no real soul underneath.

Still, players clearly are willing to give this kind of high-mobility shooter another chance. Titanfall has spent years feeling like a beloved memory locked away on an old console hard drive, and if Respawn will not return to it, someone else in the market eventually will. My takeaway is simple: wait for actual show-floor gameplay before calling Empulse a true spiritual successor, keep expectations for Half-Life 3 low, and treat this old Borderlands story as a lesson for every publisher. Sometimes the most expensive mistake is not reworking a game. It is shipping one you already know is wrong.