A Half-Life VR game may have just been leaked in Valve’s newest VR game The Lab. A recent update to The Lab largely went unnoticed save for the new features it’s introduced. However, it’s come to light that this update also contained an awful lot of unused code—and this new code seems to point toward an unreleased game.
Tyler McVicker of the Valve News Network put out a video where he talks about this update. He (and many others, I’m sure) initially dismissed it beyond the new features, but someone brought an interesting fact to his attention: There was code referring to a game code-named Shooter buried in there. This code was accessed simply by de-compiling the C# code that was brought in via the latest update.
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A quick scan of the game’s code revealed a few interesting variables. The notable ones highlighted for this potential Half-Life VR game were the following:
- AmplifyBreenCast
- CombineScanner
- CombineSoldier
- CombineStrider
- Gunship
- PlayAudio_gmanTest
Other portions of the code make references to a pistol, the AR2, a gun range, and a bridge crank puzzle.
Most interestingly, an “entire chapter-based campaign” is included in this code. Apparently, this whole experience takes place in some kind of holographic projection room (or for you Star Trek nerds out there, a holodeck). A portion of the game is referred to as the “City 17 Simulation” that is split into several sections, each of which introduces the player to a new gameplay mechanic a la Portal.
So, what exactly are we looking at here? Mr. McVicker speculates that this Half-Life VR code may well be the beginnings of the next dedicated virtual reality project that’s in development from Valve, but it’s also entirely possible that it is simply a scrapped project (or a segment of The Lab) that was accidentally re-integrated into the live version of the game. He’s currently investigating the code to see if he (or anyone else) can get it to run. In the meantime, you can see his full breakdown in the video below.
