Rumor: Valve's new IP has been leaked

[Gahars]

Valve is beloved for its dedication to quality, plethora of memorable franchises, and their proper treatment of customers. At the same time, they often draw ire for their habit of continually delaying projects; it's called "Valve Time" for a reason.

One of the most anticipated titles never actually announced has been Half Life 3. The last title in the franchise came out in 2007, and fans are eager to take up their crowbars once more as Gordon Freeman.

Well, there's no news about that, so you'll have to keep waiting. But according to rumors, they have been cooking up a brand new IP in the mean time.

Valve is supposedly working on a bunch of new projects, and one of them is an open world space game called ‘Stars of Barathrum’. Apparently, the title is extremely ambitious in its scope, and we may have our first look at it via these amazing concept arts.

Now, of course, this should be taken with a pinch of salt, but according to Facepunch–a well known gaming forum–some of these images belong to Valve’s new IP. Apparently, you have the ability to command large cruisers and capital ships, and again, as mentioned above, this looks something that is very ambitious, especially considering the type of games Valve has released so far.

According to the poster who leaked these images, Valve is investing a lot of resources into this game, and who knows it may end up as a free-to-play MMO, too, considering Valve has shown a lot of interest in that type of business model and encourages it as well.

“An inside source has confirmed that SOB (Valve’s new IP) is an unannounced game entitled Stars of Barathrum (working title). Plays like privateer/freelancer but also with the ability to command larger cruisers and capital ships. It’s a very vast and open-world game where you choose your own adventure, a lot of internal resources are being put into SOB,” reads the Facepunch post.

Gaming Bolt

Here is a video of some of the supposed concept art set to funky music:

Spoiler

Before we go any further, it's worth noting: this is only a rumor. Nothing has been confirmed yet, and knowing Valve, we might not get any official word on the project for some time. They just love to tease.

On the one hand, the concept is certainly cool enough. I mean, a Privateer-like game from Valve? You better believe that sounds great. On the other hand, though, this does mean that we'll probably have to wait even longer for any long awaited projects presumably featuring the number 3.

So, what do you think? Does rumor of this new Valve game get you steamed up, or is this nothing but a pipe dream?

 

[BORTZ]

I would have to see more, i mean theres some good stuff here, but not enough to make a sound judgement from.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

Hoping this is fake. Others and myself have been waiting too long for Half-Life 3 or at least a conclusion to the story of Gordon Freeman.

 

[Veho]

Wow, first Star Citizen, now this... megalomaniac massive multiplayer space sims are the future, it seems.


But seriously, imagine playing that thing with their VR headset and this in your hands...

*space sim fanboy squeal*


My body is not ready D:

 

[Deleted_171835]

Fuck a new IP, just give us Half Life 3.

 

[Celice]

I'm for any new game that's interesting thematically and experiencially. The art style is very nice, getting that slip into uncanny yet still somehow realism, which will hopefully resonate with the potential gameplay.

Half-Life 3 can wait for the technology to arrive which serves it best. If it takes time for it, or for the proper development to give us a great game, then waiting is what I'll do. Luckily I have almost 30 years of awesome gaming to explore in the meantime, not with-holding new games, and let alone other media, and dare I say, life.

 

[Gahars]

Valve strikes me as a great developer without much in the way of an attention span; they have so many ideas and directions bouncing around that they get sidetracked easily. Sure, titles like Half Life 3 take forever, but we get so much other great content in the mean time that it's worth the wait.

I remember seeing supposedly leaked HL3 concept art floating around the internet a few times, and some space ships were featured prominently. I could easily imagine something like that capturing their imagination and spurring a project like this.

 

[Traversal]

Don't know what to make of this, quiet odd. Though, as long as it's quality like Valve's other works, it'd definitely be worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Wtf is up with the pregnant women lol

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

After 5 years, I've pretty much given up on Half Life 3. If it ever does come into existence, I would be ecstatic. But right now, meh.

New IP is always welcomed, especially from Valve. The fantastic concept art certainly does live up to Valve's standard of quality. I look forward to hearing more from this, if the rumours do indeed hold true.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Screw HL3, I'm still waiting for HL2 Episode 3...

 

[Gahars]

You Half Life guys are all spoiled, if you ask me.

Personally, I feel worse for the Ricochet fans. They've been waiting the longest.

 

[Janthran]

This sounds like a game that I would love.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Valve strikes me as a great developer without much in the way of an attention span; they have so many ideas and directions bouncing around that they get sidetracked easily. Sure, titles like Half Life 3 take forever, but we get so much other great content in the mean time that it's worth the wait.

I remember seeing supposedly leaked HL3 concept art floating around the internet a few times, and some space ships were featured prominently. I could easily imagine something like that capturing their imagination and spurring a project like this.

But if they made Half Life 3, then we wouldn't have to wait. Sure, give us something to tie us over, but don't constantly bring out newer stuff especially after 5 years of waiting. And then they tease the hell out of it about how possibly Portal and Half Life are connected into one story. Come on man, the longer they wait and "develop" (I put that in quotes because at this point in time, I'm not even sure they have begun development on HL3), the more you're going to have to add to the game to make it worth the wait, otherwise, you're dealing with a metric shit ton of angry fans.

 

[Hadrian]

*new thread about a Valve non HL3 game*

*thread becomes all about HL3 as usual*

If they released HL3 people will either bitch about how it's not as good as the others or how the ending doesn't meet their requirments or people then just start bitching for HL4.

Games we'll get before HL3:
DOTA.
That Left 4 Dead/Payday spin off.
Left 4 Dead 3 (pretty much confirmed, though might not have "3" in the title).
Portal 2.9.
DOTA 2.
Left 4 Dead x Team Fortress.
This space thing.
This space thing 2.
Left 4 Dead x Portal.

Actually fuck HL3, get us L4D x Portal done!

 

[PsyBlade]

why must everyone include some stupid ass music in their vids
only thing it does is getting it blocked
if the fucking creators of the music don't want anyone to listen to it, let them keep it for themselves

and no I'm not going to use some fuking vpn just to view it
slows down everything and might get me banned from expensive things like steam

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Games we'll get before HL3:
DOTA.
That Left 4 Dead/Payday spin off.
Left 4 Dead 3 (pretty much confirmed, though might not have "3" in the title).
Portal 2.9.
DOTA 2.
Left 4 Dead x Team Fortress.
This space thing.
This space thing 2.
Left 4 Dead x Portal.

Actually fuck HL3, get us L4D x Portal done!

Dota 2 is basically out, for some reason it's just "private beta" but invites are basically everywhere.

The L4D/Payday thing was just revealed to be the No Mercy map for Payday I thought.

Also L4D x TF2 = MvM?

 

[Gahars]

Valve strikes me as a great developer without much in the way of an attention span; they have so many ideas and directions bouncing around that they get sidetracked easily. Sure, titles like Half Life 3 take forever, but we get so much other great content in the mean time that it's worth the wait.

I remember seeing supposedly leaked HL3 concept art floating around the internet a few times, and some space ships were featured prominently. I could easily imagine something like that capturing their imagination and spurring a project like this.

But if they made Half Life 3, then we wouldn't have to wait. Sure, give us something to tie us over, but don't constantly bring out newer stuff especially after 5 years of waiting. And then they tease the hell out of it about how possibly Portal and Half Life are connected into one story. Come on man, the longer they wait and "develop" (I put that in quotes because at this point in time, I'm not even sure they have begun development on HL3), the more you're going to have to add to the game to make it worth the wait, otherwise, you're dealing with a metric shit ton of angry fans.

Eh, I'm going to say it. Left 4 Dead + Left 4 Dead 2 + Portal 2 + Dota 2 + Constant TF2 updates + This New IP > Half Life 3 by a mile. Considering how Valve continues to pump out quality product after quality product (not to mention their great work on Steam), I don't think they're in any danger of losing fans no matter how long HL3 takes or how much they tease it.

And yeah, waiting sucks, but look at their track record. They've earned the benefit of the doubt several times over by now.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Wow, first Star Citizen, now this... megalomaniac massive multiplayer space sims are the future, it seems.


But seriously, imagine playing that thing with their VR headset and this in your hands...

*space sim fanboy squeal*


My body is not ready D:

I had a stick very much like that almost 20 years ago (minus the cool LED lights and LCD screen of course.) Was fantastic for Mechwarrior and the flight sims I used to play at the time, makes me miss Voodoo and glide even more lol

 

[Veho]

I had a stick very much like that almost 20 years ago (minus the cool LED lights and LCD screen of course.) Was fantastic for Mechwarrior and the flight sims I used to play at the time, makes me miss Voodoo and glide even more lol

I had the QuickShot Squadron Commander, once upon a time (it's hard to even find a decent photo nowadays). And yes, it's the only way to play Mechwarrior