Half-Life 3 is now playable thanks to fans working on Project Borealis

Project Borealis is a fan-made Half-Life 3 currently in development by a global team of developers, based on the plot synopsis of the game outlined by Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw. As PC fans of the franchise know, Valve's iconic FPS series abruptly ended after the release of Half-Life: Episode Two in 2007.

Of course, we got the excellent Half-Life: Alyx in 2020. However, that was a VR-only release that felt more like a spin-off than a true Half-Life 3. Interestingly, Project Borealis is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, not the Source Engine (Valve's internal engine that has powered every game in the Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series) - with the team aiming to faithfully recreate the "iconic Half-Life 2 movement and gameplay mechanics."

On the plus side, Unreal Engine 5 gives developers access to powerful visuals, and Project Borealis: Prologue is now available to play (for free) on Steam. You can now fire up what is a fan-made version of Half-Life 3.

"Inspired by the epic cliffhanger from Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Project Borealis represents a fan-made effort to realize a cohesive story conclusion to the episodic series," the description reads. "This prologue chapter invites players back into the HEV suit of Gordon Freeman, offering a glimpse into the next chapter of his journey."

Unfortunately, Project Borealis: Prologue takes only about 10-15 minutes to complete, and many user reviews on Steam call it more of a tech demo than an actual game. It also struggles to run on powerful graphics hardware like the GeForce RTX 4080. For a look at its content, check out the following full playthrough from the YouTube channel @Bolloxed.