Left 4 Dead was often used as a testbed by Valve for a number of ideas across games like Counter-Strike and Half-Life, a former writer has revealed when asked about the seemingly neverending Left 4 Dead 3 leaks. While the co-op game sequel looks like it’s never going to happen, at least we may have an explanation as to why Left 4 Dead content keeps popping up all the time.
Leaks and rumors about a supposed Left 4 Dead pop up all the time, with references to the sequel even appearing in other Valve games like Counter-Strike 2, and cut content making the rounds every couple of years, reigniting the fire.
Valve has made it clear it isn’t working on a Left 4 Dead 3, and hasn’t been for years, but we now know where all the Left 4 Dead leaks may have actually come from.
Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek, who worked on Portal, Half-Life 2, and both Left 4 Dead games, has talked about how Left 4 Dead was always a useful “testbed” at Valve for the team to test new ideas in, which may explain why there’s so much unfinished work and ideas still being found in the series. Faliszek has also been working on Left 4 Dead spiritual successor The Anacrusis, which is currently 50% off.
Faliszek explained all this on a recent episode of The VŌC Podcast, where he was asked about all the apparent Left 4 Dead 3 leaks of the past few years. Keep in mind that Faliszek left Valve in 2017.
“I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about but in general, as we were working on Source 2, we often used Left 4 Dead as the ‘testbed,’” Faliszek explains. “So you may see things that came out of there that were really more the testbed than, ‘hey, we’re making a new Left 4 Dead.’”
Left 4 Dead 3 leaks happen all the time and often get debunked, either by Valve itself or eagle-eyed fans that scour images and info for what’s really going on. But it keeps rearing its head, in no small part due to how good of a co-op game Left 4 Dead still is to this day.
“With everything at Valve, there’s a bunch of stuff happening in the background, things are being tried and whatnot. But Left 4 Dead is a good base to try things on because it’s a multiplayer game. So you’re gonna exercise that muscle, it’s co-op, you’re working together.”
Take note of how Faliszek doesn’t refer to any specific apparent leaks related to Left 4 Dead and its fabled third installment, but his point is still a very interesting one. Valve built Left 4 Dead in such a way with Source that it was the perfect place to test out things like maps for its other Source games, and as this bled out over the years it looks like many kept thinking it was for Left 4 Dead 3, even if it wasn’t.
If this isn’t enough for you, we’ve compiled everything we’ve ever heard about Left 4 Dead 3 for your reading pleasure, alongside a breakdown of the very best PC games like Left 4 Dead that can fill that zombie-infested hole in your heart.
