In what appears to be a gaffe on the side of Valve, references to the game (and Half Life 3, for Pete’s sake!) were found in the file directories, which led many to assume that the game was in development. It’s worth checking out this run-through of the leaked content on the ValveTime website if you’d like to know more, which includes a potential Left 4 Dead test map, possibly bound for VR, and containing strings referencing a Moroccan lantern. As well as a “retired engineer” character found in the Left 4 Dead 3 directory, a new Special Infected is also referenced, known as The Nocturnal, whose abilities may have been tied to a day/night cycle, one of the features of the new engine. If we flash-forwards to 2016 we can then address the wonderful investigative sleuthing of Tyler McVicker of Valve News Network, who collected a number of leaks from the Steam VR Performance Tool, which appeared to blow Valve’s entire future development plans wide open via a number of Source 2 files. Follow on as we run through some of the rumours spun about Left 4 Dead 3 and divine about what we would like to see in a potential sequel.

Our only hope is Turtle Rock Studios themselves, who since splitting from Valve created the flash in the pan Evolve but are now focusing on Back 4 Blood, which seems to be a spiritual successor to the zombie-battering franchise which is loved by so many. Yet the game is about to turn 10 years old in November of this year, with no sequel in sight. The game provides an unparalleled bout of adrenaline in Versus mode with your friends, where players take turns controlling survivors and zombies, crawling to the safe room doors, filling up and repelling tanks and having a whale of a time. Left 4 Dead 2 only refined the formula and is still played consistently on Steam. Remember when Valve used to make games? The Left 4 Dead series sits in the upper echelons of the zombie shooter genre, with the unique co-op angle proving impossible to replicate in the years after its release. But, the team making Back 4 Blood is the original team that made Left 4 Dead - so this really is Left 4 Dead 3 in all but name.

Left 4 dead 2 test map