Valve’s Valley of Gods ‘put on hold’ as developers diverted to Half-Life: Alyx

Valve has officially put Campo Santo’s next game, In the Valley of Gods, on hold as it diverts resources to VR project Half-Life: Alyx.

In the Valley of Gods was to be the next project from the acclaimed Firewatch developer, which was acquired by Valve in 2018.

The adventure game’s debut trailer advertised a 2019 release date which will no longer be met, Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin told Polygon.

He said in a statement: “To fans looking forward to In the Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the optimistic ‘2019’ at the end of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be accurate. In the end, Valve Time makes fools of us all.

“But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other projects at Valve, including Half-Life: Alyx. As you can imagine, our experience in the first-person adventure genre is pretty relevant.”

Rodkin added: “You hear a lot about how at Valve you can work on what you want. It turns out that’s true, and there’s a lot of work available. As we integrated ourselves into Valve it became clear there was a lot of valuable work to be done on Half-Life: Alyx.

“Some of us started lending a hand, and have since become full-time on the project as it approaches launch. Similarly, some ex-Campos are working on Dota Underlords, some are on Steam, and so on.

“So to answer your question as of today, In the Valley of Gods development is on hold—but it certainly feels like a project people can and may return to. And when that happens, we’ll find an exciting way to let fans know.”

Powered by SteamVR on Valve’s Source 2 engine, Half-Life: Alyx is set for release in March 2020 and will be compatible with multiple PC-based VR headsets.

The game can be pre-purchased for $59.99 and is free for owners of the Valve Index VR headset or Index controllers.