In The Valley of Gods, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Firewatch from developer Campo Santo, was placed on maintain after Valve acquired the corporate again in 2018. Now, years later, it stays on maintain, however one Valve developer has given followers a glimpse at what may need been.
Introduced throughout the 2017 Recreation Awards, In The Valley of Gods is about in Egypt throughout the late Twenties. It stars Rashida and Zora, a pair of documentary filmmakers who by chance made it huge with successful film however have since seen their careers go off a cliff. They reunite years later after receiving details about the misplaced Tomb of Nefertiti, with a purpose of reigniting their careers by documenting their journey to Egypt.
Valve visible results developer Matt Wilde took to Bluesky to publish a six second water take a look at created by Camp Santo earlier than the studio’s transfer to Valve. It exhibits the participant character bobbing in impressively life like water whereas searching from inside a cave at the opposite protagonist from a first-person perspective. “I do usually are inclined to work on liquidy issues,” Wilde mentioned.
Matthew Wilde, the Valve developer behind the water shader for Counter-Strike 2, has shared a uncommon gameplay footage. It exhibits the water know-how that was examined for In The Valley of Gods earlier than Valve acquired the corporate Campo Santo. Staff shelved the sport not so lengthy after… pic.twitter.com/wIs6Im8KYx
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) November 11, 2024
That’s a reference to Wilde’s work on Valve’s 2020 digital actuality unique Half-Life: Alyx, which caught consideration for extremely life like liquid in glass bottles. Extra not too long ago, Wilde labored on Counter-Strike 2’s water and results.
Spent chunk of lock-down doing this essential work. Boozy liquid shader, now obtainable within the newest replace for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg
— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020
Wilde’s In The Valley of Gods clip clearly sparks questions on whether or not Camp Santo / Valve will at some point return to the sport. “To followers wanting ahead to In The Valley of Gods, it’s most likely clear that the optimistic ‘2019’ at the tip of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be correct,” Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin mentioned when it was introduced that In The Valley of Gods had been placed on maintain.
“In the tip, Valve Time makes fools of us all. However sure, builders from the previous Campo Santo staff have joined different tasks at Valve, together with Half-Life: Alyx.
“So to reply your query as of in the present day, In The Valley of Gods improvement is on maintain — nevertheless it actually looks like a challenge folks can and will return to. And when that occurs, we’ll discover an thrilling option to let followers know.”
It’s price noting that In The Valley of Gods’ Steam page is still live — with a December 2029 launch window. Maybe that may find yourself being true.
Picture credit score: Matthew Wilde / Bluesky.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.