Image credit: Campo Santo
In The Valley of the Gods, the promising but now permanently “on hold” adventure from the team behind Firewatch, had some eye-popping water technology.
Matthew Wilde, who worked on Firewatch at Campo Santo before the team was absorbed into Valve six years ago, has now shared a fresh look at In The Valley of the Gods on social media, showing what could have been.
“I do often tend to work on liquidy things,” Wilde wrote. “This was the water test we did at Campo Santo pre Valve move.”
Matthew Wilde, the Valve developer behind the water shader for Counter-Strike 2, has shared a rare gameplay footage. It shows the water technology that was tested for In The Valley of Gods before Valve acquired the company Campo Santo. Team shelved the game not so long after… pic.twitter.com/wIs6Im8KYx
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) November 11, 2024
There is, sadly, absolutely no suggestion we’ll see In the Valley of the Gods anytime soon. Firewatch was excellent, and Campo Santo’s follow-up – which would have followed a budding filmmaker as she explored 1920s Egypt in search of archeological secrets – looked hugely promising.
But, in 2019, Valve and the potential to work on Half-Life: Alyx came calling, and In The Valley of the Gods was later confirmed to have been shelved indefinitely.
Wilde’s reference to working on “liquidy things” is a reference to some of his other work since, such as the impressive water shader technology in Half-Life: Alyx that lets you slosh around bottles of beer, as well as the water technology in Counter-Strike 2.
Spent a good chunk of lock-down doing this important work. Boozy liquid shader, now available in the latest update for Half-Life: Alyx pic.twitter.com/Iw9h98pmEg
— Matthew Wilde (@skilful) May 28, 2020
What’s next for Wilde and his former Campo Santo colleagues? Well, there’s rumblings that there’s more from Valve’s most famous series on the horizon. Is it finally time for Half-Life 3?
