Its the Chicanery copypasta from Better Call Saul but changed to Half Life 3 (cope) based on a theory that Epistle Three was deleted for the upcoming HL3 announcement. Epistle Three is a snapshot of a possible outline for HL3 by the lead writer for HL2, Marc Laidlaw after his departure from Valve.
I am not crazy! I know he swapped those numbers. I knew it was 197. One after the word fret. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just - I just couldn't prove it. He covered his tracks, he got that idiot at spotify to lie for him. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? He's done worse. That Tweet! Are you telling me that a man just happens to post a video like that? No! He orchestrated it! Mike! He defecated through a Valve index! And I saved him! And I shouldn't have. I took him into my own cope! What was I thinking? He'll never change. He'll never change! Ever since he was making ASMR tweets, always the same! Couldn't keep his hands out of Half Life! But not our Mike! Couldn't be precious Mike! Coping them blind! And HE gets to announce HL3? What a sick joke! I should've stopped him when I had the chance! …And you, you have to stop him! You- The post the pasta was responding to
So, we all know Epistle 3 right? Marc LaidLaw's own take on what Episode 3 could've been
Posted in 2017, blows up, we all read it and go crazy
It's fine, then on sometime around 2022 he sudddenly has a change of heart and deletes it from his blog
Now why would he do that? It's been 5 years since he had published, anyone that could've read it has already read it and people had already uploaded archives of it because well its just a bunch of text not hard to simply ctrl c + ctrl + v
He then gives an interview and says he regretted publishing it because "It could create trouble for my friends at Valve" and "the real story development can only happen in the crucible of developing a game"
My ass I say, now hear me out on this one, what if he deleted it EXACTLY because Valve contacted him asking him to take it down because they WANT to make Half Life 3 and indeed having Epistle 3 up is a problem if they plan on releasing Half Life 3??? THINK ABOUT IT, Alyx came out in 2020, 2022 is a perfectly plausible date to begin production and now in 2025 it could've been 3 years in development already, perfect to announce it with a trailer like Mike's tweet
HALF LIFE 3 IS COMING OUT I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY I AM NOT CRAZY