Well, at least we know that the Valley of the Gods would have amazing water

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In The Valley of Gods, the hotly anticipated Firewatch sequel from developer Campo Santo was put on hold after Valve acquired the company in 2018. Now, many years later, production remains on hold, but one Valve developer gave fans a glimpse of what could have been.

In The Valley of Gods, announced at the 2017 Game Awards, takes place in Egypt in the slow 1920s. It stars Rashida and Zora, a pair of documentary filmmakers who accidentally found success with a hit film, but whose careers have since collapsed. They meet again years later, after receiving information about the lost Tomb of Nefertiti, and their goal is to resume their careers by documenting their journey to Egypt.

Valve’s visual effects creator, Matt Wilde, took care of this Blue post a six-second water test created by Camp Santo before the studio moved to Valve. It shows the player character bobbing in impressively realistic water, while looking at the other character from inside a cave from a first-person perspective. “I work on fluid things a lot,” Wilde said.

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This is a reference to Wilde’s work on Valve’s 2020 virtual reality exclusive Half-Life: Alyx, which gained attention for its ultra-realistic liquid in glass bottles. Most recently, Wilde worked on water and effects for Counter-Strike 2.

Wilde’s In The Valley of Gods clip obviously raises questions about whether Camp Santo/Valve will one day return to the game. “For fans looking forward to In The Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the upbeat ‘2019’ at the end of the trailer won’t be accurate,” Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin said when it was announced that In The Valley of the Gods had been put on hold.

“Ultimately, Valve Time is making fools of us all. But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other Valve projects, including Half-Life: Alyx.

“So to answer your question today, work on In The Valley of Gods is on hold, but it certainly feels like a project that people can and can come back to. And when that happens, we’ll find an electrifying way to let fans know.”

This is worth noting The In The Valley of Gods Steam page is still dynamic — with a release window of December 2029. Perhaps this will prove to be true.

Image source: Matthew Wilde/Bluesky.

Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wy100@proton.me.

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