'Left 4 Dead 3' release date, gameplay details, news: Fans still waiting for third installment in the series

A promotional photo for "Left 4 Dead"Facebook/Left4Dead

"Left 4 Dead 3" has been on the wish-list of many fans for quite some time already, but it remains elusive. Fans are only holding on to a screenshot leak at the moment.

Many fans of the game series are have been wondering all this time if Tristan Reidford deliberately teased the fans or if it was merely an accidental leak. Reidford is a Valve game developer and artist, and he was giving a tutorial for Destination Workshop Tools when a folder named "left4dead3" became visible. Fans immediately took a screenshot of it, which is now permanently embedded on the Internet.

This was not the first time something connected to the alleged game surfaced. Back in 2013, an internal working list from Valve accidentally became accessible from the outside world. A full list of personnel assigned to the specific projects became an open book. This was also the instance that "Half-Life 3" became known to be in one of the future projects by the studio.

Aside from those pieces of information, nothing more current has been unearthed, but still, hardcore fans cannot simply let it go. It is now speculated that the still-unconfirmed zombie first-person shooter game could possibly be released next year, according to Master Herald.

However, there are also some who believe that Valve has completely forgotten about the game and has moved forward to other projects, streaming and virtual reality (VR) gaming. They are now more focused on these undertakings. They are actually involved in the development of the HTC Vive, the main competitor of Oculus Rift.

It is now rumored that a VR version of "Half-Life" could possibly be released in the near future. This was based on a string of codes that was left behind on an update of "DoTA 2" and from another set of codes that was revealed on "Destination," a VR application. Both were created by Valve.

Data miners were able to find the line "used to force the HL:VR to speak" in the RTS game, while several lines that pertain to weapons, VR controller movement, and ammo clips were discovered from the VR apps.

Fans are now anticipating that some good news will be coming their way soon.