{"id":528688,"date":"2026-03-06T05:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2193264"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:46:15","slug":"aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Following the release of Aperture Desk Job &#8211; Valve&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2022-02-25-valve-is-bringing-portal-back-as-a-playable-steam-deck-tutorial-thingy-next-week\">free playable &#8220;short&#8221; set in the set in the Portal universe<\/a> &#8211; a spot of eager datamining has uncovered references to four unannounced Valve games, including a Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, a Source 2 port of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a recreation of a cancelled Portal title, and Citadel, a Half-Life shooter\/RTS hybrid.<\/p>\n<p>All this was uncovered by long-time Valve watcher Tyler McVicker, with at least some of the new discoveries pointing to titles long rumoured to be in development at Valve, but never actually confirmed. The caveat, of course, is that their mere existence as references in Aperture Desk Job&#8217;s code doesn&#8217;t mean these are actual games still in development (particularly given Valve&#8217;s well-reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2020-07-11-valve-cancelled-a-lot-of-games-over-the-last-10-years-including-half-life-3-and-left-4-dead-3\">experiment-then-ditch approach to game design<\/a>), or that they&#8217;ll ever see that light of day. As McVicker says in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zRhCr_XUxFs\">video documenting his discoveries<\/a>, &#8220;take everything that we&#8217;re about to discuss with a grain of salt&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2022-03-09-aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-2-follow-up-portal-project-and-more\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2022-03-09-aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-2-follow-up-portal-project-and-more\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the release of Aperture Desk Job &#8211; Valve&#8217;s free playable &#8220;short&#8221; set in the set in the Portal universe &#8211; a spot of eager datamining has uncovered references to four unannounced Valve games, including a Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, a Source 2 port of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a recreation of a cancelled Portal title, and Citadel, a Half-Life shooter\/RTS hybrid. All this was uncovered by long-time Valve watcher Tyler McVicker, with at least some of the new discoveries pointing to titles long rumoured to be in development at Valve, but never actually confirmed. The caveat, of course, is that their mere existence as references in Aperture Desk Job&#8217;s code doesn&#8217;t mean these are actual games still in development (particularly given Valve&#8217;s well-reported experiment-then-ditch approach to&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":528689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve&#039;s free playable &quot;short&quot; set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve&#039;s free playable &quot;short&quot; set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"269\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":178,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/\",\"name\":\"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve's free playable \\\"short\\\" set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":269,\"caption\":\"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News","description":"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve's free playable \"short\" set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News","og_description":"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve's free playable \"short\" set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":269,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more","datePublished":"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/"},"wordCount":178,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/","name":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-06T05:46:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Following the release of Aperture Desk Job - Valve's free playable \"short\" set in the set in the Portal universe - a spot of eager datamining has","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more.jpg","width":480,"height":269,"caption":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/aperture-desk-job-datamine-points-to-half-life-alyx-follow-up-portal-project-more\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Aperture Desk Job datamine points to Half-Life: Alyx follow-up, Portal project, more"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265550,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528688\/revisions\/1265550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}