Valve has been cooking up a next-generation gore system which should debut inside of Half-Life 3, and would be the star of the show in a hopefully eventual Left 4 Dead 3.
In a new video by YouTuber “Water CS2” it’s discovered that Valve has been working on a new ragdoll and new gore system, discovered in a recent CS2 (Counter-Strike 2) update and its file changes.
This would allow gamers to shoot and disable individual parts of an enemy’s body, with limbs killing an enemy if powerful enough: think of a shotgun, up close to the right arm, it’d be blown off (and disable the enemy from using a weapon against you).
This isn’t something that might be coming, it has been added to the Source Engine (and CS2) and should be something magical in Half-Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3. These new ragdoll and gore systems aren’t something you’d need to have in a game like Counter-Strike 2, but Half-Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3 on the other hand… that’s the type of upgrade we expect to see from Valve.
If we mix these new ragdoll + gore systems that Valve has pushed out, with the rumors from insider Tyler McVicker with a story that I wrote just over 24 hours ago now regarding Half-Life 3 pushing boundaries with next-gen physics, destruction, NPC AI behavior and more with the new ragdoll + gore systems… and well, we’ve got a potent mix of hype here.
Half-Life 2 was an incredible experience because at the time, we had no idea that there would be so much physicality with the environment: picking objects up, moving and manipulating them in the environment (sometimes for your benefit) was incredible at the time. Ravenholm in particular with the incredible atmosphere and dismemberment of zombies… can you imagine a next-gen upgrade on gore and ragdolls now?
Valve’s next-gen Half-Life 3 with the Source 2 engine, next-gen physics, destruction, environmental effects (fire, water), incredible NPC AI behavior, new ragdoll and gore systems… and we’ve got an incredible set of systems and features that should see Valve in the limelight with Half-Life 3.
All these teases of new ragdoll and gore systems gives me nostalgia of games like Soldier of Fortune back in the 90s, which had fantastic gore and destruction of individual limbs, as well as Goldeneye on the N64 where you’d shoot particular bodies and they would react to where they were shot (incredible at the time).
Left 4 Dead 3 will be the game that would benefit from the new gore + rragdoll system, where anyone that played the original Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 would know that Valve cooking up these new systems would radically advance the in-game feels when you’re going nuts blasting hoards of zombies.