Announced in 2017, In the Valley of Gods was planned as developer Campo Santo's follow-up to their acclaimed 2016 debut, Firewatch. Set in a remote valley in the Egyptian desert, In the Valley of Gods looked to build upon many of the elements that made Firewatch a hit: a compelling mystery populated with interesting characters, all taking place in a beautiful, isolated locale that the player is free to explore and admire at their own pace.
However, when Campo Santo was acquired by Valve in 2018, many fans feared for the future of the project. It appeared their fears were well-founded when, in December last year, it was announced that development of In the Valley of Gods had been put on indefinite hiatus while the team went to work on some of Valve's other projects, including Half-Life: Alyx.
Now, despite the successful launch of that title theoretically freeing up Campo Santo to work on other games again, it seems that In the Valley of Gods isn't going back into production anytime soon. In an interview with PCGamesN, former Campo Santo team member Chris Remo confirmed that the game is still "on hold for the time being."
While In the Valley of Gods is still very much not cancelled, there seems to be no prospect for it in the immediate future either. Remo explains that, with the game's developers all busy "working on other things here at [Valve]" the team have decided to "put [In the Valley of Gods] on hold for a bit and figure out over time what that means".
Troubling news for fans of story-rich indie walking simulators; though with the overwhelmingly positive (just ask Steam) reception to Half-Life: Alyx this week, it's hard to deny that team Campo Santo's decision to focus on it was a strong move.
