Valve reportedly working on Half-Life 3

Half-Life 3 is supposedly under development, according to popular data miner Gabe Follower. He recently took to X to share a video where he explains the numerous reasons he thinks Valve is working on the next iteration of Half-Life, and it certainly is worth looking into.

Half-Life is a very popular franchise from Valve that involves fighting against an alien race in a space between universes, called Xen. The series received mostly positive reviews, but Valve sadly decided to remain silent about the upcoming Half-Life 3.

Note: This article is based on speculation and readers are advised to take leaks with a grain of salt.

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Half-Life 3: Valve is reportedly working on the title's development

According to Gabe Follower, Valve is working on Half-Life 3 but is trying to keep it hidden for the time being. The data miner shared a video that he has been working on for three years, where he revealed his findings. Here, he showcased multiple appearances of ‘HLX’ in code. This has previously been linked to Half-Life.

Firstly, he explained the current state of the Source 2 engine and how it is finally ready to produce next-gen games. The recent release of CS2, and the development of Deadlock, confirms that the engine is far more advanced than it used to be.

He then delved into how some of Valve’s employees’ portfolios described them as working on an unannounced project that involved fighting with NPCs and puzzles. Since Valve’s new Deadlock is a multiplayer game, one can only assume that a new single-player game is on the horizon. According to the leaker, this game may be Half-Life 3.

There was even the mention of ‘White Sands’ in a voice actor’s portfolio. It is needless to say sounds related to ‘White Forest’, an important part of the Half-Life world.

Gabe Follower then shared a bunch of data mined from Valve’s other projects, like Dota 2, which hinted at objects and NPCs from the Half-Life world. He also mentioned that these plugins were later renamed, possibly to hide Valve’s work.

These include things like the HEV Suit, manipulating gravity, and a variety of creatures that were previously cut from Half-Life Alyx.

Gabe Follower was also able to get hold of some code indicating the development of smart NPCs. These will possibly include better movement mechanics, improved speech graphics, different moods based on the environment, and better hair graphics.

He also shed light on data on a probable dynamic weather system, with better water and grass rendering, which hints at a future open-world game.

Finally, he shared the appearance of ‘HLX’ in the configuration file of the bug reporter. This is apparently what helps keep track of errors, and might indicate that the game is in a closed testing stage. It is very important to note that, previously, CS: GO also appeared in the bug reporter config three years before the release of CS2.

That said, we can only hope that if a new Half-Life game is actually in development, it is polished enough to get past the testing stage and be ready for us soon.