The signs pointing to Half-Life 3 being real, and perhaps even close to releasing, have just lit up. Following months of mounting evidence suggesting Valve's work on the unannounced sequel to the iconic game series is close to the finish line, we may have the most conclusive proof yet.
Mike Shapiro, who voiced the mysterious G-Man in the Half-Life games, has released an ominous video celebrating the arrival of the new year. In it, he teases new surprises coming in 2025, which all point to a new Half-Life game. While he doesn't explicitly mention the franchise, his intentions are clear from the caption on the post: "#Valve #Halflife #GMan #2025."
"Another year already," Shapiro said in the post. "Good to see and hear from some many of you. May the next quarter century deliver as many unexpected surprises, hmm, as did the millennium's first. Then again time is fluid like music. See you in the new year!"
Late last year, reliable insider Gabe Follower posted a video documenting all the evidence for Half-Life 3. In it, they conclude that the game will feature advanced physics systems, new Xen monsters, a dynamic day and night cycle, a new vehicle system, and an open-world setting.
Before that, Valve fans thought they had spotted another piece of evidence when voice actor Natasha Chandel updated their portfolio mentioning "Project White Sands" by Valve.
There were also rumors that Valve would announce the sequel at The Game Awards 2024. While the award show saw many surprise announcements such as sequels to Okami and Onimusha, Valve did not appear on stage.
The last Half-Life game to be released was Half-Life: Alyx, which was exclusively playable in VR. Before that, Valve's last entry in the series was Half-Life 2 Episode Two, which was released in 2007. A community-made remake of Half-Life 2 is currently in development at Orbifold Studios.
"And you can't get lazy and say, 'Oh, we're moving the story forward'," said Valve president Gabe Newell in the Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary documentary.
"That's copping out of your obligation to gamers, right? Yes, of course, they love the story. They love many, many aspects of it, but sort of saying that your reason to do it is because people wanna know what happens next. We could have shipped it. It wouldn't have been that hard. The failure was...my personal failure was being stumped. I couldn't figure out why doing episode three was pushing anything forward."
Besides HL3, Valve is reportedly working on a new Steam controller and more VR hardware, both of which may be released in 2025. The company is also working on Deadlock, a third-person MOBA shooter for which it has been hosting playtesting sessions since last year. Of course, we also have the successor to the Steam Deck, though that may take a while to materialize.
Until then, why not check out some great games to play on the existing Steam Deck? It is an incredible handheld after all, and we might be playing Half-Life 3 on it later this year.
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