Summary
At the end ofHalf-Life 2: Episode Twoway back in 2007, we watched as a giant interdimensional slug stuck its long, slimy tongue through the back of Eli Vance’s neck, all while his daughter screamed in terror. Each one of us wanted to pick up the crowbar, get on the helicopter, and fly straight to the Arctic to bash a few Combine skulls and get our revenge.
But news on Half-Life 2: Episode Three slowed to a crawl, the release date came and went, and Valve took a note from Gordon Freeman and stopped talking. Nearly two decades later, with a new spin on the same cliffhanger thanks to VR titleAlyx, we’re still waiting.
Could 2025 finally end the limbo thatHalf-Lifefans have been trapped in? Maybe. There’s more hope than ever before, even if Valve hasn’t saidanythingabout a sequel. And for once, it feels justified.
What Do We Know About The Mysterious “HLX”?
At least four years ago, something called “HLX” began development at Valve. We know that because a demo file leaked with subheadings for each major project, including Artifact,Dota 2, Citadel (which becameDeadlock), and HLX.
There was a lot of humdrum about what it could be.Garry’s ModandRustdeveloper FacePunch told Tyler McVicker, formerly Valve News Network, that HLX is simply the save system that Half-Life: Alyx uses, and that the Half-Life 2 episodes were also codenamed “HLX” during development.
Vicker, however, speculated that it might be a next-gen upgrade of Half-Life: Alyx with new features, or at the most an episodic-style sequel. Expectations were tempered - nobody was throwing around the big ‘3’ yet.
2024 changed all of that. We learned that HLX is not a VR game, and strings referring to Xen have been found alongside an icon of Gordon Freeman holding a crowbar to mark if a build works. There are also new realistic vehicle simulations and environmental effects, while a lot of work is being done to improve NPC behaviour.
The fact it’s not VR, that there are references to Gordon Freeman and melee combat, and with the ending of Alyx considered, HLXhasto be Half-Life 3.The last game ends with us being handed the crowbar, ready to get revenge after 13 years. And any game with Gordon has to follow that moment — there’s no room for a prequel like Alyx because he experienced the events of Half-Life through to its final episode seamlessly.
Leaks are still pouring out. The dam has broken and there’s far too much to break down everything we know in one article, but the sheer volume of leaks tells us something important — Valve is intent on getting this game out of the door. McVicker even claimed that Valve “isn’t trying to hide HL3 anymore”. This isn’t the same Valve that shelved Half-Life 2: Episode Three and played coy about its failed spin-offs.
It’s Still Worth Being Cautious About Half-Life 3
According to veteran dataminer and leaker Gabe Follower,Valve began playtests a few months agowith family and friends as well as other dev teams at the company. That’s an incredibly healthy sign for the development of HLX. If all goes smoothly, Gabe Follower even speculates that we could see Half-Life 3 announced in 2025, but it’s always worth playing safe when it comes to Valve.
As a result of these playtests, the game could be internally delayed. Valve is infamously bad at sticking to deadlines already, so it could be a while before we hear anything about HLX in an official capacity.
After all, Half-Life: Alyx was supposed to launch alongside the Index VR headset in 2019, but feedback from playtests prompted Valve to rewrite the story, bringing back Jay Pinkerton and Erik Wolpaw, which delayed it into 2020. Deadlock was likewise delayed two years following playtests to tweak the art style. HLX could easily follow suit.
Regardless, Half-Life 3 feels closer than it ever has before, and that’s incredibly exciting. So much has leaked as development ramped up this year, and it’s become crystal clear that this is far more than just a Half-Life: Alyx upgrade, an episodic VR sequel, or a mistaken save file. It’s an entirely new project, one that has been in the works for several years now, and Valve hasn’t shelved it.
If there was ever a time to be optimistic about the future of the Half-Life series, this is it.
