Highly anticipated: The "Half-Life 3 confirmed" catchphrase might not be around for much longer. There's been a slew of speculation that the 18-year wait since Half-Life 2: Episode 2 could soon end, and that the mythical Half-Life 3 is in the final stages of development.
Getting fans of the iconic FPS series excited is Valve's new update to Deadlock, its third-person shooter MOBA. Buried within this update is a mention of HLX, which is widely believed to be an in-development name for Half-Life 3.
HLX has appeared in other recent updates for Valve games, including Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2. What's different on this occasion is that it appears alongside a mention of FSR3.
Valve watcher Tyler McVicker believes that if AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaling technology really is being used in the HLX build, it would be a sign that development is nearing completion.
"You don't use FSR until you're nearly done with a game. Those AI post-processing systems are not supposed to be used for development," he notes in a video on his YouTube channel.
There have been other signs that Half-Life 3 will be with us at some point this year. On New Year's Eve, Mike Shapiro, the actor who voiced G-Man and Barney Calhoun, posted a video in which he says he hopes the next quarter-century delivers as many unexpected surprises as the previous 25 years. "See you in the New Year," he promises. The post also uses the #Valve and #Halflife hashtags, which appear to be more hints as to what's coming.
#Valve #Halflife #GMan #2025 pic.twitter.com/mdT5hlxKJT
– Mike Shapiro (@mikeshapiroland) December 31, 2024
McVicker also dove into the recent Dota 2 update. His datamining uncovered a new set of code in a file called AI_baseNPC.fgd, which is not actively used by the popular MOBA. It includes references to machinery and alien blood, which are believed to be related to Half-Life 3. The code itself relates to a common optimization technique in games where AI complexity and behavior can be scaled based on distance from the player, something McVicker says is further evidence of Half-Life 3 development nearing completion.
The latest discoveries follow reports from reputable leaker Gabe Follower in December that Valve had been conducting friends-and-family playtesting for HLX over the previous few months. McVicker believes the discoveries since then suggest the testing went smoothly, and that an official announcement might not be too far away.
There have been rumors and claims that Half-Life 3 was close to completion for many years, all of which turned out to be false alarms. But the sheer number of signs over the last few months strongly suggest 2025 will be the year that the long wait ends.
Half-Life 3 may finally be real - new evidence suggests it's nearly complete
