2007. That’s the yr when Valve began speaking overtly about Half-Life 2: Episode 3, again when the corporate was nonetheless planning on persevering with Half-Life as a sequence of smaller, episodic video games. After 20 years, a VR spin-off prequel, and lots of, many, many rumors, leaks, and hoaxes, it does really feel like Valve may really be engaged on the subsequent installment of Half-Life, and with subsequent yr’s launch of the just lately introduced Steam Machine, 2026 could be the yr the lengthy wait will finish. Perhaps.
A quick historical past of Half-Life 2: Episode 3
As documented in this now ancient piece of Kotaku writing, we’ve been ready for Valve to announce the subsequent massive Half-Life sequel for a really very long time. And for just a few years, Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell and the remainder of the studio appeared high quality with speaking overtly about what was then referred to as Half-Life 2: Episode 3. However round 2011, after Episode 3 didn’t launch in December 2007 as introduced, Valve turned far much less interested by discussing the sport. It was round this time that Newell replied to a query concerning the sport with: “If you know enough to ask the question, you know what the answer is.” Within the years that adopted, the quantity three turned a meme with the corporate because it grew Steam into an enormous platform and adjusted PC gaming in some massive methods.
Flash ahead to 2020, and immediately Valve was as soon as once more speaking about Half-Life 2: Episode 3, which at this level had been canned and reportedly changed by an even bigger sequel, which followers on-line usually consult with as Half-Life 3. Valve was on the time on the point of launch the VR-only prequel sport Half-Life: Alyx, the primary new Half-Life title since 2007, and was overtly speaking about why this was the sport followers had been getting and never that different one which led to a 3. As it turned out, it just never came together, they stated. However the people behind Alyx had been excited to be engaged on Half-Life once more and hinted that extra may come sooner or later.
Leaks, datamining, and new Episode 3 gameplay
In 2024, we actually got to see some gameplay of Half-Life 2: Episode 3, or at the least a model of it. What we noticed featured quite a lot of snow and a few wild concepts. However sadly, this model was by no means completed, and regardless of a number of makes an attempt to make Half-Life 3, nothing occurred till 2020’s Alyx, which wasn’t even a sequel and was VR-only. Not fairly the sport followers had been ready for, even when the ending did tie up a unfastened finish.
However that’s to not say Valve hasn’t been engaged on the subsequent Half-Life sport. Quite the opposite, in response to dataminers, the Half-Life: Alyx group and different components of Valve have been developing a new Half-Life project, sometimes called HLX in information and on-line discussions, since round 2021. Now, this isn’t official within the slightest. However there’s far an excessive amount of leaked information referencing a brand new online game starring an individual in an HEV go well with utilizing weapons and different weapons to struggle aliens from Xen to not suppose one thing is being developed. And for the previous couple of years now, increasingly more information has been present in varied updates to different Valve video games operating on the identical tech as no matter this new Half-Life challenge finally ends up being.
There was also the big “White Sands” leak in 2024, which appeared to disclose the sport’s codename and another particulars. Yet one more piece of proof that maybe Valve is engaged on the subsequent Half-Life sport and has been for years now.
That leads us to now. On November 12, Valve formally introduced the Steam Machine, a brand new console-like system operating on SteamOS. It introduced a brand new controller and a brand new VR headset, too. (Yeah, three issues, very humorous Valve…) Due to dataminers all of these items had been identified about for some time now, so y’know, one thing to remember about how correct their findings are. Anyway, this all places Valve in an fascinating place as we attain the tip of the yr.
Half-Life 3 could be the right sport for the Steam Machine in 2026
We all know that some a part of the corporate has been engaged on a brand new challenge, doubtless Half-Life 3 or at the least one thing Half-Life associated, since round 2021. And Valve has new {hardware} it needs to promote and showcase, launching in 2026. Now, what could be an amazing sport to bundle with the Steam Machine in the identical method Valve included Alyx with each Index VR headset again in 2020? A brand new Half-Life sport.
There’s zero likelihood Half-Life 3 or no matter this new sport is known as will probably be ported to a console. That simply ain’t what Valve does anymore. However the Steam Machine is virtually a console in how simple will probably be to make use of, just like the Steam Deck, and it may supply individuals a simple option to play Valve’s subsequent massive Half-Life sport. Oh, and in the event that they go and purchase extra video games later, effectively, isn’t that good, too?
Look, Valve is a tough firm to foretell. They aren’t publicly traded. They’re funded by Steam and don’t really want to make something to remain afloat. And their work tradition could be very totally different than that of different studios, letting individuals work on no matter they need and cancelling stuff on a regular basis. So it’s attainable that this HLX/HL3/no matter sport at present being labored on, at the least in response to leaked information, by no means sees the sunshine of day. However I additionally suppose it’s attainable, actually attainable, that subsequent yr is the yr when Valve launches Half-Life 3 as a pack-in sport for its fancy new Steam Machine. (It will even be playable on PC, in fact.) The whole lot simply appears to be lining up.
Or perhaps I’m going to seem like a idiot when, 5 years from now, individuals return to this text and chortle at it for being so incorrect, like so many different items of writing about Half-Life 3 that exist on the internet. However hey, I’m a dreamer. And likewise, I’m simply uninterested in ready. So right here’s to 2026: The yr I actually, actually, actually hope brings Half-Life 3 to us all.
