But – and stay with me here – Half-Life 3 could still be happening.

You might be confused, and that’s understandable given the year thus far. But Half-Life 3, the sequel that Valve never really confirmed it was working on? Half-Life 3, which had rumors galore for the better part of a decade and then faded from existence? Half-Life 3, which many developers apparently tried to create at the studio, but it got shut down every single time.

Yes, that one – or maybe a different iteration than what was in development at Valve at some point. The point is, it’s probably happening for real this time. Hopefully.

This wouldn’t be the first time this year that rumors really started to gain traction, and ironically enough, it was also around Summer Game Fest and before Gamescom. A project internally codenamed HLX had made the rounds, and long-time insider Tyler McVicker claimed it was “playable end-to-end” (and that it was also Half-Life 3). In August, it was allegedly in the final phase of development, and this time, Gabe Follower – who provided details for Deadlock before its announcement – reported that it was in the polishing stage.

And then, for many weeks, as various events passed us by, there was relative silence. Until the end of October, when McVicker re-emerged to report on updates to the Source 2 Engine, and the addition of a new asset group called “Science.”

Things really started to kick into motion after Valve announced its Steam Hardware – namely the Steam Frame, Steam Machine and new Steam Controller. Gabe Follower stated that plans for HLX remained unchanged, and it would still be “aiming for a 2025 announcement.” McVicker would follow up with expectations of a Twitch stream within the next two weeks, which means sometime by November 31st.

At this point, you’re probably wondering if it’s actually happening. If there’s smoke, there’s Black Mesa suffering another interdimensional catastrophe that the military needs to contain, and all that jazz. We’ve seen this song and dance of rumors before. Next, I’ll be telling you about how Bloodborne Remastered is really happening.

But here’s where things take an odd turn. Mike Straw of Insider Gaming said a “big announcement” from Valve would be coming in the next few weeks (and that it’s not at The Game Awards). Tom Henderson, who has a strong track record as an insider, said, “I’ve heard there’s a big game coming out in March that I can’t say just yet. But a lot of people are looking forward to it. We’ll see in the next couple of weeks if we’re gonna talk about it.”

Straw would also say on X that, “It’s happening soon enough. Just be ready.” So why no announcement, even if there’s time to spare? Surely, something on Half-Life’s 27th anniversary would make sense, right? Surely, Gabe N. isn’t laughing at us on his new super-yacht?

That’s where NateTheHate, another reliable insider, comes in. After confirming that he’s heard about HLX/Half-Life 3, he revealed that there are “very mixed things” going on with the timing of the announcement. When asked if it would be on the anniversary or even the following day, he simply responded, “Unsure. One bit of info I was given suggested it would happen at noon today, which has come and gone. I’m not going to share anything until I have a consensus on specifics.” There are apparently a “lot of dates circulating,” and he won’t share more on anything until something, be it a release window or reveal, becomes clearer.

And if that wasn’t enough, Sean Hollister of The Verge reported seeing security guards at Valve’s HQ when invited to check out the Steam Hardware. “I’ve never seen guards during previous Valve trips — and maybe they were only there that day,” he said, before posting a picture of a Steam Machine with a custom front that had a logo with the letter “H” and a censored banner laid on top.

Like a Silksong fan roadmap before it was finally released, we’re currently here. So, is Half-Life 3 happening or not? Officially, no one can really say. Heck, for all we know, Valve could be getting ready to announce an open beta for Deadlock in the coming weeks, if not launching the same by The Game Awards.

And yet, it’s clear there’s something to these rumors. It would be one thing if it were the usual insiders sharing updates, but this time, others who cover the industry as a whole are reporting it as well. No one can ever be correct 100 percent of the time. But, smoke and fire, and whatnot.

Take this from someone who initially dismissed McVicker’s reports, but personally, I think it’s happening. Why? Because of the Steam Machine, and no, not because it will be an exclusive or anything. It’s because the hardware is essentially Valve’s strongest foray yet into the living room PC market. With Microsoft delving more into handheld PCs and a more unified ecosystem for its games, you can bet that Valve is looking to remind everyone what the dominant PC storefront is.

And what better way to do that than to release Half-Life 3, one of the most anticipated games and sequels of all time?

The other reason is that besides showing up the PS5 and Xbox Series X at their own game, in their own market, there truly are no other lands to conquer. Valve has done it all – created some of the most popular free-to-play titles in the world, cemented its legacy with some of the best games ever made, established a storefront that is the default, and even delivered a strong handheld PC while its competitors scrambled.

There are admittedly many other goals left and several other sequels that it could make, but Half-Life is a standout because its story is inherently unfinished. And if it had no intention of providing a follow-up, it likely wouldn’t have gone to lengths to retcon the ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 with the events of Half-Life: Alyx.

Yes, this is Valve we’re talking about – even if it isn’t a mainline title, who could have predicted that Half-Life: Alyx would be VR-exclusive? But such circumstances always go both ways. If it wanted to just announce Half-Life 3 as a PC exclusive and launch it several months later, just like it planned with Half-Life 2 (before it got delayed), then marketing cycles be damned – nothing can stop them.

Of course, until it’s actually announced, there’s nothing left to do but wait. Maybe such rumors will fall by the wayside yet again as we’re preoccupied with The Game Awards and its “World Premieres.” Perhaps everything will wind down in time for the holidays, and we’ll forget all the buzz around a possible Half-Life 3 or whatever HLX is supposed to be. And then when you least expect it, there will be an announcement and a release window because that’s just how Valve is.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Mass Effect 2

The opening of Mass Effect 2 is as climactic as most other games’ endings. This sequel begins with the player controlling a limping Commander Shepard crawling through the carnage and destruction of an all-too familiar locale from the first game; the Normandy ship. What follows is a complete breakdown of everything we built up in the first game. What’s more, Shepard has to work with a mysterious group, Cerberus, to get back what was lost and fight the Reaper threat. Mass Effect 2 feels like The Empire Strikes Back of video games with how high the stakes have been raised and how dire things have gotten.

Other new content includes four new Deathmatch maps – contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy – and three maps available only on the Half-Life: Further Data CD, namely doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm. New sprays, Steam Networking support for easier multiplayer, and even the original intro video with Valve are also available.

This is in addition to improvements for throwing grenade physics and satchel charge controls. Check out the full patch notes below. It’s worth noting that this will be the definitive version, with the original available in the beta branch “steam_legacy.” Those facing issues with mods or other features can revert to this build.

Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update

Bug Fixes and Change Notes

New Content

• Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default).
• Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the “New Game” menu.
• Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy
• Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the “Half-Life: Further Data” CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm.
• Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch.
• Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the “Half-Life: Further Data” CD.
• Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam’s Join Game and Invite features.
• Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa.

Nostalgia

• Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the “-novid” launch command.
• Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game’s original 1998 main menu.
• Changed the default models to the original (non “HD”) models.

Gameplay Changes

• Improved physics for throwing grenades.
• Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer.
• Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates.
• Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate.
• Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer.
• Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions.
• Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their “greetings” dialogue.
• Fixed weapon view-bob angles.
• Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended.
• Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls).
• Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down.
• Fixed certain convars (“pausable” and “sv_maxspeed”) being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game.
• Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim.
• Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame.
• Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating.
• Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs.
• Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions.
• Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI.
• Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc)
• Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities.
• Fixed some buffer overflow exploits.

UI Changes

• Main-menu background and buttons have been reskinned, and now scale based upon screen resolution without stretching, supporting background image layouts up to 3840×1600.
• In-Game HUD now uses double or triple sized sprites when playing at higher resolutions.
• UI dialogs and in-game fonts now scale to improve readability at high screen resolutions.
• In-Game HUD HEV suit display has been shifted to the left of the screen, and no longer changes position at larger screen resolutions.
• Added an “Enable texture filtering” setting.
• Added an “Allow widescreen Field of View” setting to correct non-anamorphic FOVs, for widescreen and ultrawide displays.
• Re-organized all the Settings screens to improve legibility, and support controller navigation.
• Updated the Pause menu to be aware of the current gameplay mode.
• The default server name and multiplayer player name are now based on the player’s Steam Persona.
• The Steam platform menu has been removed, now that all its features are in Steam itself.
• Fixed application icon rendering incorrectly when using the software renderer.
• Fixed player and spray images not updating their coloring on the settings screen.
• Removed the now very unnecessary “Low video quality. Helps with slower video cards.” setting.

Input Changes

• Improved support for keyboard and controller navigation everywhere.
• Added “Lower Input Latency” option: Synchronizes the CPU and GPU to reduce the time between input and display output.
• Fixed issues that caused jerky mouse / joystick input.
• (We basically rewrote it all – if you’ve got a custom Steam Input controller configuration, you should rebuild it from our newly published Official Configuration).

Multiplayer Balancing

• Increased the 357 damage from 40 → 50.
• Hive Hand reload time has been reduced from 0.5s → 0.3s per shot, and it will be selected at higher priority than the pistol on pickup.
• MP5 now always starts with full ammo when initially picked up.
• Players no longer drop empty weapons, and any that are dropped are reloaded by what’s in the dying player’s backpack.
• Improved client-side prediction to reduce “ghost shots”. Like Counter-Strike, consider hitboxes and not just bounding boxes for hits on the client.
• Fixed network predicted crowbar swing damage being incorrect.

Rendering

• Added setting to turn off texture filtering when using the OpenGL renderer.
• Default gamma has been decreased from 2.5 → 2.2, now that we aren’t all playing on CRTs.
• Restored OpenGL overbright support.
• Added support for UI Sprites and Texture files larger than 256×256.
• Added support for UI Font special render modes: “blur” and “additive”.
• Default resolution is now based on the resolution of the desktop, instead of a 640×480 window.
• Software renderer will now correctly filter out incompatible resolutions, unless there is only 1 resolution available on the display.
• Fixed fullscreen software renderer crashing on systems that don’t support 16-bit color.
• Fixed software renderer being stretched when using widescreen resolutions.
• Fixed skyboxes and sky color incorrectly carrying over when transitioning maps in multiplayer.
• Fixed the game appearing too dark after modifying video settings.
• Fixed MSAA in windowed mode.
• Fixed mipmap rendering on studio models.
• Fixed gluon gun sprite rendering in multiplayer.
• Fixed gluon gun sinusoidal noise being incorrect.
• Various optimizations to support the newly increased engine limits.
• OpenGL optimizations for the Steam Deck.

Engine Improvements for Mod Makers

• Increased maximum limit of dynamic sound channels from 8 → 32.
• Increased maximum limit of sentences in the sentences.txt file from 1536 → 2048.
• Increased maximum number of entities (MAX_EDICTS) from 900 → 1200.
• Increased MAX_PACKET_ENTITIES from 256 → 1024.
• Increased MAX_GLTEXTURES from 4800 → 10000.
• Increased software renderer geometry limits: max spans 3000 → 6000, max surfaces 2000 → 4000, and max edges 7200 → 14400.
• Cycler and func_button entities can now be the entity target for scripted_sentence entities, and are allowed to speak in multiplayer.
• Incorporated func_vehicle entity support from Counter-Strike, for mod-makers to use. Full SDK update will come later, but level designers can use it now.

Native Linux Build

• Added support for the software renderer.
• Improved font rendering.
• Many stability and behavior fixes.

Other

• Localization files updated.
• Miscellaneous security fixes.

Notes

• The previous version of the game has been archived to a publicly visible Beta branch named “steam_legacy”, with the description “Pre-25th Anniversary Build.” If a mod or feature is behaving in an unexpected way, you may need to run this archived build until the issue is resolved in the default build.
• We now consider this anniversary version of Half Life to be the definitive version, and the one we’ll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we’ll be reducing the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source’s assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it’ll remain available, but we’ll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead.

In an episode of a YouTube series titled Half-Life 25 Year Developer Community, Casali talks about working on the development team of Half-Life, accompanied by his diary filled with old documents, screenshots and photos. According to Casali, some of the names thrown around for the game that would eventually be released as Half-Life included Bent, Dirt, Lead, Pressure, Pressure Chamber, Pressure Pit, and Screwed.

It is worth noting that, during development, Half-Life was codenamed Quiver. Some of the other names on the list, alongside Half-Life itself, were Free Radical, Fallout, and a few variations on the name Crysis, including Cry.Sys, Crisis, and Krisis.

Fallout is an especially interesting potential title for Half-Life, since the seminal RPG of the same name was still under development at the time, and would be released a year before Half-Life. Fallout‘s original planned name was Vault-13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game.

Original Story follows:

Gamescom is the next big gaming expo and takes place later in August from Koelnmesse GmbH in Cologne, Germany. Several big companies like Bandai Namco, NetEase, Xbox, Bethesda and Nintendo have been confirmed, but it seems that Valve Corporation is also appearing, potentially for something Half-Life related.

A Reddit user discovered the company’s name in the list of exhibitors, despite Valve not publically announcing its appearance. It also shared images that mentioned Half-Life as its main topic. Could this be something related to Half-Life: Alyx? The long-rumored Citadel? The fabled Half-Life 3? At this point, it’s unknown.

It could even be an error with the app or, worse come worse, fake. Time will ultimately tell, so stay tuned. Gamescom 2023 runs from August 23rd to 27th, preceded by Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 22nd, where several announcements and world premieres are expected. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the coming weeks.

RESIDENT EVIL

We quite like the idea of a survival horror game that takes place in a large and open setting and offers the freedom of an open world game. The Evil Within 2’s semi-open world sections, for instance, are among the game’s highlights. But Resident Evil most certainly isn’t a franchise that should veer in that direction. The level design is always a core pillar of any new Resident Evil game, and navigating the series’ trademark settings with their meticulous design is always a massive part of the experience. Going open world would dilute that massively, to say the very least. Resident Evil Village’s hub and spoke did, to be fair, boast more open ended design on a macro level, and yes, the game was better for it, but we wouldn’t want to see a Resident Evil game trying to take that design philosophy to its absolute extreme.

Hangar 96 – Marathon Infinity

Way back in the day, Bungie made its name with titles like Myth and Marathon, the latter considered as the precursor to the Halo series. In 1996’s Marathon Infinity, there were three bonus “dream” levels that all referenced Hangar 96. It may have just been something within the Marathon lore but that wasn’t enough for some players who went about looking for ways to unlock it. The “solution” involved taking the hexadecimal code appearing in terminals from the first and last levels, combining them together, converting that into code to create a new level and then adding it to the game. This resulted in the unlocking of a new multiplayer map called “Hats off to Eight Nineteen” that had the “Hangar 96” label. Long story short, never underestimate the dedication of some fans to investigate seemingly unimportant details. Speaking of which…

NYX (PERSONA 3)

Persona 3’s final boss is a force to be reckoned with for several reasons. Not only does it look absolutely terrifying, it’s also the mother of all boss fights, with Nyx taking numerous forms throughout what might be one of the longest boss fights you’ll ever experience. Persona games have always dealt with darker themes, of course, but very rarely has it done so on the same level as it did with Nyx.

The Old Ones would eventually slumber and the city would be lost in the Pacific Ocean. However, even as he slept, Cthulhu communicated telepathically with humans, who worshiped him as a deity of sorts. Its appearance was described as part octopus, part dragon and somewhat human. Since then, cosmic horror and Cthulhu have been intertwined.

But it’s not just about Cthulhu’s appearance or cosmic entities that look grotesque. Cosmicism’s core philosophy is that humans are nothing when measured against the totality of the universe. Cosmic horror, as such, is as much a fear of what lurks in the void of space as it is about the lack of agency that humans have over their lives. It’s not fate but the overwhelming brunt of the universe, the terrifying horrors that reside within it, and the utter insignificance of one’s actions. Of course, there’s also the common theme that to know and understand the greater schemes of these horrors is ultimately dangerous. To open one’s mind to the truths of the universe is to go insane.

To say that Half-Life is a horror title would be an understatement. The general mood of the first game is established early on with the body horror of Headcrabs taking over corpses by attaching and feeding on their brains. However, even before that, there is a general theme of venturing into the unknown and attempting to unravel greater mysteries – to understand what lies beyond the veil, so to speak. The experiment conducted by the Black Mesa staff, which sees protagonist Gordon Freeman inexplicably teleporting between Xen and the research facility, is the jumping off point. In Gordon’s shoes and without the benefit of scientific understanding, one could almost think of these trips as hallucinatory, in a sense.

Of course, it only gets worse from there as Gordon is forced to contend with all kinds of real horrors. Xen’s indigenous wildlife is bleeding into the Earth’s dimension, whether it’s the massive and unstoppable Gargantua, the vicious Ichthyosaurs in the water or the Gonarch that can ensnare and consume people whole. There are also the inexplicable tentacles encountered in the Rocket Propulsion Silo and Xen which wreak havoc and are seemingly connected to a larger creature. Said creature never materializes though. Of course, this all pales in comparison to traveling through Xen with its floating structures, cities without windows, immense manufacturing facilities, and eventually, the imposing Nihilanth.

In a way, it all seems so simple – the Nihilanth is the big bad alien that’s trying to invade the world, right? It enslaved the Vortigaunts, forcing them to do its bidding and used them to try and take over Earth. There is more to the story though. Much like humanity, the Nihilanth was but an insignificant part of a greater scheme by the Combine. The Combine is a massive intergalactic empire that has laid waste to several civilizations including the Nihilanth’s. The only surviving member had retreated to Xen. Soon, the Vortigaunts arrived in the dimension due to their own homeworld being destroyed by the Combine. The Nihilanth enslaved them and invaded Earth in order to escape from the Combine, which subsequently led to Earth being discovered and assaulted by the latter.

There is another wrinkle in all of this – the G-Man. The mysterious old man, always wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, speaks in a commanding but altogether unnatural manner. The two would have next to no interaction until the end of Half-Life 1 when the G-Man approaches Gordon on behalf of his “benefactors.” Freeman is then employed for some unknown purpose and sealed away in stasis until the events of Half-Life 2.

The theory here is that the G-Man serves not the Combine but the ones above all, the equivalent of the Great Old Ones in the aliens’ pantheon. Gordon’s actions from the very beginning led to conflict with the Nihilanth and Xen’s inhabitants, which subsequently led to the Earth being discovered by the Combine. As such, the empire was grateful and would “hire” Gordon for whatever they would have planned. Not much is known about those above all but that’s the point.

As the Freeman, you think you’re someone who brings about great change and revolution – heck, Gordon is considered an essential part of the Resistance and praised as the one that liberated the Vortigaunts. His actions would also result in the destruction of the Citadel and closing the portal linking the Combine to Earth.

But to what end? Was Gordon really being guided by the G-Man? What is his purpose? What is the purpose of those above all? In Half-Life, these questions currently can’t be answered. And that’s perhaps the most frightening possibility of all: That there are horrors that lay behind the player’s understanding.

Whether intentionally or not, Valve has handled this aspect of the series incredibly well. There are just enough details to spur the player on as they seek more answers and are confronted by more questions. Very little information about the Combine, save for their desire to invade Earth, enslave humanity and deplete its resources, is known. The G-Man remains as mysterious as ever throughout. In fact, his abilities – whether his own or bestowed by something else – allow for altering the space-time continuum, as evidenced in Half-Life: Alyx.

In a way, Valve could be considered the ones above all, creating these situations to push players to pursue the ultimate truth of the Combine, the G-Man and Half-Life itself, regardless of how long it takes. Perhaps the various delays and rumors of cancellation without any information or context are just another layer on top of the things we’re not meant to understand.

Maybe it’s a bit too meta-physical – after all, the G-Man hasn’t broken the fourth wall yet. The point isn’t that there’s no point but that said point is beyond the human mind’s ability to understand. Maybe one day we’ll finally learn everything and go insane at the vastness of it all. Perhaps the true insanity isn’t just in unraveling the entire mystery but in the sheer scope of it all. Half-Life could be considered peak cosmic horror in that sense.

It could all be connected but humanity will never understand. Alternatively, we could never learn the truth – never know where the series is going, the truth of its development behind the scenes and ultimately what is really going on. But that doesn’t stop us from watching, worshiping and ultimately waiting for more.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead for every game and series mentioned in this feature.

HARBINGER (MASS EFFECT SERIES)

The Harbinger was built up over the course of two full games as the leader of a terrifying synthetic alien race that was hellbent on wiping out almost all intelligent sentient life in the galaxy. But king Reaper never really made it into his own boss fight. The final minutes of Mass Effect 3 strongly suggested that that would be the case, and honestly, after how well the series had built him up as the ultimate big bad, taking him on in a climactic confrontation felt like a no-brainer. Not for BioWare, apparently. Not only does Mass Effect 3 not feature the Harbinger as a final boss, it has no final boss.