[ad_1]
Rumor mill: Half-Life 2 turns 20 this November. Followers have been screaming for Half-Life 3 for almost as lengthy. Rumors have swirled on and off for years. After all, each spherical of scuttlebutt has led to disappointment. So do not begin holding your breath after I say Valve may be engaged on HL3. Now, go eat some salt.
The most recent spherical of Half-Life 3 rumors appear to have began with a voice actor spilling the beans unintentionally, adopted by corroboration by way of information mining. Nevertheless, it truly was the opposite method round, so we’ll begin chronologically.
In accordance with information miner Tyler McVicker, work on the following Half-Life sport began simply after the discharge of the VR-only title Half-Life: Alyx in 2020, when references to a sport known as “HLX” started exhibiting up within the Supply 2 sport engine code. Knowledge miners, together with McVicker, thought that the HL (Half-Life) plus the X might imply “Half-Life: One thing” was within the works. Concepts that it might be Half-Life 3 had been dismissed as “too good to be true.” They reasoned that it was extra seemingly only a characteristic of the sport engine or was referring to a different sport that Valve was engaged on, like Impasse.
As time progressed, strings present in Supply 2 updates seemingly referring to components within the Half-Life universe began showing. Code mentions an “HEV swimsuit” and “feral manhacks,” each unquestionably linked to HL. A number of strings additionally talked about “Xen” creatures, like “Xengorillas, Xenjellyfish, and Xenswoopers.” McVicker was changing into satisfied that Valve was engaged on one other Half-Life sport, as Valve minimize these Xen creatures from HL: Alyx however not from the Supply engine.
He was hesitant to say something publicly about it till he was positive, after which getting married earlier this yr put him behind on his normal weekly information mining. It wasn’t till an actress posted her resume to her web site, mentioning engaged on a Valve manufacturing codenamed “Challenge White Sands,” that he determined to disclose his findings (above).
“Nearly every thing you are about to listen to is actual, will not be hypothesis, and comes instantly from datamines of Valve’s current updates,” McVickers stated within the opening of his newest video. “Sure. Somebody screwed up,” he added, referring to the leaked resume.
So what do we all know from these Half-Life 3 rumours…
-You play as an HEV swimsuit character
-Car simulation
-Full voxel destruction
-Voice actors employed (White Sands codename)
-Varied Xen creatures minimize from Half-Life Alyx are being labored on once more
-Extra hints and clues!Hype! pic.twitter.com/b8rDpILzYd
– Half-Life Alyx NoVR (@HL_Alyx_NoVR) August 5, 2024
McVickers notes that the proof stored piling up, convincing him and others that Valve is growing one other HL sport. He’s nonetheless sifting by months of updates to catch something that provides to what he has already reported, and a extra expository video is within the works.
So far as whether it is Half-Life 3, he is a bit extra hesitant. As followers have identified, White Sands is in New Mexico. The Black Mesa Analysis facility was additionally positioned in NM. The presumption is that Challenge White Sands refers on to the unique Half-Life video games’ setting.
Nevertheless, McVickers factors out that in previous initiatives, Valve has used randomly imprecise codenames when hiring expertise, presumably so it might be laborious or unimaginable to hyperlink the codename to earlier titles. For instance, he factors out that Left 4 Useless VR and Left 4 Useless 3 used the codename “Hodog.” Even Half-Life: Alex glided by “Challenge Jamiroquai.” So McVicker is skeptical that Valve would affiliate the codename for HL3 to the sooner video games so blatantly.
One of many voice actors, who has labored on many triple-A video games, talked about Valve’s undertaking known as “White Sands” of their portfolio. pic.twitter.com/pXmERO5AEa
– Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) August 4, 2024
That stated, leaks have change into the brand new regular, virtually like they’re meant to behave as pre-press releases. Some firms thrive and relish leaked data, permitting followers and the information cycle to generate hype earlier than formally asserting their merchandise. Utilizing codenames like HLX and White Plains falls proper into this new “unintentional leak” philosophy. Moreover, the actress in query eliminated the reference to Challenge White Sands after the information broke, including to the hype by suggesting there’s something to cover.
“Oops! Did I try this?”
Though her web site is down proper now attributable to “exceeding” bandwidth, somebody grabbed a screenshot of the pertinent a part of her resume and posted it on X earlier than all mentions of White Sands had been scrubbed from her entry (above).
Nonetheless, McVickers is hesitant to say the undertaking is HL3 however thinks it most likely is.
“I believe this can be a non-VR, Half-Life sport [in which] you play a HEV Go well with-wearing character in improvement at Valve Software program that has been in improvement since Half-Life Alyx,” he says no doubt. “Do I believe that is Half-Life 3? [long pause] I gotta be very cautious in answering that query. [long pause] However sure.”
We will see.
[ad_2]