Whenever there was a major gaming event, rumors started emerging about a Half-Life 3 revel. When SPIKE TV hosted their annual Video Game Awards, this was no exception; just before the VGAs, the Internet exploded with Half-Life 3 rumors.
Now, fans can’t be blamed for buying into this time and time again. This was simply one of the most anticipated video games of all time.
What is it About Half Life 3
The thing about Half-Life 3 is that it was not just a greatly anticipated sequel like, say, Metal Gear Solid 5 or Gears of War 4. No, this is something completely different. You see, there was never a real ending for Half-Life 2. Episode Two, the last expansion to the game, ended with a cliffhanger. And not only that, it threw a lot of incredibly exciting information around. They even gave us insight into the whole Half-Life/Portal connection. Explaining that Half-Life’s Black Mesa and Portal’s Aperture Science are two organizations competing for government grants. We learned that, in the Half-Life world, something important happened on an Aperture ship called the Borealis and was thrilled to get to find out more about this in Episode Three.
The Birth of Valve’s Half Life 3
Then the project went silent. Valve has been very tight-lipped about Half-Life 2: Episode Three or Half-Life 3 ever since 2007. But they’ve been teasing fans nonetheless, especially lately. In fact, shortly before the VGAs, a Valve employee was spotted wearing a Half-Life 3 t-shirt. This fired up the rumor mill about the release of this long-awaited sequel.
Shortly after, a voice actor went on record to say that work was being done on “Half-Life: Episode Three.” Also, we would expect the next title to be “Half-Life 2: Episode Three” or simply “Half-Life 3,” not “Half-Life: Episode Three.” It’s hard to trust anonymous sources who can’t even say the correct name of the thing they’re supposedly working on. Then again, it is possible that after so many years, Valve no longer saw a point in including the “2” in the title, and the game will simply be called “Half-Life: Episode 3.“
Were the Rumors True?
Then the VGAs came and went without a peep about Half-Life 3. Or so it seems. There was a video of Wheatley from Portal 2 shown during the Awards, which many fans claim had a secret message. Of course, the message was vague, to say the least, and most likely an instance of fans reading too much into things. In fact, Valve claimed there was no hidden message in the Wheatley video.
But there was an interesting tweet from the Twitter account of Doug Rattmann, a character from Portal. The message: “Min: 60 days, Max: Unknown.” Many have taken this as a clue that there will be a Half-Life 3 announcement in 60 days. The post showed up on December 12, so this would put an announcement on February 11. Of course, Valve claimed the Twitter account was fake. It’s funny that no one read this as “More Portal 2 DLC announced in 60 days,” as that would have been far more likely.
Believe It or Not
Obviously, the site’s title is a reference to both Black Mesa of Half-Life and Aperture Science of the Portal games. Yet many fans were skeptical, as the IP address didn’t line up with Valve’s current IP addresses, and, in fact, didn’t even seem to even have originated in the U.S. Still, the image on the site is fairly convincing, certainly enough so that Half-Life fans have something to get excited about.
Final Thoughts
The fact of the matter is that there was no solid confirmation form Valve that they are even working on the game. People have gotten very excited about supposed Half-Life reveals in the past, and none of them have ever led to anything. The assumption is that these rumors are just going to lead up to more silence—or maybe a vague and noncommittal answer—from Valve.
*The views expressed within this article are solely the opinion of the author and do not express the views held by Cheat Code Central. *