Over the last few weeks, you might have noticed something odd. A lot of people seem to think that Half-Life 3 is about to be announced. Some folks have dates marked for when we should expect the sequel. There are even some who think Half-Life 3 will be announced at the Game Awards. And a lot of people seem to believe that Half-Life 3 is real and nearly finished despite, you know, Valve never confirming that. So uh, what’s going on?
Since 2021, dataminers have been finding and documenting many snippets of code left in other Valve projects, like DOTA 2, related to something known internally at Valve as “HLX.” And while Valve hasn’t told us what HLX refers to, fans and dataminers have connected a lot of dots over the last four years or so.
From what has been found, HLX appears to be a single-player, non-VR FPS featuring a character in an HEV suit who fights aliens and soldiers through various levels while possibly solving physics-based puzzles. Now, that sounds a lot like a new Half-Life game. And most of the community following HLX, as well as multiple reliable leakers, have started to call this datamined project Half-Life 3.
The fact that Valve has been working quietly on what appears to be a new Half-Life game for at least roughly five years, and likely longer than that, has created some hype online. But everything got kicked into high gear last week after Valve announced three new pieces of hardware: The Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller.
Half-Life 3 hype explodes
For many fans, already hungry for a new Half-Life game and convinced by dubious Reddit posts and TikToks that it was totally being announced soon, this hardware announcement from Valve was a very big deal. Valve often releases new games with new hardware, like Alyx with the Index and Desk Job with the Steam Deck.
So, naturally, many started to speculate that Valve’s next game, likely HLX aka Half-Life 3, would be announced soon and launched around the release of the new Steam Machine in 2026. Heck, even I think that might be possible. But then folks went into overdrive trying to predict the date HLX would be announced.
November 18 became a popular date for many. It would mark the six-year anniversary of Half-Life: Alyx’s announcement, the last Half-Life game, and would give Valve plenty of time to market the sequel before an early 2026 launch. Others believe November 19 is the magical date, as it’s the 27-year anniversary of the original Half-Life.
People soon noticed that there’s a gap in sales events on Steam starting on November 18 and ending on December 8. Some theorized that this was because Valve wanted a clear runway for Half-Life 3‘s reveal, though it seems unlikely that Valve would delay sales for a new game reveal.
More clues, more hype
Then fans noticed Geoff Keighley, the creator and host of the Game Awards and master of video game reveals, only had one game on his Steam wishlist. When asked about it, he offered up some eye emojis. This threw people into a frenzy, despite the fact that Half-Life 3 doesn’t have a Steam page, so it can’t be added to a wishlist yet. Didn’t matter; this was evidence Half-Life 3 was going to be announced at Geoff’s annual trailer extravaganza, the Game Awards, in December.
27 years ago today, Valve released HALF-LIFE, it’s first game. pic.twitter.com/9d13MAyAmB
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) November 19, 2025
The Game Awards tweeted about Half-Life on Wednesday, noting the anniversary of the first game’s release. People freaked. But, as pointed out by longtime Valve reporter and leaker Tyler McVicker, the Game Awards account tweets this same anniversary every year. (And does it for Half-Life 2, as well.)
But that didn’t matter either. At this point, people can’t ignore how many insiders, leakers, and reporters are hinting at some big announcement from Valve. Too many “clues” are being found by the community every day this week for fans to stop getting more and more excited. The hype levels are out of control. The hopium is off the charts.
But keep in mind that, officially speaking, Valve has not announced that a new Half-Life game is in development. Still, Valve did reportedly have a lot of extra security at their offices while revealing all the new Steam hardware. And the company does seem to have one more thing to announce, as its official Steam page lists two upcoming games, but only shows one, Deadlock. Is the other game Half-Life 3? The internet seems to think so.
As a longtime Half-Life fan who has been waiting a long time for Half-Life 3, I’m inclined to believe, though I’d also advise everyone getting excited right now to remember that this could all lead to nothing. Expect nothing and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with whatever we get.
