Over the last few years, dataminers have uncovered a string of references to something called «HLX», which is believed to be Half-Life 3. Valve concept artist Evgeniy Evstratiy might have just confirmed those leaks.
Evstratiy has worked at Valve since February 2023, and is still employed at the studio.
«I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this or not,» Evstratiy said on the CG Voices Podcast (as translated by reliable leaker u/Stannis_Loyalist on r/HalfLife), «but I was in the room where they made Half-Life 3. However, I didn’t see the actual development itself; I just saw the office, the computers, the whiteboards.»
This is the closest we’ve come to confirmation from Valve itself, but it’s still worth taking Evstratiy’s comment with a grain of salt. He’s a concept artist for a different Valve game, and was only briefly in a room where an unknown project was being worked on, which he believed to be Half-Life 3.
It’s unclear if he spoke to anyone on the project to get confirmation, though as u/kultur noted, if he’s confidently saying that he was in the room where they made Half-Life 3, it’s likely that he did.
Half-Life 3 Might Exist, But It Could Be Cancelled
As Evstratiy pointed out, this isn’t Valve’s first attempt at Half-Life 3. Several iterations of the game, as well as Half-Life 2: Episode Three, have been cancelled, so there’s no guarantee that the studio will release or even finish HLX given its track record and strict quality control.
But it’s also worth noting that, as far as we know, no iteration of Half-Life 3 has ever made it this far along in development (recent Deadlock and Dota 2 updates hint that it’s in the polishing phase). Coupled with G-Man and Barney Calhoun actor Mike Shapiro teasing «unexpected surprises» for 2025 with the hashtag «HalfLife», and, if reports are to be believed, that it survived the last round of playtests (which historically led to Half-Life: Alyx and Deadlock being delayed), things are looking up for HLX.
Shapiro likely made that video because Valve is confident that the game will release without cancellation — u/Stannis_Loyalist.
If it does make it through development, then we have a pretty good idea of what to expect thanks to another reliable leaker, Gabe er, who claims that it will «be the end of Gordon’s adventure», finally tying the knot on the trilogy without another cliffhanger.
Time will tell if he’s right, and if all these leaks are actually leading somewhere for once, but personally, I’m not sure if I’ll believe Half-Life 3 exists until it’s sitting in my library.
