Half-Life 3 has been the hot topic of discussion among fans across various community forums for a long period of time now. Whether the game is in development and will be released in the future has become a million-dollar-question as of late.
Previously a text file with the name hl3.txt was found within an update for Dota 2. This sparked rumors that it is a hint that the game is actually in development and will see the light of the day sometime in the future. However, unfortunately no one from Valve came forward to put an official seal on the matter.
Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve had previously stated that he was quite surprised to see the interest of fans for the third iteration of Half-Life game. He also added that the company is not currently working on the development of the game and thus fans won’t be getting another Half-Life game in the near future.
The name Half-Life 3 was recently spotted among the list of upcoming games on Steam and this refueled rumors about its development. However, it was promptly removed by Steam from the list and no official comments were made about the matter.
The last game in the Half-Life franchise which is Half-Life 2 was released back in 2007. Back then, the developers had announced that instead of releasing a stand-alone game in the form of Half-Life 3, they would release a third Episode which would take the Half-Life saga forward. However, the plans were ditched and as can be seen, the developers have come up with nothing significant after Half-Life 2.
Christiantodayreports that the game is currently in its developmental stages. According to the site, the developers have been working on the game since 2009. It also claims that Half-Life 3 might see a 2016 release and it was also reported that the game might be developed for virtual reality.
The site further adds that an announcement for the game might be made by the developers at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 which is scheduled to be held in June. It was also pointed out that if Valve does not come forward with any sort of news regarding the game at the event, it will be safe to assume that the game will never be released.
Various reports suggest that certain leaks pertaining to the game was found at the HTC Vive benchmark tool. Apparently, the leaks were not only related to Half-Life 3, but also to another game, that is Left 4 Dead 3.
Most people are assuming that the whole thing is just a hoax, however, some die-hard fans of the franchise believe that these are hints that the game will actually hit the market sometime in the future. They believe that the supposedly leaked files were overlooked by Valve and they provided information which was related to the game.
With virtual reality becoming more and more common, it is entirely possible that if indeed the game is released, it will be VR compatible. The new technology is currently being used in a number of first-person-shooting games.
In other news, a fan has reportedly been able to find something which could be touted as a tease for the much coveted game. It was reported that the SteamVR Hardware test was being monitored by him and while doing so, he has been able to discover this so-called tease.
In a room where Atlas and P-Body are, a flashing television can be seen. Two distorted figures can be seen on the television. The fan decided to take a screenshot of the image and later he enhanced it.
Among the two individuals, one shared reminiscence to the Combine Guard that can be found in the last released game of the series- Half-Life 2. The fan is yet to identify the other individual in the television.