A repost from the archives, originally posted on 18th of August, 2023
The internet got shaken, rightfully so, as yet another “Half-Life 3 is coming” leak happened, but this time the people who are reporting it believe it is real.
It all started with a voice actress who added in her resume that she worked on a project for Valve.
That project had a code name, as is usual with titles that are under development, but that code name has made Half-Life lore experts go crazy with theories. These theories can be valid but we can’t confirm anything yet without proof.
What are these theories?
The code name for the project is: White Sands.
White Sands is the name of a military testing location in New Mexico. New Mexico is where Black Mesa’s base of operations is located.
The voice actress is reported to having removed the project from her website but her site is still down after the massive visits that exceeded her hosting’s bandwidth.
According to Valve expert, Tyler McVicker, there is a Valve Project with the code name HLX that he says is a non VR Half Life game, so not something like Alyx, and that Valve started working on it back in 2021.
He also mentioned the voice actor who accidentally used the code name Project White Sands, connecting the two references.
Through datamining leaks (which is leaked pieces of code, trying to reverse engineer or figure out what the code refers to and what ti does) he sees, among other Half Life related elements, that there is a playable character in a HEV (Hazardous EnVironment) suit.
Still not confirmed but very related to a certain Gordon Freeman.
Do I think it’s real?
I would argue that a name like White Sands is too easy to decipher and Valve should know that, which makes it hard to believe they used such a name as a cover for Half Life 3.
It is too obvious, unless it’s their way of a cost-effective marketing action to create hype and cause absolute and utter chaos in the interwebz.
Honestly, I don’t know if any of the above are indeed proof for a new Half Life 3 and we should wait for an official confirmation by Valve, if that ever happens.
Until then we can only hope.
Image by news.softpedia.com
Here is the video that says it all: