- The evidence suggests the Half-Life team is working on something.
- 'Project White Sands' and 'HLX' appear to be references to Half-Life.
We're amid a full-blown Half-Life 3 hysteria as hopeful fans of the series cling to every shred of evidence that supports that the fabled game is in development at Valve (again).
There is another twist in the tale as file names identified in a recent data mine by reputable Valve leaker Tyler McVicker were recently changed by Valve, possibly to deflect suspicion about Half-Life 3. A file name referencing Gordon Freeman's famous HEV suit was changed to 'Burbank Suit'.
A couple of new lines of code were also identified, including references to Houndeyes and the shifting of gravity. Houndeyes are exploding alien enemies that haven't appeared since the original Half-Life, not counting the fan-made remake Black Mesa.
The Return of Gordon?
All of this comes in the wake of a mysterious entry on voice actor Natasha Chandel's resume, where she says she worked on a Valve game called 'Project White Sands'. White Sands is potentially a reference to White Sands, New Mexico, the setting of the first Half-Life. It could also be seen as the 'opposite' of Black Mesa, Half-Life's infamous research corporation.
After this surprising discovery, data miners were able to find references to 'HLX' in the Source 2 code. This is a similar chain of events that led to the leaking of Half-Life: Alyx in 2016. The popular theory among miners and fans is that HLX is the codename of the Half-Life team's current project, which could be Half-Life 3.
If Gordon Freeman is involved, as the HEV (now Burbank) suit would imply, the new entry would have to be a mainline game as Gordon's story from the first Half-Life through to Half-Life 2: Episode Two is unbroken. It could be someone else in a HEV suit, but that's not really Valve's style, is it?
The only time we’ve played as another HEV suit-wearing scientist was in the PS2-exclusive Gearbox spin-off Decay.
Valve remains tight-lipped about its projects—the studio hasn't even acknowledged the existence of its hero shooter with 50,000 players—so we don't have any official information about an upcoming Half-Life game, but the evidence is starting to stack up. Even if Valve is trying its hardest to cover its tracks.
