Half-Life 3 hopefuls are in quite a state now that Summer Game Fest has come and gone without any major announcements for the series. Originally released in 1998, Half-Life marked major studio Valve’s debut on the PC gaming scene, and forever changed the face of first-person shooters.
It’s since spawned multiple sequels: Half-Life 2 and its two episodic follow-ups, as well as the VR game Half-Life: Alyx, and that’s not even to mention all the DLCs, source ports, and multiplayer expansions. But calls for a third true mainline Half-Life game have been near universal since 2004, and, with the Steam Machine on its way, many fans hoped they’d get a reveal during Summer Game Fest.
But, of course, nothing happened. Reddit user RevenueAlarmed conducted a wellness check on the Half-Life 3 subreddit following the weekend’s festivities, only to find the place in a state of complete and utter meltdown.
These posts ranged from focused attacks on Final Fantasy and its fans (who saw the reveal of FF7 Remake Revelation and a new HD-2D game, FF Resonance, during the weekend), to senseless, ranting tirades, to delusional gibberish.
Check on the subreddit today (at least at the time of writing) and you’ll still find it in a state of disarray, with posters sharing videos of analog horror anomalies with twisted grins, captioned with fully inscrutable titles. Images of Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman alternately injecting himself with syringes full of “hopium” or “despair” are a common motif.
It’s worth noting, by the way, that the original expression of concern over the HL3 subreddit’s meltdown came from none other than the Elder Scrolls 6 subreddit. Elder Scrolls fans rival the Half-Life community in terms of delusion; we’ve repeatedly covered their cycle of hope each time a new gaming showcase rolls around, followed by disappointment when it’s something like a Fallout 76 update instead.
In other words, it takes one to know one. “Suddenly we all seem a lot more sane,” comments TES6 subreddit user Julieticus. “They make us waiting for 15 years seem like a gift somehow… at least we know something is coming,” adds blamewho22.
That’s true enough. What separates Half-Life 3 fans from other gaming communities anxiously awaiting an update for titles like Grand Theft Auto 6, The Elder Scrolls 6, or even FF7, up until last week — is that all of these communities know for a fact that their games are in development. Even if GTA 6 gets delayed again, or TES6 is a decade away, their respective developers have officially, repeatedly, and publicly confirmed that they’re in the works.
Half-Life fans, meanwhile, can only rely on leaks and rumors to give them hope. There’s been no official reveal for HL3, so it’s no surprise the community gets its hopes up whenever there’s a new showcase. Summer Game Fest might not have been the time and place, but here’s hoping Half-Life 3 gets some concrete news soon.
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