Half-Life 3 remains one of gaming’s longest running secrets, which may or may not exist depending on which side of the fence you fall. Every few months, something pops up that reignites hope that Valve has learned to count to 3, but this might be the most interesting yet.
During a recent Q&A panel at GameSoundCon, Valve’s music designed Mike Morasky was talking about how how the developer handled certain sound systems. He noted that Deadlock uses a particular type of high dynamic range audio, and then said that HLX used its own type of HDR.
“And in fact, I think Deadlock has their own version of HDR. HLX has its own version, so on and so forth,” said Morasky.
The audio can be heard at 57:47, although you will need to sign up to Vimeo.
Why is that important? Well, over the years since Half-Life: Alyx’s ending seemed to tease a third mainline game, people have uncovered numerous references to a project referred to as “HLX” in different Valve files. The theory is that HLX is Half-Life 3. And this would be the first time a Valve employee has openly referred to this secretive project by its apparent name, seemingly confirming that there is something called HLX being worked on.
As soon as Mike Morasky uttered the words about HLX he tapered off. Hilariously, one of the other developers can be heard muttering what sounds like, “good job” under his breath in a joking manner.
Of course, at no point is Half-Life 3 mentioned, and it’s still only a theory that HLX is actually Gordon Freeman’s next adventure. But it doesn’t take much to get Half-Life fans talking. Let’s just hope this wasn’t some planned joke by Mike Morasky and the rest of the panel to get people talking.
