Half-Life 3 Rumors Begin Again Thanks To Leaked Valve Project

Summary Half-Life 3 rumors resurface after a Valve leak, hinting at the potential development of the long-anticipated game.

Voice actor Natasha Chandel is involved in Project White Sands at Valve; speculation points to Half-Life 3.

Valve's recent game releases suggest a return to game development, sparking hope for Half-Life 3's eventual release.

Half-Life 3, the never-made game that can't be forgotten, is back on everyone's radar after a leak suggested that Valve is officially developing the project. Having become one of the longest-running memes on the internet, the Half-Life fandom is unable to shake rumors that Gordon Freeman and his crowbar are on the verge of a major comeback given that whisperings of a third installment have swirled since the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 in 2007. There's still little in the way of confirmation, but the most recent leak is the closest thing to an official update in some years.

Per a Reddit post by KekanKok, voice actor Natasha Chandel posted on her website that she's involved in something going by the codename Project White Sands which is in development at Valve; Chandel's website is no longer accessible at the time of writing.

The studio is notably already working on a hero shooter named Deadlock, driving speculation that Chandel is referring to something else. Half-Life 3 is currently the favored speculation given that White Sands is the name of both a national park and a military testing range in New Mexico, the state that housed Black Mesa's main base of operations.

Related Will Half-Life 3 Be In VR Like Alyx? Half-Life: Alyx changed what gamers have come to expect out of VR games, but does Valve's release mean that Half-Life 3 will also be a VR exclusive?

Could This Really Be Half-Life 3?

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Half-Life 3 may widely be considered an impossibility at this point but it's worth noting that Valve has actively been making an effort to return to game development. Aside from the aforementioned Deadlock, which is currently the studio's worst-kept secret after several substantial leaks, Valve recently released Counter-Strike 2, a revamped version of its hit competitive shooter. While it wasn't a vast departure from Counter-Strike, enough changes were made to warrant a separate release that impressed the entire community.

Having said that, while many may jump to the conclusion that Half-Life 3 is happening thanks to the vague reference to Nex Mexico, it's entirely possible that Project White Sands could take the form of something closer to Half-Life: Alyx. The VR-exclusive game, which is revered as one of the best experiences of its kind, didn't serve as a third mainline entry in the franchise. Rather, it was a prequel that didn't provide any answers to Half-Life 2: Episode 2's cliffhanger ending.

Whether or not Project White Sands does turn out to be Half-Life 3, it's difficult to imagine the threequel living up to nearly two decades of hype. Valve has repeatedly stated that it's reluctant to simply develop Half-Life games to make quarterly numbers, insisting that it needs a good reason to return to the franchise. Perhaps the success of Alyx and Counter-Strikes is the sign it's been looking for.

Source: KekanKok/Reddit