Half-Life 3 Is Reportedly Playable From Start to Finish, Says Trusted Leaker

After years of silence and rumors, it looks like Half-Life 3 might finally be real—and it’s further along than anyone expected.

According to longtime Valve insider Tyler McVicker, the highly anticipated sequel is not only in development but is now fully playable from beginning to end. McVicker revealed this during a livestream Q&A and suggested that Valve could officially announce the game as soon as summer 2025, with a possible release by the end of the year, most likely in winter.

The game, known behind the scenes as “HLX”, has already been hinted at in past reports. Last year, datamined files and leaked code pointed to Valve working on something new in the Half-Life universe. There was even evidence linking the leak to an actor likely involved in the project.

McVicker confirmed that this new game is not a VR title, addressing one of the biggest questions fans have had.

“Half-Life 3 is not a VR title,” McVicker said during the live stream.

He also explained that the game is currently being tested heavily by many people, and because of that, leaks are starting to spread.

“HLX is being playtested so religiously and so widely that there are individuals who will just talk,” he said.

Though he tries to avoid spoilers, McVicker did tease one exciting possibility: Chell from Portal might appear in Half-Life 3. While nothing is confirmed, he added that Portal co-writer Erik Wolpaw really wants to make Portal 3, but Valve’s next move may depend on what happens after Half-Life 3 is finished.

There has been confusion about whether Half-Life 3 will use procedural generation (randomly generated content), but McVicker explained that people have misunderstood that feature. He says it’s similar to how the AI Director in Left 4 Dead 2 works.

“It’s not changing the map or level shapes,” he said. “It’s changing things like doors, props, enemies, and NPC locations to keep the experience fresh.”

He also confirmed the story itself will not be random or procedurally generated.

We already know that a version of Half-Life 3 was in development back in 2013-2014. That version was a mix of Left 4 Dead-style gameplay and scripted story events, but it was cancelled due to the Source 2 engine being incomplete at the time.

Now, it looks like the current version, HLX, has finally pushed past those early hurdles. McVicker believes it’s further along than any Half-Life game since Episode 2.

“This is the furthest HLX has ever been. Period,” he said. “The game is playable end to end… They’re now optimizing and polishing it.”

Whether the rumors are true or not, Half-Life fans finally have a reason to be hopeful. If McVicker’s info is correct, we may finally return to the world of Gordon Freeman sooner than we think.

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