Half-Life 3 Is Widely Playtested Ahead of Possible Summer Reveal and Further Winter Release

Valve’s project HLX, which is assumed to be Half-Life 3, is being widely playtested ahead of a possible summer reveal and winter release, according to the info from Tyler McVicker, who proved to be reliable regarding Valve leaks and rumors in the past.

During a recent livestream, McVicker addressed the current state of the HLX project, which has recently been referenced in updates for other Valve games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2. He clarified that Half-Life 3 wouldn’t be a VR game like Half-Life: Alyx and its procedural generation elements won’t involve terrain generation or typical roguelike mechanics.

Tyler states that the HLX project has progressed further than similar company titles and is now fully playable from start to finish. Streamer says that at this stage, the core content and mechanics are likely finalized, with the development team now concentrating on optimization and polishing.

Half-Life, which is now considered one of the greatest games of all time,  was Valve’s debut title and the first entry in the series. Praised for its groundbreaking graphics, immersive gameplay, and compelling narrative, it earned numerous awards. The game also sparked a wave of fan-made mods, some of which evolved into standalone titles—most notably, Counter-Strike.

In November 2023, to celebrate Half-Life’s 25th anniversary, Valve updated the Steam version by restoring the original 1998 content, fixing long-standing bugs, and adding new features, including the Half-Life: Uplink demo, four new multiplayer maps, Steam Deck support, improved rendering, and 4K monitor compatibility. Valve released a one-hour documentary detailing the development of Half-Life, featuring insights from the original developers, designers, and artists. Just two days after documentary’s debut, the game hit an all-time peak of 33,471 concurrent players on Steam.