Half-Life fans have waited years for Valve to do… something Half-Life 3-related. That’s nothing new. But recent weeks have seen a step up in the hunt for clues, with some assuming Valve has already started an intricate alternate reality game (ARG) that will lead to the dramatic revelation that Half-Life 3 is finally on the way.
Mike Shapiro, the voice actor behind Half-Life’s enigmatic G-Man, was the catalyst for this next-level fixation, which GTA 6 fans will recognize immediately. Shapiro, in full G-Man gear, posted a mysterious tweet late last year with the hashtags #Valve, #Halflife, #GMan, and #2025, hinting to some kind of news for 2025. Since he complimented Valve on the success of VR-only Half-Life: Alyx back in December 2020, Shapiro had not responded to a tweet before.
The rumor mill went into overdrive after that, but the Half-Life community has since been the scene of many crazy speculations. Some who have closely examined Shapiro’s tweet think he has initiated an ARG for Half-Life 3, making connections that will take them to the ultimate video game prize.
Fans of Half-Life are obsessed with statistics. Notably, Valve is incapable of counting to three. Can it count up to 197, though? It turns out that Shapiro included pictures of the cover art for his new song, Best Long Dog, in his X/Twitter post. The number 197 is hidden inside this picture. Strange!
Since Best Long Dog is, of course, 197 seconds long, it is three minutes and seventeen seconds long. Oh, and it was released 197 days after Magnetic North, his last single. Strange!
The Half-Life community comes through in this situation. Some fans assume 197 is a reference to gold, or, more particularly, its stable isotope 197Au. This is Half-Life, after all! How does gold relate to anything? “Gold Source,” or GoldSrc, is the original Half-Life engine. The Source engine eventually took its place, although the connection is obvious. Yes, 197Au is the sole gold isotope without a half-life since there is only one stable isotope of gold.
The story becomes more complex. Regarding Shapiro, the number 197 appears three times: in the song’s cover art, throughout the song, and in the days following the release of his last single. Three times! Is 197 suggesting a date? Some people believe so. Could it be July 19th?
We now discuss Counter-Strike 2, another Valve game, and what some people think are clues to Half-Life 3. Do you recall that Shapiro’s song is titled “Best Long Dog”? In map de_train, Valve changed the Popdog hallway’s name to “Longdog.”
Although Half-Life 2 Episode 2 from 2007 left the plot on a cliffhanger, Half-Life 3 is officially nonexistent. A brand-new Ice Gun, a ton of new concept art, and never-before-seen work-in-progress footage were all unveiled in a documentary that Valve released in November to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2. The video below shows the gameplay portion of the documentary.
Among the specifics revealed in the video, Episode 3 would have centered on Alyx as a companion character and taken place in the Arctic. In addition to the Ice Gun, the video depicts an enemy that resembles a blob and can be divided into several pieces. The documentary claimed that the team had finished a “collection of playable levels in no particular order” and anticipated having the game ready for release in a year or two.
Naturally, Valve already has a lot on its plate, with the upcoming title Deadlock, the Steam Deck, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2. Could it be juggling all those other projects with Half-Life 3?
