Rumors and speculation about Half-Life 3 have gained momentum after the voice actor behind G-Man posted a cryptic tweet teasing news for 2025.
In full G-Man mode, Mike Shapiro posted a narrated video on Twitter in which he marked the end of 2024, teasing “unexpected surprises” for the year with the tags #Valve, #Halflife, #GMan, and #2025.
“It’s already another year,” Shapiro said in a tweet. “Nice to see and hear from some of you. May the next quarter of a century provide as many unexpected surprises as the first one in the millennium. On the other hand, time is fluid like music. See you in the new year!”
#Valve #Half-life #GMan #2025 pic.twitter.com/mdT5hlxKJT
— Mike Shapiro (@mikeshapiroland) December 31, 2024
It’s pretty vague, but as many fans have pointed out, this is Shapiro’s first unanswered tweet since he congratulated Valve on the success of VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx in December 2020. Shapiro’s tweet is therefore a rarity indeed. But does this latest one mean anything?
Half-Life 2 recently turned 20 years aged, and Valve still hasn’t announced an official release for Half-Life 3, even though the story ended on a cliffhanger with Episode 2 in 2007. In 2020, the rise of Half-Life: Alyx revealed modern possibilities for games developed and shelved by Valve between the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Valve’s latest VR game. This list contained details about the version of Half-Life 3, which had been in development for about a year.
Final Half-Life Hours: Geoff Keighley’s Alyx revealed that at least five Half-Life games were canceled between Episode 2 and Alyx, as well as a number of other projects – the most crucial of which was referred to as Half-Life 3 at Valve.
In November, to celebrate Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, Valve chronicled the game’s development in a documentary that revealed never-before-seen work-in-progress footage, a brand modern Ice Gun, and tons of modern concept art. You can see a fragment of the gameplay from the documentary in the video below.
From the details shown in the video, it appears that episode 3 would take place in the Arctic and would focus on Alyx as a companion character. In addition to the Ice Gun, the footage shows a blob-like enemy that can split into multiple pieces. According to the document, the team had completed “a collection of playable levels in no particular order” and expected to be able to release the game within a year or two.
Of course, Valve already has a lot on its plate, including continued support for Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Steam itself, Steam Deck, and the modern Deadlock game. Could this also work on Half-Life 3 along with all other projects?
Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
