Half-Life fans are convinced the much-rumoured Half-Life 3 could finally be unveiled this month after years of speculation.
The original Half-Life was released in 1998 and introduced gamers to Gordan Freeman, a scientist who must survive an alien invasion. A number of expansions for the influential first-person shooter were released before a full sequel launched in 2004. The final expansion for Half-Life 2 was released in 2007, the same year that spin-off Portal launched.
Developers Valve started working on the ambitious Half-Life 3 in 2013, which “would have used procedural generation between hand-crafted story moments to create a more replayable game,” (via IGN) but the game was scrapped after a year. VR prequel Half-Life: Alyx was released in 2020 but rumours about a potential Half-Life 3 have never gone away.
Now, fans believe Valve are set to confirm the highly-anticipated game.
A mysterious game is currently listed as one of the company’s upcoming releases on their Steam page while a teaser image for their new Steam Machine features a censored Half-Life logo just under a sticker that says “soon”.
I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but in the Steam Hardware video there’s a “SOON
” and a sticker with an orange “H” that’s covered by a censorship bar. Later in the video, the Lambda logo appears on a keyboard.
Half-Life 3 on November 18 pic.twitter.com/fsU5dRCBX2
— Jeremy. (@TheJeremy__) November 12, 2025
A teaser video also features the Lambda logo, which is used throughout Half-Life 2 as a symbol for resistance. Fans have also reported an unusually large gap in Steam promotions between November 18 and December 8, which they believe is being kept free for Half-Life 3 promo.
“This actually makes sense. You know what? Fuck it. I’m all in on something happening,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “Why would they go out of their way to put a lambda symbol on a keyboard for a small moment if it wasn’t an easter egg,” added another. “Every previous Valve hardware announcement has preceded an imminent game announcement,” said a third. “It would be absolutely wild if we got Half-Life 3 before Grand Theft Auto 6,” wrote another.
However other fans aren’t convinced. “I can’t wait for November 18 to come and watch people slowly go crazy throughout the day while nothing gets announced,” said one gamer. “I feel like I’ve seen Half-Life 3 rumours every couple weeks for 15 years,” added another.
2025 has already seen the release of the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is also set to launch next month. GTA 6 was due to release this year but has been pushed back to November 2026.
In other news, the brilliant soundtrack to Hades 2 is finally available to stream on all major services ahead of a 2026 London concert.
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