Half-Life is a beloved franchise that somehow even my wife knows about. When I brought up that I was going to make a quick news post about the potential of Half-Life 3 being teased, she immediately raised her eyebrows at me and said, “What are you doing talking to me?” She doesn’t really play games, by the way; that’s how big Half-Life is.
For those unaware, Half-Life is a first-person shooter series created and published by Valve. In the first game, you take on the character of Gordon Freeman, a scientist trying to flee the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is invaded by extraterrestrial beings due to a failed scientific experiment. Players engage in a mix of combat, exploration, and solving puzzles throughout their journey.
Likewise, the series continued with Half-Life 2, followed by Episode One and Episode Two, which played as continuations of Half-Life 2 rather than fully fledged sequels. While these games came out over the course of 9 years, from 1998 to 2007, we wouldn’t see another entry to the series until Half-Life: Alyx in 2020. The title served as a prequel to the other games.
That brings us to today. After decades of memeing for the release of Half-Life 3, Mike Shapiro, the voice actor for the antagonist G-Man, just made this delightful post on X. In it, he uses his G-man voice. For the clever-hearing folks, it also seems like he uses the voice of Barney Calhoun, another essential character in the series. Keep in mind, he hasn’t posted anything on X since the release window of Half-Life: Alyx and only ever posts about Half-Life.
The full quote, “Another year already. Good to see and hear from so many of you. May the next quarter century deliver as many unexpected surprises hmmm? As did the Milleniums first. Then again, time is fluid, like music. See you in the New Year.”
If this doesn’t scream Half-Life to you, then maybe a stitched image of the video will. In reply to the teaser itself, the user Garageagle put together a still image of what the video was scanning over. From what I can tell, this image is entirely unique, so take a look at it yourself.
Nothing really stands out in the image to me besides a small but easily overlooked clue. Notice that on the top-left side of the sky, there appears to be a wave of blue distortion. I’m no gambler, but if I were, I’d place a bet on that resembling a portal storm similar to those below.
Image 1 of 2
As for the quote, let’s dive into that. “As did the Milleniums first” seems to be a tip for the Half-Life series. As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the original entries to the series came out from 1998 to 2007. I would very much consider that to be part of the Milleniums first. To prelude that with, “May the next quarter century deliver as many unexpected surprises,” just begs the listener to believe it’s Half-Life. Bookmark this: it’s Half-Life 3, folks; it has to be!
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. I’d love to hear what others think the image or lines are related to. As always, happy gaming, everyone!
