Trusted CS leaker claims ‘Half-Life 3 is real’, after three years of data mining

Gabe Follower, a YouTuber and dataminer who focuses exclusively on the backend of Valve’s titles, has now claimed that Half-Life 3 is very real. The creator said he spent over three years data mining and figuring out if Valve is making the title and shared his findings.

Gabe Follower first posted on Twitter today, August 24, about his claims that “Half-Life 3 is real.” He also said that “Valve is trying to hide that we are going back to Xen,” and how leaks point to this potential next Half-life a “semi-open world” game with a “weather system, day and night cycle”, with “smart NPCs that can talk to you”. He further explained that it took him three years to put together a video showcasing all of these findings, which he shared on YouTube the same day.

In the video, Gabe Follower states that all previous indications have become much clearer with the appearance of DeadlockValve’s hero shooter MOBA is currently in development, which was announced yesterday. The fact that Deadlock exists and is self-contained, allowing Gabe Follower to discern whether projects listed on numerous LinkedIn and other profiles, such as Project White Sands, were connected to anything separate from the MOBA, which he believes is Half-Life 3.

The creator lists a lot of datamined code from other Valve titleswhich usually mentions HLX and indicates that it will feature a playable character wearing a HEV suit and making heavy use of gravity manipulation, which could play a much bigger role than in other Half-life entries. Numerous Xen-themed enemies also appear in the code, with detailed behavior patterns, interactivity, and hostility toward the player.

There also appears to be some pretty advanced graphics code uncovered by the data mining, including realistic hair rendering, physics, and shadows, as well as facial expressions, lip-sync animations, listening and speaking systems, indicating that NPCs will have advanced conversational skills that Gabe Follower in the tweet above calls “smart NPCs.”

A dynamically changing day and night cycle also appears. The technology has been prominent in the gaming industry for over a decade, even appearing in Dota2 itself, with the time of day changing every five minutes during matches.

Gabe Follower also says that the code implies an open world for this upcoming title, along with a “hyper-developed and realistic vehicle system.” All the associated physics seem to be present, with air resistance, friction, mass, size, suspension, tires, engines, and transmissions. Players may have access to more than one transportation option, so we may not be stuck with just the buggy as in Half-Life 2.

Although Gabe Follower is quiterly convinced that Half-Life 3 is real, it’s hard to make a definitive judgment at this point. Valve is almost certainly working on something other than Deadlockand considering how often Half-Life 3 indications and leaks have surfaced lately, it could be possible. However, the elusive number three has eluded us for 17 years, so let’s not get our hopes up too high.