A new ‘Half-Life’ title may be in the works, and it is not ‘Half-Life 3.’ The video game developers at Valve Corporation have been ‘leaking’ streams of code hinting at an unknown ‘HLVR’ title. Fans speculate that this might be a virtual reality game set in the ‘Half-Life’ universe.
Rumors about the possibly upcoming game have been popping up online for at least a year now. However, only recently Valve Corporation has started to include more of these cryptic clues in recent updates for different games. ‘Half-Life’ VR code has appeared deep into ‘Dota 2’ and the VR platform ‘Destinations.’
The gaming communities, and especially the fiercely devoted ‘Half-Life’ fans, have not taken the news lightly. Anyone who has been on the internet long enough has run into a ‘Half-Life 3’ release date joke or meme at least once.
‘Half-Life VR’: A timeline of events
Last year, Chief developer at Valve Corporation said the company was working on a VR title based on the Half-Life universe. However, he denied knowing what direction the project was going to take in the future.
Later in September, another member of the Valve team was asked if ‘Half-Life 3’ was being developed as a VR game during an open Q&A session. He firmly denied this was the case, putting to rest all hopes of ‘Half-Life 3’ ever seeing the light of day once again.
The new streams of code discovered by the gaming community shed some light on the nature of a possible ‘Half-Life’ VR title. The exploration and world-building VR game ‘Destinations’ was released by Valve back in June, and since then players have found hints of ‘HLVR’ entities within the title.
Everything from movements, reactions, weapon management, and more exists on files hidden in ‘Destinations.’ Most recently, players have found code streams for glass shattering and player interaction with NPCs within a recent ‘Dota 2’ update.
These discoveries point out towards a much more complex game, distant from the original ‘Half-Life’ titles in which the main character Gordon Freeman is mute. If anything, ‘Half-Life’ VR could be a highly developed side chapter set in the franchise’s universe, with virtual reality-specific tasks integrated into the game.
Source: IGN