New leaks and cryptic clues point to active development on the long-awaited sequel.
The more than two decades since Half-Life 2’s release have been filled with plenty of rumors and hints about Half-Life 3, ranging from the official-ish to the thin to the downright misleading. As we head into 2025, though, we’re approaching something close to a critical mass of rumors and leaks suggesting that Half-Life 3 is really in the works this time, and could be officially announced in the coming months.
The latest tease came just before the end of 2024 via a New Year’s Eve social media video from G-Man voice actor Mike Shapiro. In the voice of the mysterious in-game bureaucrat, Shapiro expresses hopes that “the next quarter century [will] deliver as many unexpected surprises as did the millennium’s first (emphasis added)… See you in the new year.”
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On its own, a single in-character post from a voice actor would probably be a bit too cryptic to excite Half-Life fans who have seen their sequel hopes dashed so often over the last two decades. But the unexpected tease comes amid a wave of leaks and rumors surrounding “HLX,” an internal Valve project that has been referenced in a number of other Source 2 engine game files recently.
You and I might do it as a connected reflex between the space key and ctrl key to always get a higher chance of reaching a ledge with no drawbacks, but it makes no digetic sense. People in real life don’t do a squat mid-air if their only intention is to step up to a higher object.
FPSes of both the realistic and cartoony variety have been introducing step-ups as a way to simplify movement for a long time. Examples: DOOM 2016, Deep Rock Galactic. It also means that they can connect other important game functionality to the Crouch button if that keybind just doesn’t do much for the intended gameplay.
People in real life don’t do a squat mid-air if their only intention is to step up to a higher object.
that’s because they instead crouch right before jumping, so that they can reach an even higher ledge. i would be okay with them killing crouch jumping so long as they don’t kill c-tapping. its just so satisfying to pull off.
i also worry that switching to step ups would severely impact rocket jumping and surfing. the advanced movement systems in tf2 are my favorite among any video game i’ve played so far. i’d be pretty bummed if they gutted them in tf3. im still mourning the loss of full turn control on the chargin targe.
but it makes no digetic sense. People in real life don’t do a squat mid-air if their only intention is to step up to a higher object.
I kinda gotta disagree with this entire premise, it is very common to lift your legs up when trying to jump on something higher than your starting position.
I don’t think a mantling system is a good drop-in replacement for crouch jumping. As you say, it simplifies the movement, meaning the player will no longer have the variety of “jump, without being able to land on higher surfaces” and “jump and be able to land on higher surfaces.” I think having that extra functionality is a benefit to purposeful player movement.
It also means that they can connect other important game functionality to the Crouch button if that keybind just doesn’t do much for the intended gameplay.
What other functionality could be tied to the crouch button that is mutually exclusive with crouch jumping? Like I get some games with more movement abilities would have double jumps and air dashes, but those movements are already pretty well accounted for with the jump button and sprint button.
That’s the thing, I was careful about my wording; “if their only intention is to step up to a higher object”. If I tell someone to get on top of a cement block, their impulse won’t be to do a parkour jump where they’re tucking their legs, they’ll likely use their hands to lift themselves up. They wouldn’t even think of their action as a “jump”. When people press the spacebar in a video game, the intent is clearly to get higher onto the thing in front of them, it’s just most games choose not to express the particular actions a human does to do that (much like how we dropped Tomb Raider’s approach of manually holding a button to grab onto ledges)
In DRG, the way they differentiate intention is with the direction you’re looking - you can only mantle onto platforms you’re looking towards. So, you wouldn’t get many occasions where you’re dodging sideways and accidentally get on a platform.
In DOOM Eternal, they got rid of crouch, and put the grenade launcher on there. G was changed to toggle between your two grenade types. In Deep Rock Galactic, Ctrl uses the player’s laser pointer, a tool for communicating to teammates that doesn’t really impact gameplay. Having a free keybind offers a number of ways to enhance or simplify the game; if they wanted to go for simple measures, it could be a context-sensitive VO button, like spotting out enemy players.
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team fortress 3! give it up for team fortress 3!
Minority opinion, I think there’s a lot they could do for Team Fortress 3.
What’s wrong with crouch jumping?
You and I might do it as a connected reflex between the space key and ctrl key to always get a higher chance of reaching a ledge with no drawbacks, but it makes no digetic sense. People in real life don’t do a squat mid-air if their only intention is to step up to a higher object.
FPSes of both the realistic and cartoony variety have been introducing step-ups as a way to simplify movement for a long time. Examples: DOOM 2016, Deep Rock Galactic. It also means that they can connect other important game functionality to the Crouch button if that keybind just doesn’t do much for the intended gameplay.
that’s because they instead crouch right before jumping, so that they can reach an even higher ledge. i would be okay with them killing crouch jumping so long as they don’t kill c-tapping. its just so satisfying to pull off.
i also worry that switching to step ups would severely impact rocket jumping and surfing. the advanced movement systems in tf2 are my favorite among any video game i’ve played so far. i’d be pretty bummed if they gutted them in tf3. im still mourning the loss of full turn control on the chargin targe.
I kinda gotta disagree with this entire premise, it is very common to lift your legs up when trying to jump on something higher than your starting position.
I don’t think a mantling system is a good drop-in replacement for crouch jumping. As you say, it simplifies the movement, meaning the player will no longer have the variety of “jump, without being able to land on higher surfaces” and “jump and be able to land on higher surfaces.” I think having that extra functionality is a benefit to purposeful player movement.
What other functionality could be tied to the crouch button that is mutually exclusive with crouch jumping? Like I get some games with more movement abilities would have double jumps and air dashes, but those movements are already pretty well accounted for with the jump button and sprint button.
That’s the thing, I was careful about my wording; “if their only intention is to step up to a higher object”. If I tell someone to get on top of a cement block, their impulse won’t be to do a parkour jump where they’re tucking their legs, they’ll likely use their hands to lift themselves up. They wouldn’t even think of their action as a “jump”. When people press the spacebar in a video game, the intent is clearly to get higher onto the thing in front of them, it’s just most games choose not to express the particular actions a human does to do that (much like how we dropped Tomb Raider’s approach of manually holding a button to grab onto ledges)
In DRG, the way they differentiate intention is with the direction you’re looking - you can only mantle onto platforms you’re looking towards. So, you wouldn’t get many occasions where you’re dodging sideways and accidentally get on a platform.
In DOOM Eternal, they got rid of crouch, and put the grenade launcher on there. G was changed to toggle between your two grenade types. In Deep Rock Galactic, Ctrl uses the player’s laser pointer, a tool for communicating to teammates that doesn’t really impact gameplay. Having a free keybind offers a number of ways to enhance or simplify the game; if they wanted to go for simple measures, it could be a context-sensitive VO button, like spotting out enemy players.