Hoping that this time Half-Life 3 could actually become a reality has become a hobby of sorts for many, albeit one that has so far been completely fruitless. Despite this, many still get excited when a new hint about HL3 leaks out.
The Enigmatic Half-Life X
You may have heard of Half-Life X, the supposed code name for what Valve is working on. Based on new hidden lines of code, there is reason to believe that HLX—which could very well be Half-Life 3—is already in the optimization stage.
A Grain of Salt
As always, take everything with a grain of salt. The latest Deadlock update, like recent updates for Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2, mentions HLX. That in itself isn’t all that big of a deal. Many Source 2 updates over the years have referenced HLX. What’s different this time around is the mention of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3, better known as FSR 3.
A Breakthrough Discovery
This was discovered by Half-Life and Valve researcher Stannis Loyalist, who shared a huge list of lines of code contained in the latest update to Valve’s shooter. Among them, one stands out: “r_hlx_fsr3_min_reactiveness”. FSR 3 can improve the game’s frame rate and overall visual quality. In some cases, it can be used to increase frame rates on less powerful hardware by creating new frames between existing ones.
The Late Development Stage
This kind of performance improvement often happens towards the end of a game’s development when everything else is in place and ready to be optimized. Stannis Loyalist claims that the latest mentions point to “late development,” and that he’s “confident that HLX will be announced this year.”
Pure Speculation or Reality?
Naturally, this is all pure speculation. But if HLX is Half-Life 3, and if the mention of FSR 3 means the game is using Super Resolution, and if Valve follows the typical game-making pipeline and implements technology like FSR 3 later in development, then yes, Half-Life 3 could arrive without warning.
Expanding the Universe
Fan Theories and Speculations: The Half-Life community has always been rife with theories and speculations. Some fans believe that HLX might introduce a new protagonist or expand on the existing universe in unexpected ways.
