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Depending on who you ask, Half-Life 3's announcement at the Game Awards may as well have been prophesied by the stars. The recent news of Steam hardware and an uptick in activity at the…pizza places near Valve's headquarters seemed to all but guarantee that a dazzling reveal was imminent. Of course, no such announcement was made–how often do Valve really play by anyone's rules or expectations but its own–and now r/halflife is burning.
Just days ago, members of the subreddit, which is home to many longtime fans and theorycrafters, were seemingly in the throes of celebration. As "leaks" and seemingly insurmountable evidence of the long-rumoured sequel continued to build up, it became nearly impossible for some community members to contain themselves. Matters were only made worse by the production of The Game Awards itself, which many began interpreting as a hotbed of Half-Life easter eggs.
Take for example, the fact that the trippy trailer for what we'd soon discover was Control Resonant featured the line, "Rise and shine." While you and I may read this as a particularly normal idiom and part of everyday life, the Half-Life community knows the phrase as one of the most famous lines of the series' most enigmatic character, G-Man.
There were other, smaller details too that seemed to set fans off. At one point, a young woman with the surname Freeman took the stage to share her experience attending summer camps with the advocacy group Girls Make Games. Given her name, a certain subset of viewers was all but sure her inclusion in the show was a thinly veiled reference to Gordon Freeman, Half-Life's famous crowbar-wielding protagonist.
A couple of folks swore they even saw the Half-Life logo (the lambda) hidden in the Game Awards trademark symbol onstage. If you actually look at it, it isn't hard to see how one could think it's an easter egg hidden in plain sight. For all any of us know, it very well could be, and Geoff and his crew could be playing an exceptionally long game here.
Then there's, of course, the pizza-shaped hole at the heart of this conspiracy. Late in the evening during The Game Awards, a couple of particularly investigative fans started noticing increased activity. Activity of what sort, you might ask? Were Valve employees, who are famously not online, beginning to post? Was something strange occurring on Steam? Was something registered on the back end that could be traced back to Half-Life?
No. Instead, what these fans found was that there was an apparent uptick in traffic and activity at two local pizza joints in Bellevue, Washington, where Valve is headquartered. Meaning that they believed there was likely a large number of employees at the studio waiting to push the proverbial button on an announcement and celebrate. That or lock in for a shadowdrop, likely. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
As one fan succinctly captured it, "'Rise and Shine' in one of the game's promotion .'Wake up' in one of the game's promotion. 33 IN Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (THAT'S 2 FUCKING 3). The game was MEANT TO BE THERE." You can't make this stuff up, folks.
As we all now know, nothing happened though. According to some in r/halflife, nothing ever happens. The Game Awards came and went with many new game announcements, as well as a near-complete sweep for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but no Half-Life 3 to be found. In turn, the Half-Life 3 doubtful have now taken to mocking and generally prodding those fans whose hope caused them to fly a little too close to the sun by handing out "fell for it again" awards. That and making fun of the actual run of show for The Game Awards.
It's really worth poking around in there. The Half-Life fandom is quite used to not getting what they want, which seems to have hardened them and turned them into quite the jokesters. Don't worry, guys. One day, it'll be your day again.
