There are particular, nicely, certainties in life. Loss of life and taxes are two of them, whereas the truth that Half-Life 3 might be by no means coming is a becoming third. Regardless of a bevvy of occult rumours and whisperings, prayers and sacrifices to the periodic desk have by no means borne fruit. Silksong, for all its despair and mania, cannot even maintain a candle to the lengthy, 21-year previous flame that followers of Half-Life 2 have been holding for the sequel that by no means was.
However hark! What’s that cresting yonder hill, a cryptic tweet from G-Man’s official voice actor? Might or not it’s that the end-times are lastly upon us? Is the rapture lastly come? On the thirty first of December 2024, at 10:00PM—principally on the crack of the brand new yr—Mike Shapiro, voice of the beloved and cryptic G-Man, tweeted a slow-pan of the quilt artwork from his music single Greatest Lengthy Canine.
Tagged #Valve, #Half-Life, and #GMan, what actually has engines revving and copium machines flooded is what’s spoken inside, as Shapiro’s dulcet tones give strategy to the stilted supply of G-Man, his voice like cracking ice on an historical lake: “One other yr already. Good to see and listen to from so a lot of you. Could the subsequent quarter-century ship as many… surprising surprises, hm? As did the millennium’s first… Then once more, time is fluid. Like music. See you within the new yr.”
The sport’s fan subreddit is already in full conspiracy mode. One specific put up notes that the window featured within the Greatest Lengthy Canine cowl artwork has a trio of numbers—197, the one secure isotope for gold. In different phrases, the one model of gold with out a half-life. The precise size of the video, as sleuth loamiferous factors out, can be 197 seconds precisely. 197 days can be the size of time between Greatest Lengthy Canine’s launch on YouTube after Shapiro’s final music, Magnetic North, got here out.
I’m barely chipping the floor of the iceberg relating to the numerical alchemy occurring in the meanwhile (Shapiro additionally up to date the playlists for his three songs very just lately) however contemplating the exactness of the quantity 197 displaying up thrice, I am completely beginning to consider there’s some darkish sorcery occurring right here.
This additionally is not the primary time that Valve has teased a Half-Life recreation with ARG shenanigans. Actually, Half-Life 2 had an identical quantity of tomfoolery when a decrypted picture of a whiteboard led to a secret web site, main followers on a treasure hunt. If Valve does have one thing baking within the oven—Half-Life 3 or not—it would not shock me if it was working with Shapiro to place a brand new ARG collectively. Might this be the fabled Venture White Sands? Solely time will inform. Then once more, time is fluid. Like music. Or so slightly hen instructed me.
