A longtime Valve composer casually named the rumored Half-Life 3 project during a sound panel, a slip fans treated as the first on-stage mention of the secret codename.
Kotaku reported that Valve composer Mike Morasky mentioned “HLX” on October 21 while answering a question about Source 2’s sound system at GameSoundCon.
Morasky sat on a developer panel with Valve sound designers David Feise and Carlye Nyte. The talk covered how sound and music work inside Source 2, Valve’s game engine.
While describing the engine’s flexible audio tools, Morasky tied separate projects to their own technical setups.
He said:
"And in fact, I think Deadlock has their own version of HDR. You know, HLX has its own version, so on and so forth."
Right after the remark, Feise is reported to have whispered, “Nice work.”
HLX is not the title of any game Valve has officially announced, teased, or hinted at. Kotaku notes the company has given the public nothing on it.
Fans still treat HLX as the internal codename for a next mainline Half-Life entry, the long-awaited Half-Life 3. That belief comes from years of datamining other Valve games, not from a corporate reveal.
Longtime Valve reporter Tyler McVicker spotted the panel moment. In 2025, McVicker reported that HLX was already playable from start to end. The October slip put that earlier claim back in circulation.
Morasky has official credit on Half-Life: Alyx from 2020. The same report says he has previously mentioned working on more than one Half-Life game. Even so, Valve has never confirmed what HLX is.
Reddit users in r/HalfLife flagged the audio almost immediately. A post from u/AstroHusky05 framed it as Morasky directly naming HLX in the prior day’s Q&A.
That is the whole public record from the room: one sentence about HDR variants, a colleague’s dry aside, and a fan base that has waited more than a decade for a straight answer.
Eyes now turn toward the Game Awards later this year. Writers and fans alike will watch for any trailer. Valve still owes the industry a clear word. It has not given one.
Secretive shops can run on silence for years. Paying customers still deserve a straight name, a real date, and a product that ships, not another shrug from the stage.
