Half-Life 3 re-re-re-confirmed: A Valve dev just said 'HLX' out loud

Get ready to start talking about Half-Life 3 again, folks, because it's that time of year: Winter is closing in, The Game Awards are coming, and somebody at Valve said "HLX." HLX, for those who haven't been following along, is a rumored codename for Half-Life 3, or Half-Life something, the near-mythical new Half-Life game that Valve may or may not be working on. It first came to light in early 2024, as part of a data string inside a Counter-Strike 2 update that bore a very strong resemblance to HLVR, Valve's codename for Half-Life: Alyx—a revelation that had PC Gamer…