For anyone still holding out hope that Half-Life 3 will ever be produced, new possible evidence has appeared, hinting that the game may actually be in active development, and it's hidden within the latest patch for Dota 2.

The text file is named hl3.txt, and seemingly references four separate features that will be included in the Half-Life 3 game (assuming that hl3.txt is indeed referring to Half-Life 3). These referenced features include a zipline, procedural spawning, VR movement, and NPC speech.

Of course, this information should not be taken as confirmation that Half-Life 3 is in development, but let's just assume that this text file does tease what people can expect from Half-Life 3. Procedural spawning, NPC speech, and the ability to use ziplines are not all that surprising, but the reference to virtual reality movement is very interesting.

Earlier this year, HTC once claimed that a Half-Life virtual reality game was in development, only to later retract those statements. A writer working at Valve has also denied the existence of VR Half-Life, but even so, we have a sneaking suspicion that Half-Life 3 (if real) will feature some VR support.

Gabe Newell himself said that Half-Life 3 would have to "move the franchise forward," and what better way to do that than by taking advantage of budding new VR technology? Even though Half-Life VR has been vehemently denied up to this point, the text file found in the Dota 2 patch makes it seem more likely than ever before that Half-Life 3 will incorporate some form of virtual reality.

Then again, the text file could be have absolutely nothing to do with Half-Life 3.  After all, this isn't the first time that Dota 2 has seemingly referenced Half-Life 3, only for nothing to ever come of it. The text file could be in reference to game features that are going to be incorporated into Dota 2 instead, as opposed to a reference to the gameplay of Half-Life 3.

Whatever the case may be, the fan demand for Half-Life 3 is so significant that any little piece of evidence is something to consider. While we likely won't hear anything definitive about Half-Life 3 until Valve is ready to talk about it, speculation will continue to rage until gamers can rest assured that the game is on its way. In the meantime, the ongoing saga of waiting for Half-Life 3 will continue.

Half-Life 3 has yet to be officially announced, but those that want to play Dota 2 can download the game for free on Steam.

Source: Game Informer