While some have given up on the idea that they will ever see Half-Life 3, others cling to hope that the game will one day materialize. Anyone still waiting for Half-Life 3 will want to think twice before getting their hopes up about anything announced today, however, as April Fools jokes about the game are bound to be around every corner. In fact, Valve itself seems to be getting in on the fun, creating a poster that promises a Half-Life 3 release party today.

The poster was spotted yesterday in the lobby of Valve's building by Reddit user liquidsys, who claims to work for a different company located in the same building as Valve. What's funny about the poster is that it doesn't have any specific dates, simply stating that the Half-Life 3 release party is "tomorrow," so it could technically be used any day of the year as a tool to taunt fans.

Besides teasing the release party for the game, the Half-Life 3 poster also includes the tagline "The Time Has Come" and features an upside-down Gordan Freeman in the top left corner. Overall, the poster isn't very elaborate, and it's possible that it was created by a singular Valve employee as a joke as opposed to an official April Fools prank from the company itself.

While it is just a joke, this April Fools poster is the closest we've gotten to anything from Valve about Half-Life 3 in years. Valve seems to have given up on the project entirely, and if unconfirmed insider reports from a few months ago are to be believed, Half-Life 3 has never made much progress at the studio at all.

But it's not all doom and gloom for the franchise. Gabe Newell is open to the possibility of a new game set in the Half-Life universe at least, and while it may not be a true Half-Life 3, it would be better than nothing. If such a game ever materializes, it could potentially offer some answers to resolve at least a few of the loose threads left by Half-Life 2 and its DLC episodes, which could be enough to satisfy fans at this point.

With each passing year, a new Half-Life universe game or a full-fledged Half-Life 3 release seems less likely. Eventually, these April Fools jokes about the game will fail to fool anyone, but for now, Valve's joke may have tricked some people that are still holding out hope for Half-Life 3, against all odds.

Half-Life 3 is not in active development.

Source: Reddit