Half-Life: Alyx is out now, and if you can afford a Vive VR headset or an Index, you should check it out at the very least. It’s free on Index, FYI.

In case you don’t, well, this post is for you. There’s probably one question plaguing your mind: will the bottom Twitter account be irrelevant?

No. Yes? I'm fucking done

— Is HL3 Out Yet? (@IsHL3OutYet) March 23, 2020

What does that even mean? Will there be a Half-Life 3 after the game? Spoilers below, in case the headline wasn’t clear enough.

Here you go (via VG 24/7).

While Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel, this ending suggests that there will be some ramifications in Half-Life 3. Provided Valve is even doing a sequel.

You spend Alyx playing in the role of Alyx Vance as she makes her way towards what they assume is a secret combine weapon. The combine, an alien race that took over Earth in seven short hours, have suspended it above the city in a structure of some kind.

As you close in on it, it becomes clear that this is no weapon – it’s a prison. They assume for Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of the original games who’s been in stasis for 20 years. When you reach it, you realise it’s for the G-Man, an interdimensional being who meddles in the lives of ordinary people to some mysterious end.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 made it clear that G-Man had been involved so that Alyx survived her childhood, which then led to this moment. In Episode 2, she delivered a subliminal message to her father Eli, planted in her by G-Man: “Prepare for unforeseen consequences”.

When Alyx frees G-Man, he makes her an offer for something she didn’t know she wanted. He shows her a vision of the future, where her father lies dead on the floor, and he gives her a chance to save him, changing the ending of Half-Life 2: Episode 2.

So what happens? Alyx gets taken by G-Man, using her as a new asset to complete his mysterious goal(s); basically a new Gordon Freeman at his disposal. Speaking of which, the post-credits scene reveals that after the events of Episode 2, Eli lives. And now you are in the perspective of Gordon Freeman. The both of them, along with Dog, are gearing up to find her, setting the stage for Half-Life 3.

Or not? Honestly, we don’t know. Talk about it here, or on our Facebook page!