Half-Life 3 poster spotted in Gamescom 2016, sequel to be launched in 2018 for 20th anniversary?

Half-Life 3 might be near as an alleged poster of the game appears during the Gamescom 2016 amidst the rumors and speculations that it will be launched during its 20^th anniversary in 2018.

Valve has not yet announced the third installment in their successful Half-Life game which stopped at Half-Life 2 Episode 2. Players and fans are still anticipating its launch especially now in the era of next-gen graphics and virtual reality with their co-developed HTC Vive VR headset.

Unfortunately, there has been no concrete evidence about Half-Life 3 confirmed. There is a Half-Life 3 poster spotted at Gamescom 2016 in Cologne but it was just a troll poster from GIGA Games and Spieletipps, Eurogamer has learned.

The whole poster, which is colored orange, just shows "Half-Life: 3 editors who played it back then." Some users applaud the trolling tactic while others are angry because it was a cheap strategy to gain some publicity.

Some A++ trolling going on at the entrance to Gamescom this year. pic.twitter.com/yXBOZAaPBJ

— Aoife Wilson (@AoifeLockhart) August 16, 2016

Half-Life 3 is supposed to continue the story of Gordon Freeman's battle with the extra-terrestrial elements and Combine which still threatens the city. The very last Half-Life 2 episode ends with a cliffhanger that is not yet resolved.

Other Half-Life 3 leaks and rumors speculate that the game will be released by Valve in 2018 for its 20^th anniversary, Gamenguide reported. It follows the recent news that the company is moving into a new larger office in order to accommodate more manpower to work on their upcoming games.

Valve did not mention or disclose which games were being developed but most are expecting that it will be Half-Life 3 or Left 4 Dead 3 which has seen more evidence compared to the former. The company does not deny or confirm whether the games are in development which could add weight to theories that they are already close to finishing them.

Half-Life 3 could also be the first video game to showcase Valve's new Source engine considering that it has been several years before there was a huge technical leap on their end. NVIDIA and AMD's new video cards can already handle their current engine with no problems and 2018 could finally be the year for the Half-Life 3 release date.