Well folks, it’s time to fire up the Half-Life 3 hype engines yet again. Half-Life 2 writer and Portal series co-creator Erik Wolpaw left Valve in early 2017 to work on Psychonauts 2, a move most saw as further evidence Valve was no longer interested in making the kind of story-driven games they were once known for. Well, it seems Wolpaw has returned to the company.

Eagle-eyed Redditor Trenchman noticed Wolpaw’s name in the credits of Valve’s recently-released CCG Artifact, but, of course, that could have just been him doing a bit of freelance work or something. Our Redditor decided to contact Lord Gabe Newell himself for clarification, and he succinctly confirmed Wolpaw’s return to the company. Valve News Network has verified the email is legit.

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I’m trying to confirm the legitimacy of this email, however according to it, Erik Wolpaw is back at Valve. The co-writer of the Half Life episodes, Portal and Portal 2. pic.twitter.com/Jy1WSIw3ZS

— Tyler McVicker (@ValveNewsNetwor) January 4, 2019

The sender of the email confirming the return of Erik Wolpaw to Valve has given me the specfics to prove it’s legitimacy. He is back, holy shit. @Wolpaw

— Tyler McVicker (@ValveNewsNetwor) January 4, 2019

So, does this mean Half-Life 3 is being announced this year? Weeeelll, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That said, it does seem like Valve is easing back into the game-making thing. Newell has said as much, Valve recently purchased Firewatch developer Campo Santo, and, of course, they just released Artifact, so things are happening. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say we’re getting Portal 3 before Half-Life 3. Wolpaw’s Portal 2 co-writer Jay Pinkerton has also returned to Valve, and a new Portal would be a nice safe step towards maybe doing some bigger things.

What do you think might be cooking behind the scenes at Valve? What would you like to see them make?