In the panel video, fellow panelist and Valve sound designer David Feise can be seen mumbling a sarcastic “nice work” to Morasky after the HLX codename slips out of his mouth. Later, while the audience is clapping at the end of the Q&A session, Feise leans in to Morasky and appears to say, “Good job—you only said HLX once!”

When are they gonna get to the HLX factory?

An official utterance of the “HLX” shibboleth is of course a good sign for those looking for any sign of the franchise continuing beyond 2020’s Half-Life Alyx . But the question of when Valve will make its next Half-Life project official still looms large.

Remember, it was just under a year ago that journalist Mike Straw was adamant that Half-Life 3 would be a Steam Machine launch title .…