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Half-Life 3 is the mythical unicorn of the gaming world .

It's been rumoured for years. Every so often a tiny scrap of information makes its way onto the web. And eager fans chew over it endlessly.

Developer Valve has kept gamers guessing since the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 back in 2007.

But a treasure trove of alleged information on the hugely-anticipated game has landed on the internet this week.

Posting on the document-sharing website Pastebin, one user claims to have insider knowledge of the upcoming title.

"Half-Life 2 Episode 3 has been cancelled. The project has turned into a full fledged title confirmed to be Half-Life 3. Half-Life 3 is the official title and has turned very well into a standalone game. Well sortof. It's complicated," wrote the unnamed user in a post titled simply "HL3 Legit S**t" .

(Image: Flickr)

The user doesn't reveal his or her name, or explain how they know the information, only that gamers will know it isn't false after reading it.

"The game is fabricated to be VERY reactive to player choice and decision making," the user writes.

"There are no forced cutscenes that break the pace of the game and put you to a stop. Instead you can still freely do as you please and fully interact with everything that goes on story wise and cinematically."

Physics puzzles are gone and are instead more of an optional sort of thing, but are generated for you based on your decisions."

"Story wise I know nothing at all. The G-Man has a larger presence than in all of the previous Half-Life games combined. I think you get to play as the G-Man or something similar to him with the bookkeeper system but it's beyond my knowledge. I also know nothing about the Red Herring ARG aside from the fact that it happened and upset a lot of you."

The author of the post explains the nature of the game world and goes on to allege that it won't be built with virtual reality (VR) in mind. However, they do say that VR will form a kind of add-on to the game that will enhance the experience.

Valve, the game studio behind the Half-Life franchise recently joined forces with smartphone manufacturer HTC to build the HTC VIVE VR headset . So, it seems unlikely that there won't be some element of VR in an upcoming Half-Life title.

The post author (known only as "Guest") ends with another teasing clue to fans that the sought-after game will be arriving sometime soon.

"The product may release this year, the biggest factor that I've heard is marketability. Not for Half-Life 3 to be a commercial (?) success, but for one that doesn't hurt others' sales.

"Of course, we might need to add more work to the product and engine. But I hope you understand why it has taken us so long. The radio silence was largely due to the fact that there is a very unsettling tension amongst staff when suddenly there is a realization that we have to change a lot after announcing or telling everybody we are going to do something and it is going to be amazing.

"But I assure all of you it will satisfy and deliver for any and all fans of interactive entertainment. Hang in there, it's coming sooner than you think."

The sheer amount of information contained in the post is more than many recent "leaks" surrounding the game. However, it is still unconfirmed and, as such, could be a gigantic red herring to fans of Gordon Freeman and his adventures.

Mirror Online has contacted Valve for a comment.