I don’t know why would it have this mythical status. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Half-Life 1 and loved its remake Black Mesa even more because of how they transformed Xen into something actually likable to a point Xen was almost favorite part for me. Half-Life 2, while it was great game by any metric. What do people expect from it to be “something more”? For me System Shock 2 and Deus Ex from years prior are significantly more advanced and more immersive games. I could almost say the same for Bioshock which was inspired by those two. It’s only that much they can do to the game to still be Half-Life while elevating it to something “more”. Like, if they keep it just a shooter like it was, many might complain it’s too basic and if they add too many complex things to it like inventory, skills and leveling, it might not be Half-Life anymore as us old folks know and remember it. So, what to do? I have no doubts it’ll be an interesting experience either way, but people need to ground their expectations because of the above reasons.

Valve can surprise or even shock me with something new, a ground breaking innovation, but I really have no expectations.