After many days of rumors and conspiracy theories we finally have proof of a Steam winter ARG

I've been hearing rumors about about there being a super secret ARG (alternate reality game) that came along with the recent Steam Winter Sale but until today I though they were just the products of people digging far too deeply in to nothing.

As it turns out I'm the crazy one here because the folks over at Reddit not only discovered a hidden password prompt on Steam but they also found a couple of other interesting clues:

Entering the code from the Hitman comic page as an url returns a soundfile [edit: corrected the link here] that says:

"I was on the right track, I could feel it. Tomorrow, I was going to search again"

This most likely isn't related strictly to tomorrow given that the comic first appeared on the 24th but it is one of the first actual proofs that this whole ARG isn't a collective imagination gone wild. Right now people are trying to figure out from which game, if any, does the soundfile originate.

The biggest, but still the most enigmatic discovery, is the fact that if you go to the Steam website (this is important, it doesn't work on the client) and type in SEARCH in to the search field a hidden password prompt will appear. What exactly we need to put in to unlock it is as of yet unknown but there were some clues discovered.

For example, if you go to the Grim Fandango store page, type in SEARCH and then "Hot toddies and maseratis" in to the opened password prompt you will be led to the Undertale Store page. Besides Undertale being a bloody awesome game I can't even begin to imagine what the significance here is.

If you would like to join to join the wild speculation and hunt for clues then I'd suggest you either head to the subreddit linked above or this map which contains all known clues and rumors surrounding the ARG.

Just keep in mind that right now we know very little about this ARG so don't start putting up Half Life 3 posters just yet. That said, once more information shows up I'll make sure to update you.