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It's emerged that the Half-Life series was going to go into other directions, with a Ravenholm spin-off that was planned and you can see some footage.

Noclip, a creator of documentaries has done a new feature-length video on the history of the game studio Arkane, who are known for titles like Arx Fatalis, Dishonored and more. As it turns out they were also involved in what was internally known as Ravenholm. It was originally worked on by Junction Point Studios, who later handed it to Arkane Studios, who were hired by Valve to start a Half-Life project.

Ravenholm was never formally announced and eventually cancelled. However, bits of it did leak a few times which according to the documentary is part of the cause of some Half-Life 3 / new episode speculation but they said it was never being considered as a normal episode in the series but as a standalone game.

You can see the full video below, the Ravenholm bit starts at about 33:00.

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Sadly, we may never ever get to play it but it's a very fun look at some history behind the scenes. Perhaps something one day can come from it, since Arkane still have it working in their offices. The nail gun that allows you to play with electricity was a very cool idea. I won't spoil any more, watch it.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: FPS, Valve, Video
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7 comments

Linas May 27, 2020
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Aww... man. When I saw the "was" in the title instead of "is". Ravenholm was one of my favourite levels.
MayeulC May 27, 2020
Pretty cool documentary. Came for Ravenholm, stayed for the rest :)

Heads up, French readers: interviews are partially in French ;)
And in my city as well ^_^

From YT comments:
hey Noclip, you need a 00:00 timestamp so youtube automatically creates sections on the timeline based on the timestamps! It's a new feature that is super useful. You also need to have the timestamps in the description

Pretty cool youtube feature, I didn't know about it!
Nasra May 27, 2020
Pretty cool documentary. Came for Ravenholm, stayed for the rest :)

Heads up, French readers: interviews are partially in French ;)
And in my city as well ^_^

From YT comments:
hey Noclip, you need a 00:00 timestamp so youtube automatically creates sections on the timeline based on the timestamps! It's a new feature that is super useful. You also need to have the timestamps in the description

Pretty cool youtube feature, I didn't know about it!

Yep, a great city as well ;) Glad to see another French Lyon compatible here ^^


Last edited by Nasra on 27 May 2020 at 4:32 pm UTC
whizse May 27, 2020
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Awww, a Ravenholm game...

For of all sad words of game or screen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'
Mountain Man May 27, 2020
There is so much potential for expanding the Half-Life universe, but Valve has been inexplicably reluctant to capitalize on it.
AciD May 29, 2020
Well, when everybody is waiting for you, I can understand why never releasing a game might be better PR-wise than releasing a game that most users would find 'meh', due to the hype and long wait..
Lanz May 29, 2020
They should release it as a free demo as-is.
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