Youtube game documentary channel Noclip premiered a new film on the history of Arkane Studios yesterday which revealed the existence of a canceled Half-Life 2 spin-off.
Prior to the documentary’s release, very few people were even aware that the game existed. Titled Ravenholm, the game featured Half-Life: Opposing Forces protagonist Adrian Shephard as the player character and would reintroduce Half-Life 2’s most popular character, Father Gregory.
As a precursor to Arkane’s immersive-sim games Dishonored and PREY, Ravenholm took the setting and gameplay of Half-Life 2 and layered in a series of interesting weapons and mechanics that would lead to exciting emergent gameplay.
While accompanied by Half-Life 2’s most prolific trap-master Father Gregory, the player would have been able to set and activated traps in a variety of physics-based ways. For example, the player could fire nails out that could be used to chain electricity across a gap and activated a spinning blade.
Despite Arkane’s enthusiasm for the game and a significant amount of work, Ravenholm was eventually canceled by Valve. The documentary does not share the exact reason why the game was never completed, but Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio chalks it up to a business decision.
Watch the entire Noclip Arkane Studios documentary for more on the history of one of the more fascinating game studios out there.
