Fans Are Going Wild Over This Canceled Half-Life Footage
One of only 31 near-perfect games, "Half-Life 2" has never received a direct sequel. Valve did release the VR spin-off "Half Life: Alyx," which performed extremely well for the company. Earlier this year, fans also went wild over a leak indicating that another franchise entry could be in the works. Now an old canceled "Half-Life" game called "Ravenholm" has been partially unearthed along with an hour of gameplay.
Noclip, a video game documentary company that creates series showing the development of both released and unreleased titles, posted footage from "Ravenholm" on its YouTube channel. The "Half-Life 2" spin-off was developed by Arkane Studios, the developer behind "Dishonored," "Prey" (2017), and "Deathloop." In a tweet, Noclip stated, "As part of our game history preservation mission we present this gameplay showcase; an hour of unfiltered gameplay with breaks to provide context."
At the start of the video Noclip's Danny O'Dwyer explains that while working on a documentary about Arkane Studios, the group captured roughly one hour of footage of "Ravenholm," some of which was used in that initial presentation. Now Noclip has showcased the full footage free of commentary, though O'Dwyer occasionally steps in with valuable information designed to help viewers better understand what they are seeing. He also makes a few important points before the footage starts.
Ravenholm is unfinished, even if the gameplay looks close to done
Before getting fully into the uncut gameplay, O'Dwyer made it clear that the footage did not represent a completed product. The build he played was drawn from late in development as a way to show Valve the progress Arkane had made. It has placeholder pieces and isn't finished, so it's not something Arkane could put out for people to play themselves. O'Dwyer said that this ultimately was never meant to be seen by the public, so it's not polished in the way that some might expect.
Fans on Reddit were really excited to see the footage but understood that the video's release did not mean the game was going to be revived. "Arkane Studios making a [Half-Life] game? Set in Ravenholm? That has banger written all over it," one Reddit user wrote. Another fan pointed out that Valve is notorious for only releasing projects that meet its high standards, which could be the reason this title was canceled. While gamers will have to continue waiting for a new "Half-Life" entry, it's cool to see what could have been.