Once upon a time, Arkane Studios had plans to release a Half-Life spin-off game called ‘Ravenholm’ but unfortunately, it got canceled. Well, it turns out that video game documentary producers Noclip has now released an hour’s worth of footage of the canceled game which you can watch below.
Arkane Studios are probably best known for the Dishonoured series, but they were also the brains behind the first-person shooter Half-Life series. It was reported that the studio had been given assurances for a spin-off game and that creative reigns were well and truly in their hands; the story, the setting, and all the characters had been discussed before the plug was eventually pulled on Ravenholm.
This game footage was gathered as part of a wider documentary aiming to explore the history of the studio and was never meant for public release. As you can see from the footage, the gameplay showcase is interspersed with critical context and additional details about the game provided by Sebastien Mitton, art director at Arkane’s Lyon branch.
Danny O’Dwyer, a team member of Noclip, spoke about the footage in this video, “The build you’re about to see had been put together nears the end of development to try and show Valve the progress the team at Arkane had made.” He went on to add, “But it’s important to understand that everything you’re about to see is from an incomplete game, meaning that a lot of stuff is going to be missing and even much of the content that’s there is either an early pass or a placeholder.” It’s obvious from watching the footage that it was nowhere near complete, but that being said, it still looks like a fun game.
Since the game was canceled, Arkane Studios have been hard at work, and in March 2020 they released Half-Life Alyx which came 13 years after their last title in the series. The game was exclusively for PC-based VR hardware, and if you had the required equipment to play this game, then you would know that it was a stellar game in the series and a must for VR gamers.
