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 exciti♛ng emerg🐎ent gameplay.
While accompanied by Half-Life 2's most prolific trap-master Father Gregory, the player wo🎐uld have been able to set an🌟d 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 docume🌄ntary does not share t🥂he exact reason why the game was never completed, but Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio chalks it up to a business decision.
Watch the entire for꧙ more on the h🐎istory of one of the more fascinating game studios out there.