Two months on from the release of VR-centric “Half-Life: Alyx,” the first new entry in the “Half-Life” series since 2007, footage from an abandoned game set in the same universe has emerged.
Developer Arkane Studios was working on “Ravenholm,” a “Half-Life” spin-off years ago that never got off the ground and so was never released. Instead they went on to great success with the games “Dishonored” in 2012 and “Prey” in 2017.
Now a new documentary from Noclip details the studio’s history and offers a glimpse of the game in action. “System Shock “and “Thief: The Dark Project” designer Warren Spector and his Junction Point studio was working on a prototype for a new “Half-Life 2” episode and at some point, Valve gave the reins of the project over to Arkane.
The story would have seen “Half-Life: Opposing Force” protagonist Adrian Shephard and Half-Life 2’s Father Gregory return while players scored items such as a leafblower to double jump and new locations like a children’s hospital. Valve canceled the game ultimately though at least a year out from completion.
Even so, an alpha version of the game remains on one of Arkane’s in-house computers.
