

Valve decided to cancel the project with roughly a year left in development, not seeing a future for episodic releases in the Half-Life universe. It seemed like a match made in heaven, but, alas, Half-Life: Ravenholm was not to be. The game would've combined the survival horror vibes of Half-Life 2's iconic Ravenholm level with Arkane's puzzle-solving gameplay and unconventional mechanics. The crazed preacher also would have dabbleded with consuming headcrab meat, which would have turned him into a hideous mutant, leading to conflict. He was planned more as a mad scientist in Ravenhom, inventing gameplay aides for Shephard that would allow him to double jump and more.

Shepard would have teamed up with Father Grigori from Half-Life 2, whose arc and characterization would have been greatly expanded compared to his debut. Half-Life: Ravenholm would have placed players in the combat boots of Adrian Shephard, the hero of Gearbox Software's expansion to the original game, Half-Life: Opposing Force. Thanks to NoClip's documentary, Half-Life fans and Arkane devotees can both catch a glimpse of what Return to Ravenholm would have entailed. Originally intended to be the fourth episode released by Valve in the wake of 2004's hit FPS Half-Life 2, the title was cancelled with a year of development to go. One such title is Half-Life: Ravenholm, also known as Return to Ravenholm or Half-Life 2: Episode 4. The feature-length NoClip documentary delves deep into the diverse history of the storied company, from their successful releases to their financial disappointments, and even cancelled games that never saw the light of day. Recently, the Lyon, France-based developer was profiled by NoClip, the popular Patreon-funded video game documentary series hosted by gaming journalism legend Danny O'Dwyer. Arkane's games, and other emergent sims like Deus Ex, usually blend stealth with combat and deep storytelling, frequently invoking player choice as a key pillar of their structure.

Their titles are traditionally played from a first person perspective and frequently involve shooting, but to call Prey or Dishonored "first person shooters" would be reductive. In the realm of atypical first person games, few studios are as beloved as Arkane. Arkane Studios, renowned developer of emergent sims like Dishonored, was working on a stand-alone Half-Life spin-off game before publisher Valve cancelled the project.
