'Half-Life 2' Rumors: Cancelled 'Ravenholm' Episode Emerges Years After In Documentary

For those who have played "Half-Life 2," some may remember that alleged "Ravenholm" episode that never came out. This was an episode that was worked on from 2006 to 2007 with Arkane Studios overlooking it. They were the same group behind "The Source" and "The Crossing." The episode was quite huge that Arkane considered it more of a spin-off than an episode. Either way, it hardly mattered since "Ravenholm" was never released.

A gist of what should have been on "Half-Life 2" has been detailed on sites. It is the story of a player who takes on the role of Adrian Shephard from "Half-Life: Opposing Force" and awakens in Ravenholm. Here, he meets Father Grigori at an old children's hospital who takes care of him. Grigori also tries to help Shephard out of Ravenholm against a different breed of zombies. At some point, it turns out Grigori was infected but tries to hold it off to help Shephard escape. At the end of it all, Grigori would mutate into a zombie with Shephard forced to fight him.

Now, folks who want to catch a glimpse of that in the video can do so courtesy of Noclip. They released an interesting documentary on Twitter, something that brought back memories for Raphael Colantonio, the founder of Arkane Studios. The reason why the episode never came out on "Half-Life 2" remains a mystery. Colantonio answered that, saying that he thinks it was a business decision. Arkane and Valve tried to make it work but things just did not fall into place.

"The thing you've seen was really cool. But to finish it, to bring it to completion, we'd still probably have to spend another year, and maybe at least the same amount of money, or a little bit less. But then you look at how much it is now that it costs, and when it ships it doesn't make so much sense anymore," Colantonio said.

The documentary brings back good memories of "Half-Life," a game that continues to have its share of followers. Right now, "Half-Life: Alyx" is the center of attraction. Valve has been enjoying the game's success, particularly in the VR niche. Just recently, Valve upped the stakes, daring modders to be creative and even providing them with modding tools. Could there be a place for Ravenholm somewhere on "Half-Life: Alyx?" For now, that is a big question mark if not unlikely.