New gameplay footage of the canceled Half-Life Ravenholm game has been revealed by Noclip, giving us insight into a Half-Life game we never got to play.
Back in 2020, documentary company NoClip debuted a video that delved into the history of Arkane Studios. One of the many subjects touched on by that video was the company's canceled Half-Life Ravenholm game, a new adventure that would have further explored the backstory of Father Grigori. Now, it has released a video just over an hour in length that shows us actual gameplay from a prototype build interspersed with developer commentary.
An Extended Look at Half-Life Ravenholm Gameplay
The Half-Life Ravenholm video opens with Noclip highlighting an important point: all of this footage is from a pre-release build. That means you're going to see placeholder voice lines, missing textures, and unfinished models throughout the video. That said, it does give you a good idea of what the game could have been like.
The first chapter opens with Father Grigori making an anti-headcrab serum and cooking headcrabs for breakfast. His sanctuary is shortly invaded by what was presumably meant to be headcrab zombies, forcing you to fight them off and escape from the basement. The player and Father Grigori successfully make their way outside.
The second chapter -- titled "Electrical Play" -- introduces the new electricity mechanic that would have been a major feature of the game. The player propagates electricity throughout the level using a nailgun and other metal objects in order to progress through a building. We then move into Chapter 3 ("Swarming") which features further exploration of this building.
Chapter Four is called "Pitch Black" and briefly takes the player back outside before heading back indoors in darkened buildings filled with deadly new enemies that are somewhat akin to Metro 2033's Librarians -- bulky headcrab zombies that move astonishingly fast and like to escape through vents. The video concludes with an unnumbered, unnamed chapter showing a fight within an office.
Context on each chapter is provided by Noclip's Danny O'Dwyer, detailing some interesting facts about each section of the game that isn't immediately evident from the gameplay.
"Game preservation is a huge part of Noclip's mission," O'Dwyer explained in the conclusion of the video. "And, you know, personally, as a Half-Life fan, I know it meant so much to be able to sit down and play this game. It's like, absolute bucket list-style stuff. And I know that there are people out there who are more passionate about Half-Life than I am, so getting this footage out there, I know, means a lot to them and it means a lot to me."
Sadly, the actual Half-Life Ravenholm game is unlikely to ever be finished -- Noclip's video is probably the best chance we'll ever get to experience it. You can support Noclip's mission to make interesting video game documentaries on Patreon.