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Apr 08, 2025

Half-Life 2: Ravenholm Was A Year Away From Launch, Says Dev

You don't need me to tell you that Half-Life is a series full of missed opportunities and broken dreams. For many, Half-Life 3 will always represent what could have been, but there are plenty of other

You don't need me to tell you that Half-Life is a series full of missed opportunities and broken dreams. For many, Half-Life 3 will always represent what could have been, but there are plenty of other cancelled projects to pine over, such as Hostile Takeover, an expansion for the first game, and Episode Three for Half-Life 2.

However, we have known for some time that Valve had plans beyond this, with another project, sometimes referred to as Episode Four or simply Ravenholm, also in development. This was being made by Arkane Studios as opposed to Valve, with the French team given free reign on how it approached the title. However, Valve cancelled the project late into development. In 2022, Noclip shared about an hour's worth of gameplay footage from Half-Life 2: Ravenholm, showing just how far it was into development when Valve pulled the plug.

If Half-Life ends with 3, it should be a call for more series to wrap it up.

Now, as spotted by GamesRadar+, Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio has shed some more light on Ravenholm. This comes from an interview with Quad Damage Podcast, giving us some more insight into the Half-Life installment that never was.

"We needed another year – at least six months," Colantonio explains, highlighting just how close it was to launch. However, he says that Valve just didn't want to commit to the project anymore: "That was not going to work for Valve in terms of the business model that they wanted to put together.

"Valve had a very clear business plan for those Episodes. You know, they were trying to make the Episode business work, and they could not internally because the costs were too high," he says. He adds that the game was "great, frankly" and believes that anyone at Valve who played it would agree.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. At the very least, the playable build still exists, as we saw in the Noclip video. Colantonio also says that new employees at Arkane would play the unreleased game as something of an initiation ritual, so it lives on in some form.

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I will never not be salty about Half-life 2 episode 3. Valve can keep selling me games on Steam but I won't buy any of thier titles anymore.

lol that'll teach them a lesson! /s

guess you won't touch hl3 when it comes out in the next year or so then. you're the one who will be missing out. but let's face it, you will get it and all this internet bravado is for show

Why would anyone work on a 4th episode even the 3rd episode was already cancelled?

Half-Life 2 Episode Four?

We never got Half-Life 2 Episode Three...

Project Harmony, a cancelled Retro Studios game, has leaked online.

If you're planning to trade in your Switch to put some money towards a Switch 2, you might want to reconsider if you like Pokemon.

I can’t know how to hear any more about discourse.

Which side of the debate are you on?

Sometimes you can't contain greatness on just one CD.

Breath of the Wild’s Switch 2 port doesn’t change too much, but a fresh coat of paint on an all-timer has me excited to sink another 100 hours.