Arkane is one of a few developers that has been able to get its hands on Half-Life, but unfortunately it never led to a new game. The Dishonored studio worked with Valve on Half-Life 2: Episode 4, which would have returned to the haunting streets of Ravenholm. It looks like Arkane's going to be spilling the beans on the project in next week's Noclip documentary.
In the Untold History of Arkane Studios trailer, you can see a few clips of the Source Engine FPS and the rundown, zombie-infested town. They look like regular zombies, too, rather than victims of headcrabs, making the whole thing a bit more evocative of Left 4 Dead.
As well as killing a few zombies with their pistol, the unknown protagonist also solves a quick puzzle and uses the environment to take out a group of running cadavers. It's all pretty Arkane, but also not at all out of place in Half-Life.
The Noclip Twitter account also posted a gif of another encounter with a zombie, this time stumped by a closed door. He gets there in the end. Sort of.
(5/7) pic.twitter.com/dCDRD3x71yMay 21, 2020
Everything about the sequence is great, but the highlight is the exaggerated tumble the zombie takes after getting punched in the face.
Arkane isn't the only studio that took a crack at going back to Ravenholm. In 2005, Junction Point, a studio founded by Warren Spector, started to develop a Half-Life episode that would have at least visited the classic location. A few years ago, images cropped up that showed off its wintry version of Ravenholm.
While Valve has finally resurrected the series with Half-Life: Alyx, there's still no word on the fate of the rest of the Half-Life 2 episodes or Half-Life 3. It seems more likely than ever that Gordon will be making his return, but Valve's notoriously tight-lipped about its plans for the physicist-turned-hero.
