A new video showing test footage from canceled Half-Life 2 spinoff game Return to Ravenholm hit the Internet today.
Arkane Studios (the makers of Dishonored) worked on the project sometime around 2006-2007 before Half-Life owner Valve shelved the project. Sometimes incorrectly referred to as Half-Life: Episode 4 (due to leaked resumes from former Arkane employees), Return to Ravenholm would have taken players to the dark, zombie-infested city nobody wants to go to from Half-Life 2. Much of the test footage involves a man — either a survivor or an infected zombie minus his headcrab — twitching freakishly and trying to break into a building, along with several stills of broken-down environments with the familiar Half-Life heads-up display.
We also get a brief scene of a headcrab playfully knocking around a human head. So cute!
Valve shelved the project in 2007. Arkane and Valve collaborated again on The Crossing, another steampunk shooter that also never made it to completion.
We’ve reached out to Valve for comment.