Brace Yourself: There Was a New Half-Life Episode 4 In Development

While everyone yearns for some sort of new Half-Life game (preferably part three, though a new episode in Half-Life 2 wouldn’t be turned away), it appears that, at one point in time, Arkane Studios (the makers of Dishonored) had one in the works, before eventually being scuttled in favor of other projects.

A site called ValveTime has posted a number of screenshots for the abandoned project, titled Half-Life 2: Episode 4, aka Return To Ravenholm, over on its site.  Though the images don’t tell much in the way of story, they are rather breathtaking to gaze upon, and also show off a new element in the gameplay, in the form of a new tool called “Absorption”.  Though it wasn’t detailed what it could be, it’s possible that it could change the way you play through the series.

Valve and Arkane worked on the project for some time, and even talked about certain aspects of it, but it was eventually cancelled, leading Arkane to work on that Dishonored game instead.  It was all for the better, I suppose, but you can’t help but wonder…what if?

One day the new Half-Life project that Valve is supposedly working on will be revealed.  In the meantime, well, we’ve got plenty to play…