Hey Richter! I wonder what is this channel for and why did you upload this video here as well? Very curious. Nonetheless, great video, great memories, the BEST level.
Honestly the "annoying unskippable gravity gun tutorial" was so hype when the game first came out, nothing had done physics like half life 2 before, it was so novel and fun.
The gravity gun in HL2 was a revelation AND a revolution in gameplay. After that game, everything had physics SOMETHING in it. HL2 stands the test of time even more given that the gravity gun put physics in the player's hand directly, not as a cool new environmental trick you couldn't really touch.
So that means the zombie is the only character to actually swear? Edit:sorry guys i don't play the other games i only have half life and half life 2 + i only play them for fun and i lost interest because i'm interested in something else
There is no way father Grigori died. He built several machines to crush/maim zombies. He has lived all alone fighting off the undead. I know he survived it.
Ya I don't know that it was possible for him to die in that level. He had to stay alive to hit all the programming triggers for you to move forward. Pastor Grigori is dead! Long live Grigori!
If you noclip past the fence he's hiding behind, once the fires break out and he stops laughing, you can see him run into a small passage between the rocks and despawn. Take that for what you wish.
Ravenholm is like one of those cut levels you read about that would have been really cool… except it isn’t cut, it’s actually there and you can play it, and it actually is really cool!
I love it, my favorite level in HL2. Its so cool that it sort of "removes" you from the main game but in an awesome way, where you get a break from the combine just to go through this super creepy area at night and get help from a mysterious badass character, only for him to stay behind and NEVER make another appearance in the game, as if he's oblivious to the fact that the earth has been conquered by the combine lol
One of these moments you really love back when you first play them. You take in every little bit, you think back to them with nostalgia. But if you play again you know all the stuff and just want to skip them to move on.
@@HappyBeezerStudios I feel that way about Black Mesa East or any part where I have to follow NPCs. I've never wanted to skip the end of Ravenholm though. I've played so many times I don't even die anymore.
My favorite part of this level has got to be the execution of the fast zombie. It's like getting hunted by actual packs of animals. The screeches, seeing them jump over buildings, climbing the rainpipes, and their general animation.
As for Father Grigori's fate: Either he lived, and Gordon's jaunt through Ravenholm was just another Tuesday night for him, or he finally went down in a blaze of glory, as he likely always wanted. Either option, is equally badass.
It catches you off guard. The game doesn't sell itself as a horror game, so when a chapter like this appears out of nowhere, it's a welcome surprise. This chapter also allows you to really dig into the ins and outs of the gravity gun. It's especially genius that they hand the gravity gun to you, just before entering a place filled with nothing but zombies, saw blades and exploding barrels. You get to have fun with this new tool, without all the getting shot at by enemies. Speaking of which. The physics engine that Valve developed for Half-Life 2 was especially unique and made for the gravity gun to thrive in. There was nothing like it at the time.
I loved Ravenholm, but I will always have a soft spot for Episode 1's "Lowlife." Going through the underground highway tunnels and sewers with nothing but your flashlight to light the way. Only hints existing of the chaos above you. The darkness and ambience. Peak Half-Life horror imo.
Agreed. I played the chapter few months back in HL2: VR, and its ten times scarier than the regular version. Fast zombies always spooked me out the most, and its definitely enhanced when they are literally coming at your face. Reloading the shotgun however always felt fun in VR.
@@ayitsalex2893 True lol. But in VR its mayhem at times. That one time in Ravenholm you're on a rooftop with fast zombies keep on climbing drain pipes while you try to reload the shotgun always felt like a hard task for me. I was having difficulties not to fall off in non VR HL2 but in VR its ten times harder.
This chapter is probably etched into people's minds more as well because this level is literally the HL2 demo, so is most people's first (and in some cases only) experience of HL2.
Yeah that's what's so surreal about Ravenholm to me. The first time I played HL2 was on my cousin's PC, but I only played a very small amount. When I got my first gaming PC, HL2's demo was like the first thing I grabbed, and it freaked me out how this flagrant horror game was nothing like the game I had played at my Cousin's. I still remember the first time I walked through that doorway and a fast zombie jumped at me from the streets. I promptly shut the game off and didn't touch it again until the next day.
Another section of the game that always stood out to me in terms of isolation and unspoken horror was parts of Highway 17. As a kid, finding the burned corpses outside of an empty houses near the water with no combine or people in sight was a really odd feeling. They felt believable enough that people might have tried to hide there for a while, trying to live a somewhat normal life until someone got to them.
it took me almost 2 weeks to finish ravenholm because i was absolutely terrified. the screams, the zombies, the cool but crazy guy, everything literally scared me
Welcome to the salty spitoon, @@vonwolfe1310 how tuff are ya? The guy didn't mention at what age he played the game, not everyone played HL2 when they were already more scared of an empty wallet than the monsters under the bed, I was 10 at the time and I had to mute the game and play Tony Hawk songs on winamp so that I don't have to hear the fast zombies climb the metal pipes which made me lose my shit back then, and I'm sure you didn't have balls of steel either in 2004, or you're much younger and you don't realize that we weren't so desensitized to horror back then because the world wasn't as horrible as it is today and the artists could still get us sometimes
Grigori is like that project zomboid player which played for so long that he started to halucinate and when he see's a real person he thinks its just another illusion
I was 8 or 9 when my brothers introduced me to the valve world, and the game I liked the most was Half-Life 2. I remember spending about 2 weeks to "beat" this chapter, there were moments when I spent like 3 hours in just one room because I was too terrified to even glimpse at the outside. What an absolutely amazing and unique experience is to play this game, an atemporal piece of art.
That's adorable but also totally legit. An old friend of mine stopped playing completely when they got to Ravenholm. Of course I accepted when they came out as trans, but abandoning HL2? I don't think I can forgive them for that. Dumb jokes aside, I totally agree. While Tetris might be the best game ever made, HL2 has to be the best gaming experience ever made.
What makes Ravenholm so surprising is it comes at you out of nowhere. You start HL2 in City 17 & think "okay, this the game, this city is all there is" then you're out of the city & thrust into Ravenholm & the game goes from an FPS to a horror survival. It's something I haven't seen in most other games, how you go from one genre into another.
I thought the Triage at Dawn part was Gordon taking in how much the humans were suffering (first he gets through ravenholm and sees all the horrific stuff there, and then right when he gets out he has to watch one more person die and the people who knew him being upset) and he gets even more motivated to help the rebels after seeing the extent of whats at stake. Since the song is kind of sad but slightly triumphant
I played through this chapter yesterday for like...the 10th time, and it didnt get boring, i love this chapter a lot. Genuinely horrifying and i still feel dread every time i walk on its streets. Also i always make a save before the first appearance of the fast zombie so i can throw a circular saw at him on the roof lmao. Its an instinctual thing like throwing the metrocops in the head with stuff.
I'm still scared, to this day of the black spider sound when he's about to jump... No other horror left such a scar on me. And it's not even a horror game. And a zombie with these black spiders on his back is my literal nightmare.
Loved the Raveholm level. I remember replaying this level over and over again to test the, then groundbreaking, physics elements and overall atmosphere.
First time when i played this level i managed to get to the fast zombies, and turned this game off. It took me a few years to get the courage to finish this level. This level was so unexpected and it came out of nowhere.
!!! Really? I guess that's a testament to how different each person's experience is. I hated the fast zombies mostly because their crazed leaps were really hard to predict to get a full-brunt shot of a weapon on them. They're absolutely the most creepy of the zombies, and the ones I "fear" most and wanted to be as far away from as possible, but they didn't terrify me in the way you describe. I think I had more of that sort of reaction to the Striders, primarily because I get creeped out most when I have to run away trying to hide from a huge-ish thing while taking massive damage.
@@SurelyYewJest it was mainly their screams that creeped me out, i even couldn't play l4d1 with sound, but nowadays i'm pretty disensitized to such stuff.
Dont forget "we dont go to Ravenholm" was playable in the demo. I remember being a kid and playing it over and over again on the old family PC because my family REFUSED to buy PC games. For people that played demos back then it was one of the first levels they played other than the beginning area where you get off the train into City 17.
6:43 I’m still laughing 10 minutes later from this goofy ass skit I’m sure you threw together in like five minutes, but holy Christ is your delivery of the mock Gregori so goddamn good
you should make a sequel! I really loved your take on most of it, and I understand there really isn't much more to say, but the way you produced your content was a lot cleaner than fan based documentaries. If not Ravenholm than something else. I hope to see more of your works as you develope your channel!
Requim for Ravenholm is one of my favorite songs in the Half-Life 2 soundtrack, and my favorite (or most memorable really) was Ravenholm. I was on my Xbox (yes, playing Half-Life on the Xbox in the 2020's. I got it on my 360 because I didn't haver a computer) and I remembering taking days to finish it because me in my smartest moment decided to do the Zombie Chopper achievement on my first playthrough. It's funny, I actually find Ravenholm easier using only the Gravity Gun. Anyway, Ravenholm is easily a favorite for me because it just is set apart from the rest of the game in it's tone. I love it, it's perfect. I was actually NERVOUS to play through it when I played the VR mod because I remember it being so creepy. It's just a perfect chapter, I love it.
Always felt getting out of the mine after Ravenholm was such a relief. Out of the mine, it's just daybreak, sunny, on that abandoned train rail, plus the music starting with the high pitches notes on a piano.
When i was in ravenholm at the end, father gregory just stood near the barrels and didnt make them explode, i dont know if i was sad about him still suffering mentally or being happy that he is alive
“We don’t go to ravenholm” was so FRICKING scary the first time I played it and when I went for the achievement “beat ravenholm using only the gravity gun” I-i I can’t even describe it because I did it about a month or 2 after my first play through and THE FAST HEADCRAB ZOMBIES JUMP SCARE YOU AND ON THE FINAL ROOF SECTION I LOST MY SAW SO I HAD TO DODGE THE FAST ZOMBIES AND I FELL DOWN SO IM ON 40HP! AND BARELY MAKE IT ONTO THE LIFT WITH ONLY LESS THAN 10 HP LEFT!!! I think my heart is permanently out of beat…
I used to think that father Grigori worked with the combine and outed ravenholm for some kinda reward or something like that, but the combine just made a false promise so they could try to find black mesa east, and because of the betrayal he feels super guilty and that's why he helps Gordon escape through ravenholm. After helping Gordon he then goes and pays for his sins of helping the combine and thats why sorta he "set himself on fire" as an apology to the lives of the innocent civilians.
Half Life lore will never get boring no matter how many times I've played the game or heard it before.... never stop mate... Half Life is the greatest game series ever...
I remember my buddy got HL2 before me, and I remember him saying "You're going to love Ravenholm" but he wouldn't elaborate on why. He intentionally didn't spoil anything for me. I was so hyped when I realized that's where I was in my playthrough. And the level did not disappoint. I'm glad he didn't ruin the surprise for me because it made it all the more memorable.
I literally had forgotten all about Ravenholm until this video. I played hl2 during my parent's divorce so I guess it got lumped in with the trauma in the back of my mind.
@@MementoMurrayConsidering the Ravenholm spinoff was being developed way before L4D released,I hope it's vice versa. it would be cool if the spinoff lived on as cool ideas for future games, both are valve related afterall so, maybe it's possible.
I love how the beginning of the level shows you how to use the gravity gun in combat against the zombies without telling it to you directly by showing some dialogue but just visual details from the scenario. Half-Life have so good ways of showing you gameplay stuff without breaking your immersion.
the idea of a new kind if infection in Return To Ravenholm raises a lot of questions, like who is it infecting? Isn't everyone there besides grigori already dead or a zombie? it'd be silly if its survivors of the raid on black Mesa east, they know not to go there!
yeah i found the idea of zombies without headcrabs silly and even hurtful to wider lore, while i love the ideas in the rest of the game im glad this idea never came about
@@jeroid123 Yeah, removing the parasite component that made Half-Life's zombies so unique just so they could recycle Left 4 Dead's fast zombies (which, themselves, were following the trend of generic fast zombies) was a terrible idea.
I remember very well how traumatized this town was for me. But I also remember how great it was since it showed many things in a small package : 1- How the combine might have waged war on humanity before the surrender, 2- How the combine did put out any sizable or spining out of control resistance, 3- How the people outside might have all perished or lives a very precarious existence, 4- Why nobody, not even the mighty combine, goes out of town for any serious amount of time except hit and runs or chase, 5- How the aftermath of any sorts, even a combine defeat isn't the end of hell for humanity. The ecosystem basically collapsed (showed by the lack of oceanic life, if I remember correctly, there's a myriad of little flesheaters and nothing else), everything that's still out there is some sort of predator. And let's not forget that there might even be some kind of combine remnant to be put out of business before they reorganize or morth into something else (like the Imperial Remnant factions in Star Wars).
I found the idea of zombies without headcrabs silly and even hurtful to wider lore, while i love the ideas in the rest of the game I'm glad this idea never came about
yeah, idk what's wrong with using the fast headcrab zombie when they function pretty much the same, or even just an inbetween variant of a fast and a normal one would've worked better than headcrab-less zombie
tbf the other Adrian Shepard spinoff sometimes used wild lore that didn't fit in too well with the rest of the canon and was never used again (race x). Although, it turned out very fun. So that's why I think Arcane studios were just feeling open minded and encouraged to use their own lore to make a unique and fun experience.
Man half life 2 is a masterpiece especially when you pay attention and just see how many things there are other than just shoot bad guys. I mean my favorite part in the whole game has to be when you finally made it out of the mines just to realize that the world outside is still shit. And particle ghost playing in the backround made the entire scene even better.
There was a mission in Opposing Forces that i just can not get over. I remember it had those massive fat monsters in a dark tunnel area. To this day I have not found the courage to replay the game.
I remember as a kid, I reached Ravenholm and I was "nope, nope nopperino!" I was so creeped out, my bro stepped in, and played through that section for me, so I could continue playing through the game (I was 8)
I played Doom 3 in the dark on Halloween. That is nothing compared to Ravenholm, why? The screaming, you have only a gravity gun, and very little ammunition, the zombies come out of all corners in numbers, you have to use traps and devices to have any chance of making it. It is so memorable because you have to use the traps, the devices, the gravity gun and it's really dark. They did a great job illuminating it only by firelight, and you feel safer and can see more with the more zombies you burn.
I really don’t like the zombies without head crabs or the fact that father Grigori gets infected and has to be killed in the cancelled return to Ravenholm. Though I really do like seeing Grigori again, the new weapons, and the return of Adrian Shepherd.
i agree on return to ravenholm but the only point that i disagree about are the puzzles, i feel like the puzzles are what made it feel the most like a half life game more like 1 then 2
God.. this video is one of the few rare peaces of free media, that is genuenly funny without sacraficing any itegrity or production quality. Fuckkin amazing job! (Gmod gregory was my favourite bit)
Funny thing that happened to me once I reached this chapter: I'd been playing for the better part of an hour and once I got there I began pushing through as normal, a little creeped out by the atmosphere but whatever, it was clear as day and I could react fast enough to whatever could possible cause a jumpscare. After reaching the church, I decided to take a break and complete the chapter later that day. When I came back sometime later and loaded up the last save, I came to realize the map was in nighttime, then after googling for a bit (color me shocked) THE WHOLE THING IS SUPPOSED TO BE IN NIGHTTIME. So a graphical glitch basically saved me from those jumpscares lol. 10/10
1:34 Okay. Let me get this. I played through the ENTIRE WHOLE GOD DAMN GAME with headphones on AT ALMOST FULL VOLUME. AND THAT DIDNT GIVE ME NIGHTMARES. Oh and i forgot to say. THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME PLAYING. A GOD DAMN BLIND PLAYTHROUGH AND I DIDNT GET NIGHTMARES hm.. Maybe i am brave afterall.
I got my hopes up thinking this video was talking about hl1. ^^ ravenholm was an interesting and memorable section of the game. To me though, it completely lacked the feeling of science and discovery, which hl1 has provided. Hl2 was good but with my affection for black Mesa and hl1, I felt empty and a little untouched after finishing hl2. It was a good game, it just wasn't the proper successor to half life IMHO
Ravenholm does its best to establish a mood. You enter it and immediately greeted with a pair of pants (and legs, without human torso attached to them) hanging from a rope. It's like the plaque on the gates of hell, "surrender as you enter every hope you have."
The way Gregori is animated in the Arkane Ravenholm game is extremely reminiscent on how they animate characters in Dishonored. Must've been the same animator.
I like to think Father Grigori still lives. He's too mad to simply die at the hands of zombies he knows well. Besides, someone has to watch over the flock of Ravenholm.
Ok but the idea of going back to ravenholm for a 3 side free for all between the combine soldiers, the headcrab zombies, and freeman, grigori and the other NPCs is sick and i wish we got the original idea for the return to ravenholm game
Arkane's Grigori design always seemed a bit too modern for me, sure it's more practical, but i personally think that his original design fits more with the world since it somewhat resembles the clothing that the civilians wear.
Grigori isn't strictly a civilian. He's a Father and in fact you can see the black and white priest collar in his HL2 model. The Arkane model is the same but he isn't wearing a jumper and jacket over the priest garb, and has a glove which fits his tinkerer side.
@@chocofrolik834 i'm aware he's a priest, but combine are known for disposing of people's personal items like clothes, enforcing the idea of: "You only have what the combine gives you"
@@crusaderthestranger5982 Ravenholm was never under Combine control. It was a refugee rebel town before the shelling. It's likely he's never been to a Combine controlled area at all.
@@chocofrolik834 But the refugees were from city 17 were they not? I doubt Grigori was an original resident due to the fact that he would have had no reason to stay.
@@crusaderthestranger5982 it's made fairly clear in the game that Grigori is an original resident (he has a church there...) and he stayed because he's a pious (and mad) man who wants to cleanse the town of the demonic Headcrabs. 'A shephard must tend to his flock, especially when they have become... unruly'
@@ASlickNamedPimpback Шта си јеботе управо рекао за мене, говно једно? Да ли знате да сам дипломирао као најбољи у својој класи у морнаричким фокама, и био сам укључен у бројне тајне рације на Ал-Куаеду, и имам преко 300 потврђених убистава. Обучен сам за ратовање горила и најбољи сам снајпериста у читавим америчким оружаним снагама. Ти си ми ништа друго него само још једна мета. Обрисаћу те јебено са прецизношћу каква никада раније није била виђена на овој Земљи, забележи моје јебене речи. Мислиш да можеш да ми кажеш та срања преко интернета? Размисли поново, јеботе. Док разговарамо, контактирам своју тајну мрежу шпијуна широм САД и ваша ИП адреса се тренутно прати тако да се боље припремите за олују, црви. Олуја која брише патетичну ситницу коју називате својим животом. Ти си јебено мртав, мали. Могу да будем било где, било када, и могу да те убијем на више од седам стотина начина, и то само голим рукама. Не само да сам опсежно обучен у ненаоружаној борби, већ имам приступ читавом арсеналу маринаца Сједињених Држава и користићу га у пуној мери да обришем твоје бедно дупе с лица континента, говно једно. Да си само могао да знаш какву несвету одмазду ће твој мали паметни коментар донети на тебе, можда би држао језик за зубима. Али ниси могао, ниси, и сада плаћаш цену, проклети идиоте. Посраћу бес по теби и ти ћеш се удавити у њему. Ти си јебено мртав, мали.
