Return To Ravenholm

"That's the old passage to Ravenholm. We don't go there anymore." In Return To Ravenholm, Hitchiker explores the darkest corner of Valve's Half-Life 2, taking us on a tour of a modern masterpiece of survival horror.

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That was a wonderfully written and enjoyable read.

But... Resident Evil 4? Saying System Shock and Resident Evil 4 are scary is like saying your most terrifying movies are "The Ring" and "Ace Ventura". I'm right there with you on System Shock, but RE4 was a rich source of frantic, absurd comedy.

Was it... SUPPOSED to be frightening? From the moment Officer Emo wandered into the village looking for the President's Daughter, the whole thing felt like it was making fun of the people who liked the first three games.

(Okay, that chainsaw guy was a little alarming but the rest was a gigglefest.)

Ahh its alive! Kill it!

i think i soiled myself the first time through ravenholm. The day after i finally finished it i was walking to class and caught a slight glimpse of a torn black bag hanging on a fence, and in my delirious state, the first thought in my mind was "POISON HEADCRAB!" and nearly soiled myself once more. needless to say i was rather embarrassed, but stayed quite unnerved the rest of the day.

I love the music as soon as you step out of that ominous death trap of a cave into the train station. That slow dramatic piano that plays like you just survived a John Carpenter movie and just when you're soaking in the moment you find one of your friends from Ravenholm barreling it's sinewy self towards you with full intent to scratch your face off followed by frantically taking cover behind a baggage cart as bullets fly over your head.

Valve really knows how to pace.

Ravenholm for me wasn't as frightening for me as it was unsettling and uncomfortable. though it was a bit frightening at times, By the time you've roasted a zombie and while it limps around yelling ,brained the turd with an engine, it loses some scariness. I think The ammount of hype I'd heard about the fast zombie's scariness ruinned it for me after I'd dispacthed the first one by breaking a board on its headwith great ease. The final stand off against the Fast zombies was a little less climactic because i'd noticed the two drain pipes were the only access and each bounced from side to side when a zombie was on it. thus I was able to kill almost all of them before they even reached the roof.

It still made me jump a bit.

Excellent read...makes me remember all those things I love so much about HL2...

I think I'd have to go back and play through Ravenholm right now, if I wasn't at work.

You know, looking back, Ravenholm was one of the scariest levels of any FPS I've ever played through, and this is coming from someone seriously jaded towards the genre. Every saw blade, zombie trap or health pack was like a gift from God, and I'd breath a sigh of relief every time I got the chance to get above the zombie's reach...only to get jumped by a leaper two seconds later.

In fact, when I first got out of the shed and took a look at Ravenholm, I literally said aloud, "Oh screw this, I'll take my chances with the Combine"

I never found Ravenholm that scary, I find it the most enjoyable part of the game because it keeps you on your toes but at the same time it allows you to torture the zombies, I don't condone torture but it can be seen from the level design that it was intended. A section spings to mind where a zombie was locked in a cage, it couldn't be let out and the only thing that could be done was to turn on the gas and set it on fire.

I only wish that the original Ravenhom was kept that was in the pre-release videos and the leaked alpha/beta, which was longer and had a lot more traps in it.

Out of curiosity why has a column from 2 years ago been ressurected, I don't have an issue because it brought back memories but I just found it weird.

the_tramp:
I never found Ravenholm that scary, I find it the most enjoyable part of the game because it keeps you on your toes but at the same time it allows you to torture the zombies, I don't condone torture but it can be seen from the level design that it was intended. A section spings to mind where a zombie was locked in a cage, it couldn't be let out and the only thing that could be done was to turn on the gas and set it on fire.

I only wish that the original Ravenhom was kept that was in the pre-release videos and the leaked alpha/beta, which was longer and had a lot more traps in it.

Out of curiosity why has a column from 2 years ago been ressurected, I don't have an issue because it brought back memories but I just found it weird.

Aye.
And the first time I heard the sound of the Fast Zombies, I remembered their existence from something I read and said to myself aloud "-No way."

never mind actual zombies, the battered ravenholm sign i triped over was enough to put me off, that and some bloke following me about with an 80's synthesizer did it for me...

lets name all the GOOD games that blend action fps with all out pant wetting horror..not many