Half-Life 2: Episode Four - general thread

[Витой]

Half-Life 2: Episode Four aka Return the Ravenholm was to be an outsorced episode Valve gave to a different developer that was to be set in Ravenholm.

There was two iterations by two studios:

• From 2005 to 2006 it was developed by Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.
  
  Known facts:
  -It was to be set before the events of Half-Life 2
  -We would meet Father Grigori
  -During the first segment we would see Combine ground units trying to assault Ravenholm
  -There would be a weapon called Magnet Gun and they came up with interesting gameplay ideas for it
  -Known names of other characters are Mueller and Scooter
  -The gameplay was built around a new weapon - Magnet Gun
  -It would fire a sticky magnetic ball at a surface and anything made of metal would be forcefully attracted to it
  

You can download a map styleguide_ravenholm that is related to this version and has some links to a magnet gun and this episode's characters.
You can also read an interview with Warren Spector about this iteration in an article by PC Gamer

• From 2006 to 2007 or 2008 it was developed by Arkane Studios.
  We have some media from that versions in our gallery.
  
  Known facts:
  -It was to be set after Half-Life 2, during the events of HL2: Episode Two
  -It was more closely following the horror atmosphere of Ravenholm than JPS version
  -A playable build still exists inside Arkane studio
  -They had a build of Episode Four's previous iteration from JPS but from the looks of it they decided not to use their ideas.
  -Inside their team this project was called just "Ravenholm"
  -The protagonist was Lt. Shephard from Opposing Force (it seems G-Man gave him a nice promotion, from corporal all the way ti leutenant )
  -The main part of the game was to be inside an abandoned asylum, most likely somewhere not far from Ravenholm, and near the end of it in the town itself.
  -Father Grigori was making some experiments with Headcrab's toxins in hopes to find immunization from them and we were to assist him in this
  -Grigori was testing the cure's prototypes on animals and on himself. Later in the game he would get mutations that he would try to hide, e.g. under the hood.
  -In the end of the game he would become fully mutated and most likely would be some kind of final boss.
  -They planned to use Viktor Antonov's idea cut from HL2 - huge wind turbines that were built to generate electricity
  -Two of the new enemies were mutated monkeys that are scared of flashlight and zombies that could spit acid
  -Monkeys mutation was most likely to be a product of Grigori's experiments on them
  -Some of the new wepons were nailgun, some kind of plazma weapon and leaf blower
  -Nailgun could be used to solve puzzles with electricity by connecting the circuits with bolts с
  -Leaf blower could be used for rocket jumps
  -The ending wasn't revealed because according to the developers Valve still can somehow use it in their next games
  

Some other media:

Various Return to Ravenholm animations

One hour of Arkane's Return to Ravenholm gameplay captured by Noclip for his documentary:

This thread will be later updated with other details.

[Evan]

Some videos with some good info on episode 4

[Витой]

A trailer of Noclip's documentary came out:

Some interesting stuff from it:

-A new design of Father Grigori's model


-Some zombie-monkey-like creature

[Витой]

A new screenshot from Noclip's Twitter:

[ChristianJP]

Father Grigori fortnite edition

[Витой]

Another footage from Return to Ravenholm was posted by Noclip.

[whynotll83]

Is father grigori making a cure for the zombies?

[Sarah]

Is father grigori making a cure for the zombies?

No hes cooking them to eat

[Evan]

I really hope we get some more leaks of episode 4, IE(like the style guide map)
or at the very least noclip/arkaine give something

[EvilGeniusRo]

Sustenance!

[Витой]

BOOM! A new one.

[Keaton]

  these look awesome!

[half-gamer]

I found this photo:

[Витой]

I found this photo:

It has nothing to do with Episode 4/Return to Ravenholm or Half-Life.
It's from The Crossing.

[Витой]

The video is here!
Shitload of new information and gameplay and other media from the game!

All new renders screenshots and concept art from the video were added to Ep4 gallery on our website.

Here's a short list with some of the facts from this video:
-A playable build still exists inside Arkane studio
-They had a build of Episode Four's previous iteration from JPS but from the looks of it they decided not to use their ideas.
-Inside their team this project was called just "Ravenholm"
-The protagonist was Lt. Shephard from Opposing Force (it seems G-Man gave him a nice promotion, from corporal all the way ti leutenant )
-The main part of the game was to be insite an abandoned asylum, most likely somewhere not far from Ravenholm, and near the end of it in the town itself.
-Father Grigori was making some experiments with Headcrab's toxins in hopes to find immunization from them and we were to assist him in this
-Grigori was testing the cure's prototypes on animals and on himself. Later in the game he would get mutations that he would try to hide, e.g. under the hood.
-In the end of the game he would become fully mutated and most likely would be some kind of final boss.
-They planned to use Viktor Antonov's idea cut from HL2 - huge wind turbines that were built to generate electricity
-Two of the new enemies were mutated monkeys that are scared of flashlight and zombies that could spit acid
-Some of the new wepons were nailgun, some kind of plazma weapon and leaf blower
-Nailgun could be used to solve puzzles with electricity by connecting the circuits with bolts с
-Leaf blower could be used for rocket jumps
-The ending wasn't revealed because according to the developers Valve still can somehow use it in their next games