Ravenholm: The Lost Chapter - Half-Life 2

This was well worth the download. I had more fun playing through this than I had playing through Ravenholm in HL2. It is far from pitch black, but it still managed to give me the creeps. There are some neat scripts included, and the custom dialogue isn’t that bad either.
There are a few puzzles here and there, which didn’t seem to break the flow of the game, but rather add to the experience. A tad short, but very entertaining.

Recommended.

i enjoyed it

Downloaded from two seperate sites and followed instructions and still couldn’t get it to be recognized as being present. Too bad, sometimes happens.

Ravenholm was not my favorite part of HL2, but this was excellent. Once again, too short.

This level is a great example of how NOT to make a good half-life 2 level.

I only played through the entire thing , to find a redeeming quality .. without luck.

You start in a small room without weapons and no explanation of how you got there except a poorly done movie you you being beaten.

This room connects to another room, which for no apearent reason is on fire and has explosive barrels in it. It also has a well (a room with a well ?) which is also on fire (WTF?) .. the only door out is boarded up , from the INSIDE!?
I guess whoever boarded it up just teleported out or something.

Ofcourse you can’t exit through the door since you have no weapon .. but wait - It’s a PUZZLE!
The solution is to pick up an explosive barrel and throw it into to fire. It will blow up and the sprinkler system will activate and put out the fire ( except the fire in the well ).
Why the sprinkler system didn’t activate when the room was on fire I don’t know .. apearently this special sprinklersystem didn’t think that putting out fires was important enough until things started to explode.

Now with the fire out you can see a crowbar which was hidden by fire and you can use this to get out of the room.

The level goes downhill from there.

Watch in horror : cramped leveldesign , extremely weird and unlogical puzzles, enemies appearing out of nowhere as you pick stuff up or open a door, inconsistencies with reality (unbreakable , yet thin glass , sawblades stick in brick and glass) longwinded boring monologues from NPC’s that you can’t skip always resulting in the death of the NPC soon after.

The level fails to give the player a sense of purpose or completion and you often wonder what you’re supposed to do or were you should go.

In short .. Ravenholm LC is a terrible level. Don’t play it , it’s a waste of time and bandwidth.

Having played the last few moments this evening, I thought I should add to my above comment that the final section did lack purpose. It felt tacked on as an afterthought. All in all, though, a pleasant distraction.

Ok, I liked the level overall. Found it entertaining, and would probably recommend it to most anyone who liked HL2.

But what is the deal with the big gravestone and the four stone slots? I believe I did what the puzzle looked like it called for, but does it *actually* do anything?

I think CeeJay.dk made some very good points. The things he referred to are things I tend to notice as well. Typically, when I see things like a room boarded up from the inside (as just one example), I think “contrived”. That’s the exact word I use, because it fits.

Things like a never-ending, mysterious fire that fails to trigger the sprinkler system make no sense. It wouldn’t ever happen in the real world, and when I encounter things like that in a game, I am reminded that I am in a game.

And the intro–can it even be called an intro?–You get smashed in the head. Then you wake up…in a strange room. Again, CeeJay.dk makes valid points.

There is no need to lash out at CeeJay.dk for his comments. Everyone has their own tastes and values. I don’t demand realistic, but I very much dislike contrived. There is a difference, and I’ve had too much wine tonight to elaborate.

Right now, I am stuck in a small cemetery. I see no way out whatsoever, and I’ve been looking for, oh, I don’t know–15 minutes or so. Oh how fun! I love being stuck! Puzzle! Puzzle! Puzzle!

You find yourself in Ravenholm, unsure how you got there but you need to get the hell out. Nobody Leaves Ravenholm.

If the Ravenholm chapters from the original HL2 game are high on your ratings list, then you will not be disappointed with this offering. It’s a good new rendering of some similar gameplay to the original story but with its own script and layout.

As you can imagine this is a zombie feast of a mod with all forms of both zombies and headcrabs bent on making you their next meal. You will be up against them throughout the game often attacking in mixed packs.

There are a few Combine but they play a minor role within the preceding being normally relegated to guarding the odd key point around security terminals. With just Gregory and the odd rebel turning up to offer a helping hand, the mod is limited to just the cast of the original HL2 Ravenholm chapters.

There is not a lot to be said about the set design and textures with the layout mostly consisting of connecting rooms containing plenty of incidental items and debris, interspersed with a few open courtyards and a graveyard for good measure. Generally speaking the sets are good and adequate without being outstanding.

There are a few puzzle sequences with a fairly obvious graveyard routine to figure out, plus at least one complex sequence of events which involves finding and operating levers to enable further progress.

I found the mod challenging on normal level with a need to take care of both ammo and health, neither of which is plentifully throughout the whole encounter. Ammo levels were a particular problem with so many attacking zombies it’s easy to get carried away with the use of the shotgun. You will need to make good use of both the crowbar and the rotary saw blades to live through some of the mass attacks but that’s enough give aways.

The mod did not build up too much in the way of eerie or scary “in your face” moments, although a few howler pack encounters will have you jumping and backing off to rethink tactics. However, overall there is a good balance of gameplay considering the limited scope of the mod in terms of environments and cast used.

The voiceovers were admirably performed being very professional in both the quality of the sound and acting. This is not always the case with custom mods so it’s nice when it comes out well and rightly deserves praise.

Not much in the way of running into problems, although it is possible to get physically struck in a few places but no doubt that’s due to me ending up where I shouldn’t be. I do like to wander and squeeze into all nooks and crannies often noclipping into non-playing areas.

Negative Points:
- Limited use of HL2 cast
- Not much of a story
- Similar set design throughout

Positive Points:
- Puzzle sequences
- Good balance of gameplay within the limited scope of the mod
- Good fun if you like zombies

Conclusion:
Not always being overjoyed with zombie packed games, I found this mod entertaining with a nice balance between zombie bashing, puzzle solving and the odd encounter with others as you progress through Ravenholm.

Just keep in mind - Nobody Leaves Ravenholm. Go see if you can.

My Recommendation:

Good one. Nice action -not overdone like alot of these. The enemies are not too hard to take out and the maps have enough light to play without killing my eyes. I liked the other Ravenholm mod better though because of it’s tough puzzles. If you have tried it, you know what I mean. This one was alot less work but alot of fun-