Dishonored boss and Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio, now creative director at Weird West maker Wolfeye Studios, previously worked with Valve on a Half-Life 2 Ravenholm game before its abrupt cancellation. In a new interview, Colantonio reflects on his time with Valve and shares more about how that unfortunate project put him on a course for immersive sim history.

Speaking with Press Box PR, Colantonio describes the disappointment around Valve's decision to end Ravenholm's development. "It took us a decade to move on from the pain of the Ravenholm project because we were incredibly excited about doing that game and we put in a lot of creative energy into it and eventually when the decision was made to cut it, we did not understand it as it happened," he says.

With hindsight and experience, he suggests, it makes a lot more sense. "It all came down to the economics behind Half Life 2 and how the DLCs were selling," he continues. "They had a business ratio between how much they could spend and how they could make it to be worth it to them because it takes the attention of the entire structure on their side."

Valve had taken a stab at a Ravenholm game before contacting Colantonio and the crew, with internal and external teams failing to produce something that could be greenlit. "Like the two other attempts that they had looked at, we went somewhere with it, and it was cool. What we had was really, really cool," Colantonio says.

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