Ravenholm

"That's the old passage to Ravenholm. We don't go there anymore."

- Alyx Vance

Ravenholm is a former mining town and, later, a Resistance stronghold located in the Wasteland. It was inhabited by refugees who escaped from the Combine-controlled City 17 to join the Resistance, but is largely deserted and infested with Zombies when Gordon Freeman passes through.

Overview
The town of Ravenholm has small to medium sized houses which are mostly traditionally build, being made up of concrete and wood. The streets and houses look vaguely Eastern European, complying with the style of buildings seen throughout the game. Several high-rise apartment buildings that bear resemblance to Soviet-era apartment buildings can also be seen in some sections of the town, implying it housed more people than initially believed.

It would seem that Ravenholm remained "under the radar" for some time, but was eventually discovered by the Combine, which led to its destruction via a massive Headcrab Shell bombardment, causing the town to become completely overrun with Headcrabs and the Zombies they create when they couple with a human host. Later, Gordon Freeman is forced to escape through Ravenholm when the Combine raid the nearby Resistance base Black Mesa East, during the chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...".

While fighting off hordes of Zombies, Gordon meets the last known human occupant of Ravenholm, Father Grigori (although there may be other survivors since a female scream and other human sounds such as sobbing can be heard in the distance from time to time). Grigori provides some assistance and advice to Gordon, such as arming him with a shotgun, and eventually leading Gordon to the abandoned mine to escape the town.

Many areas of Ravenholm are littered with large saw-blades, propane cylinders, barrels of flammable material, and booby traps which have been contrived by Father Grigori. Due to the relative scarcity of ammunition in the area, Gordon must rely on the traps and Gravity Gun (with which he can fling blades and other projectiles) to destroy the zombies. The entire town is also littered with Human and Headcrab zombies that have been hanged, burned, sliced and suffered other horrific fates by Grigori's traps, though arguably less horrible than that of being a Headcrab zombie.

Being a former Resistance base, Ravenholm is linked to Black Mesa East via a tunnel, which was sealed shortly after the bombardment with a heavy gate, two barricades of crates, and guarded by stolen Sentry Guns to prevent zombies from reaching Black Mesa East. Alyx Vance points to the door out to Gordon Freeman during his tour of the lab, and explains (with a hint of fear in her voice; thus hinting that she either was there or heard about what had happened to all the people) where it leads and that it was "sealed for a reason".

Grigori's work in Ravenholm
As the only known survivor in Ravenholm, Father Grigori had set up many traps and structures, in order to dispose of zombies more efficiently. Ravenholm is also separated by wooden barricades; to separate the town into districts (so zombies can be found in a more organized manner). The traps are engineered so that zombies can randomly stumble into them but they can be easily circumvented by any normal humans.

Traps

 * Propellers are found all over the town. They are created from engines and long, makeshift blades that appear to be made of steel sheets. The engine rotates the machete, and uses it as a horizontal rotor. The blade is encircled waist high and any target passing by would be dismembered by the waist. Humans can easily avoid this trap by crawling or ducking. Headcrab zombies are unaware of the dangers and proceed. However, poison Headcrab zombies can decommission these.  At least one propeller trap's blade will detach when activated, and when picked up, will automatically position itself horizontally (much like the saw blades). It can then be thrown with the gravity gun; however, due to what may be a bug, accidental contact between the player and the blade, after it has been launched, may kill the player instantly.
 * Car Traps are created from rope, a pulley, a car and an engine. The car is tied in rope from a pulley to the engine. It is held in air by an extremely makeshift looking contraption, and a lever on the engine removes the pressure on the rope to drop the car (crushing anything beneath it), then the engine immediately pulls the car back up again.
 * Electric Fences simply shock zombie trespassers.(Only one of these are found in the level, and the player has to deactivate it to progress onwards.)
 * Propane Traps are attached to irrigation sprinklers that, when released, fill a small area with propane gas. The gas can be ignited with a gunshot or an electric spark (from the red switches stationed near the tanks) to create a large fire which will quickly incinerate any enemies in that area.

Behind the scenes



 * Before being the name "Ravenholm", the town has had several nicknames during the game development. They include "Quarry", "Quarrytown", "Traptown", "Phystown", "Zombie Town" and simply "Town".


 * At one point, Ravenholm was to feature both Combine Soldiers and Zombies, as seen in the E3 2003 demo, "Traptown". The way the player was introduced into Ravenholm was also different; the player was to discover the town at the end of the canals, above a lake filled with at least one Ichthyosaur, and enter the town through its docks. Eli's lab was to come after.


 * The E3 demo also shows that it was also possible to shoot any gun while using the HEV Suit's zoom function and that the player could discard weapons, indicating they could only carry a specified amount of firearms at a time. Also shown was the Overwatch Soldier's ability to break open doors when blocked by objects, which was removed in the retail version of Half-Life 2.


 * The earliest maps of the town have it filled only with traps an set before Eli's lab. Later versions place it after, thus being a playground for the newly acquired Gravity Gun.


 * The playable Beta also shows that the player was to use a vehicle called "Digger" to destroy a "Combine Big Momma Pod" to proceed through mines.


 * According to early concept art, the Combine Big Momma Pod was originally to be seen in a double hangar located around the building where Father Grigori is first seen in the retail game.


 * According to early concept art, the apartment building was to feature the corpse of a child on the ground floor.

Possible influences
The Sealed Section of the Old Quarter of Thief: The Dark Project, is a possible influence for the town of Ravenholm. A portion of the Old Quarter was walled off about 50 years prior to the first game, due to an outbreak of the undead. The undead spilled from a Haunted Cathedral, and began to infest the city until they were safely contained behind thick, high stone walls. At the time of The Dark Project, maps of the area were not very hard to find, and the people still tell stories about The Cataclysm, and no one dares enter the Sealed Section. When Garrett, the protagonist, visits this place, it is a desolate and lonely, covered with decades of dead leaves, decaying buildings, and populated by zombies, ghosts, and an infestation of beasts. Backing this theory up is the fact that Marc Laidlaw, the primary writer for the Half-Life series, has named Thief as his favorite PC game of all time.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar