Half-Life 2's Ravenholm is still one of gaming's scariest levels, fans agree

Half-Life 2 is an iconic game, and famously, not a horror title. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not home to one of the spookiest in-game locations of all time.

If you’ve ever played Valve's 2004 FPS before, I’m sure you’ll immediately know that I’m talking about Ravenholm. Players set foot into the zombie-infested ghost town in the sixth chapter of the game, and the creepy atmosphere combined with the lack of ammo found there makes for a very tense section. Gamers on Reddit think it’s still one of the scariest parts of any video game, almost two decades on.

Take a look at the trailer for the VR game, Half-Life: Alyx, below.

“When I was younger, I couldn't complete Half-Life 2 because I was terrified of the map Ravenholm,” Reddit user Zakrath admitted. “What games did you not complete because you were afraid?”

Understandably, others have had very similar experiences: “Haha me too, bud. I took ‘We don’t go to Ravenholm’ very seriously. I was stuck in the second clearing for two days cos I was out of ammo and had no idea where to go,” Drewthezombiekiller replied. “I’m 26 years old and playing through HL and HL2 for the first time since I was a kid. I got to the Ravenholm level last night and quit out because it was too late and I was home alone,” tarheel343 wrote. “I feel you. My first time through Ravenholm I managed to stick it out until the first fast zombie. That scream and jumping at me made me shut down the game. Didn't play HL2 again for six months,” Horbigast added.

All things considered, it’s very reasonable that any kid would be scared of venturing through Ravenholm. I, on the other hand, was terrified of Rayman 2: The Great Escape’s antagonist Admiral Razorbeard because he looked so spiky, which makes significantly less sense. I’m still not an enormous fan of scary games to this day, so that tracks.