Valve games are fondly remembered by most in the gaming community, particularly by older players who were there from the start. Titles such as Half-Life, Team Fortress, Portal, and Left 4 Dead, as well as their sequels, have been hugely successful IPs for the Washington studio. With word that some fans have gotten Valve's blessing to remaster Half Life-2, as well as the success of Black Mesa, now is a good time for other people to come along and rework some of Valve's other classics.
A group of modders have recently begun to remaster the 2007 visually stylish FPS title Team Fortress 2. The first development blog was posted just a few days ago, and states that they've begun rebuilding the bases, improving the assets of the original, and basically taking on the huge task of completely redoing this beloved shooter. The post even has a couple of videos and images showing the work-in-progress so far.
What's interesting about this remake is the team is using the Source 2 engine which was released and made free to developers back in 2015. For some context, it is the engine that was used to make Half-Life: Alyx, as well as Dota 2. It's rather fitting that the team, which is calling itself Amper Software, is using an engine that was made, and used, by Valve itself. It would have been tempting to go for something like the Unreal Engine or even Unity, but the fact that Source 2 is being used for the TF2 remake shows that the developers are looking to keep things close to the original in terms of look and style, while also giving it a much-needed modern look.
Despite being fourteen years old at this point, it's still a popular game among the community. Last year, Team Fortress 2 broke its Steam concurrent player record when it reached 151,253 players. It shows that a decade and a half later, it's still a huge part of the community and the project that Amper Software is undertaking could be what the series needs to keep it going for a few more years.
What makes the game so revered, among many things, is its artistic style, which gives it a highly stylized look. It's also a game which is known for its sense of humor. Take the players who took on a group of TF2 bots using just a conga line, and won. It's unsure when the remake will be coming out, but it seems as though the project is a long way from completion before fans will get to see the finished product.
Team Fortress 2Â is available now on PC.
Source: TF: Source 2