Team Fortress 2 Fans Are Making A Whole New Version Of The Game

In recent times, members of the Team Fortress 2 community have found themselves not exactly in love with the popular shooter’s current direction. If that sounds like you, this fan overhaul of the entire game might be just what you’re looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfmg22t8bzg

Video summary courtesy of Valve News Network

Team Fortress 2 Classic might sound like a project born of weariness, but its goals reek of pie-in-the-goddamn-stars optimism. The ambition here really is quite something. Here’s what the mod’s all about:

“Have you ever felt uncertain about the direction TF2 is heading in? Or perhaps been disappointed that Valve hasn’t given this game the attention it deserves? Never fret, your worries have been assuaged – our team has begun work on a community-driven edition of Team Fortress 2… using the 2008 leaked Source Code. This mod aims to bring not only scrapped features back, but also add in new, never before seen features.”

The aforementioned “never before seen features” are focused on toning down TF2‘s less coherent elements (and hats and robots and pee jars) in favor of gameplay-focused additions like:

New weapons! Use “m” to view your loadout and change your weapons!

— New weapons include:

—- Scout: Nailgun (Primary), SMG (Secondary)

—- Soldier: RPG (Primary, higher jump height, knocks back enemies)

—- Demoman: Cyclops (Primary, single shot Grenade Launcher with increase explosion radius)

—- Heavy: Lead Pipe (Melee)

—- Medic: Shotgun (Primary), Overhealer (Secondary)

—- Sniper: Fish Whacker (Melee, our take on the scrapped Club), Poacher’s Pride (custom primary)

—- Spy: Tranquilizer Gun (Primary, slows enemies down for a short time)

4 teams! Welcome the GRN and YLW team!

Max player limit increased to 128

Deathmatch mode! (soon)

New Mercenary class! (soon)

New Civilian class!

Four teams? 128 players? Deathmatch? New classes? Madness. Impressive madness, but madness all the same. Want to give the work-in-progress version a try? You can grab the install files here. Be warned, though: it’s still pretty early.

If you’re hungering for substantial changes to TF2‘s tried-and-true formula, this certainly sounds like an option. It almost strikes me as an alternate dimension envisioning of TF2, a “what if” scenario in which the game started in roughly the same place but diverged in a direction focused less on hats and over-the-top modes and more on refining a rock-solid core. And, er, you know, potentially turning every match into a rainbow confetti clusterfuck of catastrophic proportions. On that front, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out. Could be good, could be a screaming, blood-and-fish-goo-spattered mess.

Sticking with the alternate dimension motif, though, I hope all the characters have evil goatees. Except Pyro. I only want Pyro’s flamethrower to have an evil goatee.

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