TimeSplitters fans will no doubt still be mourning the closure of Free Radical Designs at the end of 2023, news that stunned the entire Retro Gaming community. Still, while the community has breath, it won’t be time for the series to split just yet, with the team behind TimeSplitters Rewind making a recent progress update about their ongoing multiplayer-mayhem project.
Since 2013, TimeSplitters Rewind has been in the works as a fan-recreation title that champions the multiplayer modes from all three TimeSplitters games. Understandably, a lot of us had thought that the project had gone dark; the last update we received from the team was a year ago. But as the developers are all volunteers doing this out of their love for TimeSplitters, that goes a long way to explaining why.
A Long Awaited Development, But Not The News We Were Hoping For
In the video posted on YouTube, lead writer Jake Parr puts out a ‘we need you’ style message that Uncle Sam would be proud of. He explains that the project needs character illustrators and animators, landscape illustrators, people to wipe out bugs, technical designers, and anyone else willing to help get this project over the line.
The gaming industry hasn’t been kind to studios and devs as of late, and this candid discussion explains that Rewind has had to go onto the back burner for some developers while they put out fires in other areas. It’s meant that the team has come across some difficult hurdles, but they remain hopeful that, with a bigger workforce of like-minded individuals, they can make Rewind a reality.
The future isn’t being kind to the TimeSplitters franchise, which as a game where time travel plays such a key role in the character’s storylines is incredibly annoying. If we could just Rewind and head back to 2021 when Free Radical Design was reformed and help them along the way a little, then we might have managed to get a new game out into the world rather than saying goodbye to such an influential studio.
As Jake says in the latest TimeSplitter Rewind update, this project would be a chance to get something great on a CV for any potential illustrators, animators, or anyone wanting to get into the gaming industry, and I think that it would be a great mission to help get a series created by a British gaming institution back into the limelight once again.
If you have any skills mentioned in the video above or know someone who does, then get in touch with the Timesplitters Rewind team on Discord.
