Thanks to a dedicated group of fans, the iconic arena shooter Unreal Tournament 2004 has been revived, and best of all, it’s now completely free and has even received developer Epic Games’ full blessing.
Widely known as the franchise responsible for popularising the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, Unreal Tournament debuted in 1999 and consists of seven titles, with the most recent being 2007’s Unreal Tournament 3. The franchise was known for its exhibition of the namesake Unreal Engine that powers the games, one that is used widely in game development today.
Unreal Tournament 2004 marked the third entry in the franchise and introduced drivable vehicles alongside a 32-player Onslaught mode, with the title being widely praised by critics and players alike when it released. Despite the relative success of the franchise, Epic ultimately ended support for the title, alongside many others in the franchise, in 2022, pulling them from digital storefronts.
But nothing can stop the dedication of fans, it seems, as late last year, a fan community known as OldUnreal announced that it was working to revive Unreal Tournament 2004, following similar work reviving two older titles, 1998’s Unreal and Unreal Tournament 1999, patching the over 20-year-old game with bug fixes and other improvements and releasing it for free, all with Epic Games’ blessing.
Now, the day has finally come, with the title available to download on OldUnreal’s website, completely free of charge. As a multiplayer-focused title, it remains to be seen if finding a match for an over 20-year-old title will be an issue, but its free revival should hopefully see at least a few gamers jumping back into the classic title. If all else fails, the original Unreal Tournament 2004 did feature pretty decent bot AI, meaning players should still have a great time reliving the nostalgia of an FPS era gone by.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
