After 13 years hacking through the development wilderness, TimeSplitters Rewind is out. Its creators revealed last month that the CryEngine-powered mod would finally be released in November. True to their word, Rewind is available to download now.
Rewind is a somewhat unusual fan project, a mixture of remake, compilation and spiritual successor to the first three TimeSplitters games. The website describes it as “a greatest hits collection of maps, modes, leagues, challenges and story content across the original trilogy of TimeSplitters games.”
The end goal of the project is to include “extensive content spanning the three games”. But this initial, early access release focuses on “a subset of both existing content from the original games and some new content.” This includes 28 maps, 91 characters, 41 weapons, and 10-player competitive multiplayer with 20 arcade game modes. “Sorry it’s taken so long. We’ve only been making the largest free content video game ever”, the website’s front page bullishly declares.
To coincide with the launch, the modders released a trailer showing Rewind in action. This also provides further clarification on what the early access version contains. Specifically, it notes that the release includes the “full TS1 story with co-op”. The video’s description also tells players to expect a “substantial amount of content (and bugs)”, suggesting this initial launch may not be the most stable.
Frankly, that wouldn’t be hugely surprising. Rewind has endured a highly sporadic development since Crytek, which purchased Free Radical design, gave a group of modders going by Pantheonyx permission to make a TimeSplitters mod in the publisher’s formidable CryEngine. Like many ambitious fan projects, the road to release was rocky, to the point that Rewind’s website features a detailed timeline charting its many ups and downs.
There are some fascinating details here, like how at one point the team switched to Unreal Engine 4 and used Unreal Tournament as its technical basis, before discovering that “using Unreal Tournament as a base is a violation of Epic’s development”, resulting in the entire build being scrapped. Oops. The project really began picking up steam in 2020, when de facto art lead Cameron Williams released a secret update video that included a call for help, which saw the mod’s team size triple in two months.
I’m curious to see how the final(ish) product has turned out. While the original TimeSplitters games are fondly remembered for their imaginative premise and successfully translating FPS play to console, they don’t hold up enormously well today. But perhaps the Rewind team’s CryEngine overhaul can dust off some of the cobwebs and help demonstrate what made the games so beloved at the time.
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