This is incredible news, sadly, before you get too excited, this is apparently never going to be an official release. This is a fan release on Unreal Engine 5.7 using officially released assets, and game files, Epic used to show off the new updated Unreal Tournament. Those assets are technically gray areas, they are not released for commercial use, but apparently, you can download them and play with them with no financial gain. This is not legal advice, please download and use the assets or this demo at your own risk.
What Will Never Be
Articles like this are sad to write. I was a HUGE fan of Unreal Tournament back in the day. Anyone that was playing arena shooters, that was what most called them back then, you were at least knowledgeable of Unreal Tournament, if not a fan.
YouTube creator, Smart Poly had a backup of the files and made them available in Unreal Engine 5.7. This is not the full game, This is just a demo showing off the work prior to canceling. That means there is no gameplay, just a demo available that will let you run around the levels and see what it could have been.
Officially the remake of Unreal Tournament was canceled by Epic back in 2023.
Fans Doing What Companies Won’t
I bring this up often because it is true. Fans are doing what companies seemingly will not for whatever reason. I am not sure how Epic decided to cancel this remake. I have not researched it much, I just know it was canceled and at this point, it doesn’t matter why. They aren’t changing their minds.
This is a playable demo package that Smart Poly put together so fans can get access to them since the original Github pages were removed.
Epic might have rekindled the arena shooter genre with this had they finished it and released it. I know I would be down to grab it and reminisce about the good old days while blasting gobs of gibs everywhere.
What first person shooter, arena shooter game, is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.