TimeSplitters will soon be making its (unofficial) return: the fan-made remake TimeSplitters Rewind launches November 24 (NZ time) for PC. Being a non-commercial fan-project, it will be available for free.
TimeSplitters Rewind combines remade content from the original trilogy into one game, totalling 28 maps, 91 characters, 41 weapons, 50 arcade leagues, 20 arcade game modes (including a new Team Elimination mode and updated Last Stand mode), and a story mode. Arcade and story are playable both online and offline, with bots available for arcade mode, and support for up to 10 players at a time online.
Those 28 maps don’t include all levels from the original trilogy, but most fan-favourites are there. Here’s the full TimeSplitters Rewind map list:
- Bank (TimeSplitters 1)
- Castle (TimeSplitters 1)
- Chasm (TimeSplitters 2)
- Chemical Plant (TimeSplitters 1)
- Chinese (TimeSplitters 1, 2, Future Perfect)
- Circus (TimeSplitters 2)
- Compound (TimeSplitters 1, 2)
- Cyberden (TimeSplitters 1)
- Docks (TimeSplitters 1)
- Graveyard (TimeSplitters 1)
- Hangar (TimeSplitters 2)
- Hospital (TimeSplitters 2)
- Ice Station (TimeSplitters 2)
- Mall (TimeSplitters 1)
- Mansion (TimeSplitters 1)
- Mexican Mission (TimeSplitters 2, Future Perfect)
- Planet X (TimeSplitters 1)
- Siberia (TimeSplitters 2)
- Site (TimeSplitters 1, 2)
- Spaceport (TimeSplitters: Future Perfect)
- Spaceship (TimeSplitters 1)
- Spaceways (TimeSplitters 1)
- Streets (TimeSplitters 1, 2)
- Subway (TimeSplitters: Future Perfect)
- Tomb (TimeSplitters 1)
- Training Ground (TimeSplitters 2, Future Perfect)
- Village (TimeSplitters 1)
- Warzone (TimeSplitters 1)
Rewind has been in development in some form or other since 2013, although calling it’s progress “development hell” would be an understatement. A timeline on the official site covers numerous times the project has stopped and restarted, changed engines, changed project leads, seen contributors come and go, dealt with leaks, and dealt with the TimeSplitters IP changing hands several times. Despite all this, a big push in the last couple of years means the game is just about ready for public release.
The project history also reveals that although Rewind is an unofficial project with no involvement from TimeSplitters‘ original creators, it does at least have some endorsement from the IP owners. Crytek gave the project its blessing in 2013, and even provided the team with original assets (though they weren’t used, with everything reproduced from scratch). When THQ Nordic acquired the IP in 2018, Rewind‘s team worked with THQ to honour Crytek’s agreement. Then in 2021, Tom Clarke Hill—voice actor for Cortez in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect—joined the Rewind project to provide narration and the voice of Cortez once again.
TimeSplitters originally came out in 2000 as a PlayStation 2 launch title, followed by TimeSplitters 2 in 2002 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect in 2005. All three games are available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as PS2 Classics, either as standalone purchases or as part of the PlayStation Plus Classics Catalog. The Xbox versions of TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect are also available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
