Dead Game Review: The Unkillable Unreal Tournament

[@Cheecken]

There sadly are a handful of audio bugs in this upload which slipped through the cracks in the export. I dont know how that could happen as I didnt mess with the TImeline for this video. An ad free and fixed up version of this video is available via Torrent here: cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1112875319251181648/1127770774908969020/DeadGameReview-UndeadUnreal.torrent

[@benq994]

Hi UT99 going strong! just need a patch and some patience for servers to show up. They even released mods so it looks better on modern PCs.

[@Widkey]

God I miss Unreal Tournament.. all these years later and still haven't found a game that measures up to the fix I got from that game.

[@Cheecken]

Unreal Tournament just scratches an itch that many other games can't! I think one of the closest games to UT would be Toxikk. If you didn't try that one, you can download a free version on steam and play on a server, but the game is rather inactive too sadly

[@schiaccius1clay]

Diabotical Rogue

[@jefflund763]

i was in the clan AAA and i miss Unreal Tournament and all the players that became my digital online friends. this was the fastest FPS i had ever played. I remember all the deathmatch{ARC} maps and the crazy AAA maps! DOUBLE KILL, MULTI KILL , MEGA KILL, GOD LIKE. i loved this game

[@KainiaKaria]

I was the one who uploaded Totally Unreal collection. I even uploaded the DVD copy of UT2004ECE.

[@Cheecken]

NIce stuff!

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

Thank you, you're a hero!

[@oldskool0482]

Thank you for making this video, if its bring only a little players to the community we are very grateful.

[@Cheecken]

As many as possible I hope!

[@brendens5961]

I finally got a decent Internet service. First thing I did was fire up ut99. Would be nice to see more people, but at least there are some.

[@op8ztv]

Cant even download the game anymore, what do you mean?

[@PowerdyGuitar]

​@@op8ztvyou can pirate it

[@amymagdaleneta]

@@op8ztv"I didn't watch the video"

[@Shivaxi]

Great video, woulda loved to have been a part of this! I was involved as much as I could be during UT4 development, and been playing UT since 1999. Still is and always will be my favorite game and franchise of all time. The way Epic has treated it lately is absolutely despicable.

[@Cheecken]

Yup I agree, it's one of the sadder stories in games... However we at least managed to keep the legacy of the series alive as a community! That I consider a victory :)

[@nobodyxxxxxxxx]

I believe it has something to do with them not wanting two "unreal" products in the market

[@sjoerddondersteen1337]

nostalgia (for simpler times) ​UT2004 reigns supreme, one of the big four of multiplayer FPS titles along with Battlefield 2, Team Fortress 2 & Halo 3. Greetings from the Netherlands, you absolute madman!

[@Ashamedofmypast]

Cod2/4/waw/mw2/bo, CS1.6/s/go and Q3A/QL are surely bigger than BF2?

[@MatadorShifter]

The unfinished PC port of Unreal Championship 2 leaked and it's fully playable. Sadly, the sound in the game doesn't work and no one from the community has bothered to fix it.

[@Cheecken]

Wow! This sounds like a great title to look into!

[@Bearthedancingman]

Just introduced UT 99 to my wife's little brother; he is a naturally capable FPS boss. And he used to play Fortnite and COD. He played UT-99 for an hour (absolutely kicking my butt the whole time) and he is absolutely in love with it. Makes me proud.

[@FrenXIII]

Good job, sir!

[@aaron5364]

UT4 is one of the only multiplayer games I still play regularly anmore. Timiimit has my eternal gratitude. What a legend. The community is small, but we are all still so invested in the game and all know each other. It's a joy and a privilege to be a part of something so special!

[@clavius5734]

Not to be too pessimistic but I wonder how long it will take for the community to evaporate. The fact that game has zero publicity and the process you have to go though to get it going represent giant roadblocks for new players to enter. And even then, despite the community effort, it’s still a half baked product. Like, who else than some UT veterans (myself included) were ever going to play this? I bet even they get tired of playing the same people eventually and ditch…

[@aaron5364]

@@clavius5734 I actively think about the same thing a lot. That's why I play it as much as I can while I'm still privileged to be able to. It's such a shame that Epic is Epic and Tom Sweeners is just doin the ol' capitalist sellout bit totally divorced from reality in his tower made of money.

[@FrenXIII]

Facing worlds map, Foregone Destruction by Michiel van den Bos. I still hear it in my head after almost 25 years.

[@NorthShoreJoe]

This brought me back to the days of the mid to late 90's when I was playing Descent, Quake, Heretic, Doom, Hexen, Duke Nukem, Turok, Wolfenstein 3D, Half Life and then found UT99. Three days ago, I placed a bid for a UT99 disc on Ebay (Because I can't find my old UT99 Disc) and tonight, I won that auction. $12 said and done. I'll have the disc in a couple of days. I don't care if I can only play single player mode....I'll get to play the game again after more than 20 years. Thank you for keeping this game alive....

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

If it's the original disc, it should come with the server included, no? My memory of those days is quite foggy, but I don't remember having to connect to some central server to play with my friends. I had a dedicated server running on Linux for a while that was quite popular on the campus dorm network, which wasn't even accessible from outside the network, and we played plenty of LAN parties in friend's basements where we just had a switch to connect up all the PCs, but no Internet connection.

[@SilentForrest-he4qj]

Dude it's been so long. I've played it when I was 16 to 19 and now I'm 33. I was looking for an it documentary because of nostalgia. It's great to hear that there are still people playing. I'll buy a laptop soon to write a book. It should be a gaming laptop tough... I'll play a lot of old games on it

[@kurrgiepoo]

We are always hopeful for new players to come around -- hope to see you in the arena!

[@gabochoxUT]

Really a fantastic video. I've been playing since 2010 when i found an Argentinian comunity called Unreal Argentina and my love for the game only grew up since then and i still playing till this day. i Know all the guys you inverviewed and they all helped the community to stay alive as long as possible. UT was always good thanks to the community behind it. I just hope that all the communitys from all the UT franchise (99,2k4,2k7 etc) just could play in one UT (i think that UT4 is the best option tbh) so we can have a greater playerbase in each region. But well i think is a dream that won't come true. Again thanks for posting a video about UT and trying to let people know about this masterpiece of a Game. Greetings from Argentina, GaboChOx.

[@Cheecken]

It was an immense pleasure to work on it and I learned a lot about the community through the fantastic interviews Kurrgan conducted with Phantaci and Exit Next Right. Very glad you enjoyed the video, and greetings back from Germany!

[@NewportMoneyGroup]

Keep up the great work man!

[@Cheecken]

Many many thanks for the support Lucas! Much appreciated! 🙏🙏🙏

[@dion2k5-]

honestly, such a great video and worth to watch for everyone out there. much love from the UnrealPUGs admins and our community!

[@Cheecken]

I am happy I could make the topic justice. Wish everyone well and I hope to encounter you in game!

[@Cube3830]

dion smells bad

[@dion2k5-]

@@Cube3830 xd

[@Destro7000]

That's really interesting about the new developments you mention - Epic (Mega)Games essentially attacking their own franchise and their own fans in this way, and trying to hide the history of their own beginnings and the thing that made them known in the first place. I'm a UT community mapper from around the 1999 era with U1 and UT'99. It is even more important to keep the games alive if their own developers are trying to shun them, just as the fans have taken Star Wars and made it bigger than Lucas's original ideas.

[@utznatch3147]

Thank you for a great documentary! Epic has done this in such a dirty way. The complete silence from them keeping the players in the dark for so many years and just killing everything the way they did is disgusting. If Epic only would stand behind this great shooter and support it. Unreal would grow and shine like it deserve. I tried for so many years to find another game but I cant. Theres no other game that can come close to Unreal. The modes, movement, maps and weapons makes it unmatched. Im a veteran within the Unreal series and still continue to improve. There is no skill cap in this game. The rivalry between NA and EU makes it even more interesting and players are pushing the limits to get better and better. I hope they understand they did this wrong and make it right one day.

[@Cheecken]

Hey Znatch! I think I came across your name before... maybe in game? I am really happy that you enjoyed the production, and I agree, I think what Epic has done is a major mistake. Why betray such an excellent and dedicated community only to save a few bucks? I think they are missing an opportunity for Unreal Tournament finding a new life, a new playerbase of people who enjoy a challenging bu trewarding, skill based shooter. As you said, the skill cap in this game is basically nonexistant, however it is weird that in a time where games are arguably more competitive than they ever have been, this interpretation of the First Person Shooter is becoming more and more obscure, even though it demands so much from the player. It is sad to see, and I hope that someone, maybe Epic themselves eventually, can relight this interest in the genre. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[@erieriderschillingcorner1595]

They won't understand, Fortnite is making more than enough money for them. Maybe one day when everyone finally stops playing that.

[@CB-py1xh]

I never got why arena shooters like UT and Q3 didnt stay healthy and got consecutive sequels at least as a strong niche genre. Their easy and fun to access and hard to master competitively gameplay is in that regard very reminiscent of fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter that - besides ups and downs - go strong over the course of decades for just what they are. I was a teenager when the first Unreal games like the o.g. Unreal Tournament released and we played UT and Q3 on LAN parties among friends just casually to have fun. I would have never imagined that such a simple and easy to access concept could completely fall out of favor.

[@ConspiracyCraftersStudio]

answer is money.

[@jurica8355]

@@ConspiracyCraftersStudio And new generation of kids who likes flashy things and fortnite dancing. And people who actually likes to waste time on games that require waiting lobbies and running on empty map for 10 min till u encounter guy who waits for u that long to kill you.

[@beetheimmortal]

Funnily enough, because they were too skill-based, but not in a way the "modern audience" likes. The "modern audience" likes "hard games" like Dark Souls (but mostly just Elden Ring), and "competitive games" like MOBA, CS and Fortnite, but all of these games have all these crutches you can rely on. Putting the Souls formula aside, as it's not really relevant here, all the others have a lot of mechanics that really muddy the waters. Fortnite is, of course, a joke anyway, and is heavily reliant on chance (and thus gambling), and this metagame of building. CS has the metagame of the economy and all the smokes and nades you have to learn. It's not really about pure combat and also has really terrible movement and highly inaccurate and randomized shooting to really encourage camping (since you can't even bunnyhop anymore like PHOON, nor can you actually aim accurately in most cases). MOBA also has a whole metagame of farming, buying, items and whatnot, as well as all the NPC characters and creatures in the map. They all have these crutches the player can rely on, and all of these things really dilute the skill-based gameplay they otherwise could have had. The players don't start on equal footing, so to speak, and there are times where no matter how good you are, you just can't win because the enemy has all the crutches he needs. This is not the case for arena shooters. Those are PURE SKILL and nothing else. You can't rely on anything but yourself there, you have what you can get (based on your skill), and you use what you can use (also based on your skill). This gameplay style is not something that appeals to the current gaming demographic at all. EDIT: This is pretty much the same reason classic RTS died and was supplanted by MOBA, as RTS had a similar design philosophy.

[@rasheedallawi90]

They killed an awesome game

[@Foebane72]

UT action is easy to follow and addictive to play, but I just don't get why they'd foist the crap known as Fortnite on us instead.

[@Cipher00007]

Tried to at least, and failed because of a dedicated community.

[@gooz3006]

Great video! Sad to see that Epic forgot where it´s roots are, but with such a great community, I´m sure that UT will never die. Our children and grandchildren will enjoy this franchise as much as we have and still do.

[@UT4Clips]

Love the interviews in this, some really great insight from Exit.

[@robertthurman9866]

I was into UT99 when it came out. UT had some very large and interesting levels. Quake responded with the Q3 Arena expansion which did not catch on due to the differences in the game engines. In UT99 if you were on top of the building in Facing Worlds with a sniper rifle and there was a player on top of the other building, you could not shoot each other. The weapons in UT had range limitations. Quake 3 had unlimited range and instantaneous hits. If you could line up a shot on someone so far away to where they were a single pixel and shoot you would kill them. That is why Quake levels are rat mazes, to limit the length of your range. UT was unencumbered by this and had a lot more interesting levels especially for CTF.

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

Never could put my finger on it back in the day, but yeah, I definitely preferred UT over Q3A too. Was a huge Quake fan, although for some reason I never really got into Quake II, but something about Q3A just didn't gel with me.

[@marko-gj1uj]

Good to see you back

[@sinmarcus]

Great documentary mate, it really was a trip down the memory lane. As an old school UT99 player I fondly remember those days of sleepless nights, LAN parties and ClanBase tournaments. Thanks to UT I met a lot of guys that became RL friends and with some I'm still in contact with 24 years later. p.s. for those who would like a bit more of UT99 nostalgia, check out "Fooze Movie - Unreal Tournament 1999" on youtube, one of the first frag movies with a very respectable production for the time.

[@MulekeTrairao]

Damn, this is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen! The script and the editing are impeccable! Subscribing to Cheecken is a must, let me tell ya.

[@Cheecken]

Wow thanks a tonne!

[@litiout]

Long live Timiimit! I got really sad in the beggining of this year because I honestly thought I was going to be missing something very important in my life when the inconsiderate (to say the least they deserve) Epic closed the servers, but he and his team allow me to keep playing till this day my favorite game UT4 in our Elite mode server in Argentina. And thanks also to you, these types of videos help a lot to bring new players in or simply to know the tragic story of the only game that was going to be developed along with the community, but wasn't... Cheers, and long live UT!!!!

[@optchurch1402]

And now it’s in an anthology series from the creators of love death and robots. I’ve been playing the first game all week wishing the series would come back in some way and then I saw the title pop up in the trailer and I’m just like “wtf?!”

[@utm4638]

Such a quality documentary. Great work dude! UT best game🤘

[@Sekir80]

I'm so bad at this game it's not even funny anymore, yet here I am watching a documentary about it. Thanks for making it!

[@Januii]

Thank you so much for making this. UT has been an integral part of my childhood. I've been in love with it since playing UT99 in April of 2000 with UT04 being my absolute favorite game of all time. Playing Druids mod invasion and A.S.S. servers back in the day literally the reason I'm still alive today.

[@Melissanoma]

This video inspired me. If i can find my old external harddrive, i should still have all my ut99 maps and mutators saved....along with a full portable install of the game. I'm going to make some videos reviewing them. Mostly making this comment as a reminder to myself.

[@Cheecken]

Hey cool stuff! More power to ya 😁

[@Melissanoma]

@@Cheecken Well, I did it. 10 uploaded so far.

[@ob1_kb]

big huge thank you for making this video - i absolutely love UT and I think it deserves so much more recognition

[@Cheecken]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@ut4_dylan7]

Great video , Phantaci also deserves so much praise for his work in the UT4 scene from mods to cup hosting and so on , real mvp.

[@SoterDave]

watching the new cheecken upload 🍿😊

[@Ashamedofmypast]

Man i miss unreal and quake. Im honestly surprised no one at epic looked at fortnite and saw how a potential UC3 would be the perfdct stepping stone title to retain the more hardcore players. I just hope the presumable QuakeV at ID will revive the arena genre proper. But sadly it will likely be a Doom Eternal sequel.

[@Cheecken]

I have a weird view on new doom. Before Doom Eternal came out, Doom 2016 felt more like a Quake experience to me, I can't really put it to words why however. EDIT: To clarify, it felt like a new interpretation of Quake so to speak, not saying it was in any way reminiscent of the classics, rather building atop the Quake foundation instead of Doom's if that makes sense.

[@Ashamedofmypast]

@@Cheecken first off, great content my dude! As for 2016 ya I had a similar feeling I believe it was the focus on verticality something I consider a core quake trait. Before quake ID rarely used elevation in exciting was, doom 2 had some cool use cases but compared to what bungie was doing with marathon doom was so far behind. Quake changed everything in that regard imo. I loved doom 2016 and I respect eternals commitment to it's design goals. An amazing game however I do not feel it is the right direction for Quake. I am probably in the minority there but designing an arena shooter now around the core concept of always being pushed to perform seems antithetical to building a diverse and wide enough community for it to stick. Take halo while it has many other issues it made a decided choice to catter to a perceived core audience in each 343i title but halo is a party game. The guns are mascots much like the fighters in smash and it caters to a low skill wide base with many sub cultures and a hardcore mlg culture is only one. Much like UT has bunny courses halo had race courses. And like there are creators in UT halo has forgers. The issue is companies wanting to monetise these subcultures or deeming them unnecessary destroys the internal community structure. So we need a title that can build and iterate on those core appeals that find Monetisation that doesn't cannibalise community roles. If that makes sense. Doom almost cannot be iterated on in a modern 3D setting its essential a different genre with different skill focuses so ID adopted the core visual and audio traits of that franchise and iterated on them in a quakelike game. Essentially using the understanding of the audience that quake was an iteration on dooms formula and going full circle. The reality is playing doom 2016 only looked like doom for the most part but it had been so long that the superficial elements coupled with the core ID dna was enough to skew or rose tinted perception as an audience.

[@Cheecken]

@@Ashamedofmypast I think Doom's natural progression as a game series found its conclusion in Doom 3, being an immersive horror shooter, you could see this development in real time by just observing what the newer games focussed on, with Doom 64 and the PS1 port of the original, being significantly creepier than the originals for instance (and those were pretty grim in their art direction aswell lets not forget!) And you mentioned something interesting here, the fact that many of these mechanically complex games have sub communities which focus on "secondary" aspects of the game. Every old school shooter I have seen, had some form of "Parkour" gamemode. In UT its BunnyTracks, in Fortress Forever its Trimping maps, in Quake its Bunny Hopping courses and in Team Fortress 2 its Rocket Jump academies. Those gamemodes spawned out of player interest and were cultivated out of interest. Nowadays more games sadly gimp the player generated content creation scenes and thus cripple creativity and non standard methods of play, however gigantic IPs still possess these qualities, specifically Counter Strike Global Offensive and Dota 2 for instance. I think UT4 had a chance at getting a self sustainable community going which was willing in supporting itself by buying maps, cosmetics and etc that was created by itself. The community creates and buys for itself and Epic earn a commission. It works for Valve, so it could have worked for Epic aswell. I think UT4 is a wasted opportunity for more reasons than just not seeing this cool game be finalized. It could have become one of the greatest community projects in recent memory, potentially even outperforming the creativity and dedication of other properties such as Team Fortress 2. But we all know what happened instead. Sad really.

[@Ashamedofmypast]

@@Cheecken Doom3 being its creative end zone is a brave opinion! And it's true you can see it in real time however 64 and ps1 weren't handled in house and could be argued as reinterpretation rather than continuation. Personally loved the direction of doom 3 but I'd say it was less an evolution as it was a reinvention of the franchise. Dooms gameplay to me would see it's iteration in the combat racing genre. The thing is ID wasn't building upon doom for 3 so much as it was building upon technology under doom. The advent of true 3d and the introduction of a new axis effectively reinvented the wheel and quake was doom for that new world. Doom 3 was ID attempting cinematism. In terms of tone and mechanics 2016 feels far more representative of the original duology to me than 3 ever was. 3 was like a reverse of alien to aliens 2 seperate genre interpretations of a single story. Yes all the great fps title share this need for navigation and movement based sub communities. Marathon, quake, UT, halo, team fortress, CS, Titanfall all have them. A nuanced locomotion model is essential to a deep fps experience in my mind. But thats only one of many community groups. The issue is in order to maximise revenue in the executive's speculative mind, these community roles that were labour's of love and helped build a strong, diverse fanbase have become increasingly curated and in house in the AAA space and any seen as unrequited are thus ignored as they are presumed wasted resources. The truth is the interplay between these sub communities is a huge part of cultivating longevity in a title and the ip as a whole. Valve being the outlier in this regard for sure. It's hard to sell a battle pass when your consumers are free to create content and while we may see the benefits the corporate consciousness only sees a divide in prospective revenue. I think UT4 was still far from being self sustainable but it certainly had potential to get to that place in time had it been given a true launch. The arena genre is also interesting as all the examples people provide as being evidentiary of it being irrelevant in the current market fail to be representative of a true arena title. They all either remove something either big or small that is requisite for a strong community or added elements that detract from the core appeal of the genre. It's quite funny how modern liscencing law and corporate greed have lead to that sort of apprehension when ROBLOX proves the validity more than anything of consumer-creation driven products. It also begs another question. Why are modern AAA companies so afraid of interesting level design and obsessed with pretty but clutered maps. The homogeneous nature of map design and the need for overly complex set dressing that doesn't serve the gameplay is a huge factor in why many "spiritual successors" fail to reach the intended audience, or so I believe. The potential for a game to actually iterate on UT and quake is massive yet all we see are titles paying lip service while being to afraid to reject conventional contemporary design wisdom where is counts. UT may not have seemed profitable enough epic yet it remains a healthy playerbase driven title despite never actually being released. Clearly the is something worth focusing on and if you can cut a large part of the art budget by simply focusing on functionality over aesthetics in level design thing of the myriad ways one could reduce costs to develop a polished, fun, profitable arena product.

[@JooKen]

I love Unreal (which along with HL were my fantastic introduction to FPS, except maybe Descent), UT, and UT2004, still play UT2004, and will definitely joint UT4 servers. At UT99 times I did not have internet, so I blasted over 150.000 frags (so did the stats say) in single player only. The real experience started with UT2003. I spent so many nights socializing, chatting with some friends in arenas, practicing jumping and such, and suddenly swapping to fragfest mode. And back. To give some credit to Fortnite, in the fights there is occasionally a bit similar intensity as in deathmatch, but of course it is all diluted due to zillion years of waiting for the next spawn. If there only were a UT mod ... no, what I am thinking, I prefer the real thing.

[@slidez11]

Excellent video!

[@JenyaIsJustChilling]

And again, i said it multiple times before and i say it again - Epic had all the money in world to finihs the game and create it's own esports pro league, but the decided to k%ll it...

[@Ashamedofmypast]

All the money in the world cannot, will not and should not lead companies to "create" an esport league. Shame the game was left to languish but very few fans would truely want what is proposed above. For the myriad obvious reasons we've seen multiple occasions prior.

[@VRchitecture]

At the same time Epics use their money to give us super-duper game engine with amazing tools (like MetaHuman, RealityCapture & MegaScans) and lots of up to date tutorials effectively for free. I mean Unreal fans have everything at their hands to make the game they want. Just grab it and create! 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Cipher00007]

Got to admit Amazon's Secret Level Episode: Xan made me realise how much i miss the series (and probably the same with alot of other people) and want to get playing again!!

[@Cheecken]

@@Cipher00007 I didn't get around to watching it yet, but it looks great!

[@JenyaIsJustChilling]

I had downloaded copy of UT4 from EGS, but yesterday i found out that you can't open the game at all (meaning to play on Timiimit servers, but through EG launcher). So not only it's de-listed, but also un-launchable. So i had to create that custom link to launch it. It works, so in case anybody wanted to try it - go ahead.

[@Cheecken]

the installer version of the game I linked, torrent or on UT4ever, should work out of the box!

[@johannbezuidenhout2976]

Still playing UT2004.

[@jugcage7634]

Excellent video, UT needs content! I miss these games. Epic will remaster UT1999 in UE5 or UE6 mark my words, just like command and conquer got remasters after such a long time. When there is a will there's a way. I still believe!

[@DrunkFlux]

I doubt it, they don't even have Cliffy B with them anymore. He quit when tencent took over.

[@marko-gj1uj]

Screw Epic Games for removing Unreal franchise from online stores!

[@theinjected]

Awesome vid great work !!

[@Solustos]

This was a great review, good stuff man

[@Cheecken]

Much appreciated!

[@sablebubble4630]

Original UT99 was my first game. My mom showed it to me when I was eight. Playing it since, 22 years of Unreal now. All games in the series was a spectacular arena shooters. Personally, I really prefer the UT3 and UT99. UT3 was more closed to the original - combat was more about pushing short distances and being agressive (for me at least). Also, great movement, best from UT2k4 and UT99 imo, chonky, with great feedback. God, so many hours on DM-NewEden (awesome map in style of Mirrors Edge). I still play from time to time, but I miss my friends and time we spend fragging each other.

[@Venom_Snek]

Unreal Tournament 2k4 has a functioning server browser, not real sure what you mean. I've been playing it using the community server for a while now starting about a year ago and every time I've used the server browser. Also, if anyone's even remotely thinking about trying out this series or hell, even any old multiplayer game that still has a player base, do it. The fact that I can still boot up Quake 1/2, Quake 3 Arena, UT 99/2k4/3, Half-Life Deathmatch, Halo, etc, and still find populated servers pretty much whenever I want, is fucking _awesome,_ and the more people playing, the better it is. Setting up the old Unreal games in particular is stupid easy, I was able to get UT99 and UT2k4 set up in a handful of seconds, it really isn't hard, just find a tutorial on KZbin somewhere and you'll be playing in no time. EDIT: This video's fantastic btw, thank you for bringing both new and old players alike back to this fantastic series, also including download links and outright telling people where to get the other games is based as all hell.

[@Cheecken]

Im glad you liked the video! And yeah, I dont understand why I received some criticism before for showing people where to find the data. Epic put the writing on the wall, "we don't want to make money on these games" and all I did was read it 🤷 As for the server browser stuff, during production things were a bit uncertain for me. Unreal Tournament 3 at the time had it worst as as far as I know there hasn't been a central server replacement for the game at the time. My focus for the most part lied in UT4 aswell so I wasn't 100% confident in what was going on regarding the older games. Looking at a Steam post now it seems like the 2004 guys came prepared at the time already and implemented their own central server before Epic's went dark, which is great to read! Man I should install that game again...

[@clebereuu]

Th funnt thing overall is that most, if not all, the things that other games bring that rises the skill cap, was already in UT or in Quake. They just adjust it to fit that specific game. That can be said for games like titanfall, cod, etc, that try to make the movent more fluid/fast.

[@Stealthydoughnut]

man i got really unlucky with this series, i found unreal tournament 4 around the same time fortnite came out since my friends told me to get fortnite and i just happened to see and download unreal tournament 4 since i vaguely remembered my uncle playing one of them when i was 5 back in 2006. First day i sat down and played it i couldnt believe the feeling of constant improvement minute by minute in the game. I eventually put it down waiting for some more maps and updates to it and boom it was gone. So sad.

[@Cheecken]

It really sucks! I never thought it would go away at the time, nor did I believe Epic would bury it. But the silver lining here is that luckily we can still play Unreal Tournament 4, still sucks though that Epic likely wont reprise the series any more. :/

[@Thetrooper865]

As a man who has an unreal tournament tattoo and has heard "why do you have the epic logo tattooed on you" 1000 times over this video was amazing. Ill go to my grave saying Unreal was my favorite game franchise ever.

[@JamesLeeon]

Thank you for this video.

[@DogOfTheInternet]

8:40 I literally have been in the unreal development channel and asked if you guys heard of the game unreal tournament, and they have not. They are using the unreal tools to make games but never heard of the champion.

[@less_tress]

thats so wild......the logo is too iconic

[@yeow1507]

I played Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3 for about 5 years, and then I got a pc and started playing TF2. I put close to 3k hours on TF2. Now my job has messed up my arm so using a mouse and keyboard hurts so I don’t play games like that anymore.

[@RobbScholarTube]

I miss playing blitz soooo bad!! ugh!

[@Pexeroso]

You convicted me to come back to the best UT ever made thanks a lot man, such a great documentary ! when this game was into epic i guess i have something more than 1000 hours of gameplay, just love it

[@leonardodavid4670]

I still play UT2004 im my new computer, its hard to get this game today, specialy for people ho dosent know much about computers or the internet in general.

[@primevalyautja1305]

same

[@BPJJohn]

Epic should be called Tepid Games now.

[@zarryc1687]

Very good and interesting video. Please do Titanfall 1 next!

[@noobteamagain8240]

16:07 Definitely. This stems from a time where you could change you nick (aliasing) And to the guy that called me out many years ago on the face only server - "you're that asshole "better than you" You were indeed correct, sir :)

[@MountainMac88]

Are you still able to download custom community made maps? Btw thank you for the link to download UT4! I still play man I love this game there is nothing like it out there for me thank you for keeping it alive!

[@TopCarsTV]

Nostalgia overdose. I too played the UT4, but against the bots only. And was sad when I heard about its cancelation.

[@seansullivan3666]

Losing it on single player and just jumping to the console to rage-cheat the bots is always so tempting when I am practicing sometimes

[@gcavrubio]

The community is doing god's work. I fear that epic might suddenly decide to stop this necromantic ritual with a legal cease and desist. I wonder if the people involved in the project consider making a new game and detaching from UT4 in the future.

[@simongravel7407]

A project like that should have started already. Edit: Open Tournament Project is still on going it seems. But it's not very alive either.

[@gcavrubio]

@@simongravel7407 thank you for mentioning open arena. I recently found out about that project, but I could not find any recent updates on their Discord server, so I assume that it is currently on hiatus.

[@azul091s7]

Welp, seems you are wrong, tho I think you already know

[@babysunflower6282]

UT is a series I hold close to my heart, my first ever video game starting when I was 6. Still heartbroken on how UTs been treated… So how do we play these games now? Physical copies for PC? Is that the only way? I heard steam doesn’t have any of them. Any thoughts?

[@Cheecken]

Definitely download the games from sources such as archive.org. The entire series is essentially abandoned, so either download the files on Steam or Gog if you previously purchased the games, or download the games for free somewhere else. As to how to play the different games online, various different guides were made from different community members, they might even include download links to the files you need :)

[@babysunflower6282]

@@Cheecken thank you so much for responding! Such a great surprise. I’ll look into how to download the games soon, happy holidays btw! Thanks again 😊

[@Cheecken]

@@babysunflower6282 Thank you and merry christmas to you :)

[@blasterrob]

If you guys would like to play Unreal at any point. OldUnreal has their own patches and community that keeps it alive.

[@beetheimmortal]

That UT3 re-release is never coming lmao Also, I do wonder, what will happen once the Fortnite money (inevitably) runs out? What then, Epic?

[@IAMEYI]

THEY WILL JUST CREATE A MICRO TRANSACTION VERSION AND CHARGE PEOPLE JUST TO PRESS START. UPDATES EVERY WEEK JUST TO CHANGE THE LOAD UP SCREEN AND SKINS FOR THE ONES WHO THINK MICRO TRANSACTIONS IS THE NORMAL. NEVER ASK FOR A REMAKE IN THIS DAY IN AGE...AND I DO MEAN NEVER OTHERWISE YOUR GONNA PAY FOR IT AND KEEP PAYING FOR IT....the thought alone is insane to me to say HEY KIDS IN MY DAY YOU BOUGHT THE SYSTEM AND THE GAME...PLUG AND PLAY WITH FRIENDS GAME ON!!!! BACK IN MY DAY KIDS GOING ONLINE TO PLAY WAS A OPTION NOT THE ONLY WAY TO PLAY/ACCESS YOUR GAMING BAHAHAHAHA 😂😂😂 fools

[@MrTBSC]

wasn't aware that epic pulled unreal from their store .... while i was not competitive, i played almost all games of the series ... really saddened to see it go this way, shame on you epic

[@TheSupersmash97]

Thank goodness I bought unreal gold, unreal tournament and 2004 before epic delisted them completely. I did also get Dreamcast and ps2 versions is unreal tournament to play as well

[@Cheecken]

Yup, we can consider ourselves lucky! Also wonder how the console versions compare to the PC version, might buy the PS2 version of UT 🤔

[@TheSupersmash97]

@@Cheecken both Dreamcast and ps2 support mouse and keyboard too. While Dreamcast has online support and an exclusive seganet lvl.I like them both.

[@Cheecken]

@@TheSupersmash97 thank you for the info!

[@CJ00014]

TLDR, what Unreal game am I supposed to play and where should I get it?

[@Cheecken]

The one that looks cool to you. I linked some links that relate to ut4 In the description. EDIT: Also to add, I went over in the video where you can get these copies. Check Archive.org or torrent sites. For UT4 there is the website ut4ever.org As for getting to play online you have to create an account at ut4.timiimit.com Have fun!

[@CJ00014]

@@Cheecken They all look cool. I just want to play the one that everyone is playing. haven't touched a UT game since UT2k4 that I still have a copy of. Is UT4 the one that looks like old but new?

[@jacksheldon8566]

you should check QCDE mod for doom. it has a very well made UT addon for it that actually plays better than ut99 while having that old doom retro graphics. you're up for a good surprise.

[@Cheecken]

Sounds like its up my alley! Love playing Doom!

[@NZyoutube]

Can you do a DG review of Quake Wars, Enemy Terrritory, Wolfenstein 2009 :)

[@Cheecken]

All great suggestions!

[@NZyoutube]

@@Cheecken Thank you, food for thought - Quake Wars in a battle royale realm would be amazing! really

[@juliusunreal]

i was born 2004 and grew up on UN 2004 haha

[@Kharnellius]

13:23 What is this song?! Please tell me if you know. Much thanks!

[@ristezze3518]

Level 6 from UT2004

[@ndowroccus4168]

Rofl I just tried installing ut2k4 from my 6 discs. Unfortunately my old external dvd pl:rc will not be recognized. Heading to store to buy a newer extDvd just to install ot

[@ghostpinguin]

Our only hope is if Nightdive will remaster Unreal, Unreal Tournament 1999 and 2004. But not only just simple widescreen support and better textures. Also complete updated models with an option to toggle between classic and modern. Kinda similar to how Halo Anniversary was made.

[@mpo48]

truly foregone destruction

[@shinobi13]

I tapped out at the 12:50 mark due to the constant piracy talk. This was supposed to be a review of Unreal Tournament, not a constant endorsement for piracy.

[@Cheecken]

@@shinobi13 you don't need to pirate anything if you don't want to, but when a company refuses to sell a product that otherwise works and is worth playing, then yes I think people should download the files without feeling bad about it. Game preservation and piracy often are in the same ballpark, sadly getting your hands on the files will always be a part of the discussion.

[@wonky2394]

Dead link - Interview with Timiimit (PDF download). Can someone re-upload it?

[@Cheecken]

on it!

[@Cheecken]

There you go! drive.google.com/file/d/1XVy2uDhsUiTciMLu30Ymdp6-l2opq8lL/view?usp=sharing

[@wonky2394]

@@Cheecken Many Thanks!

[@jarihaukilahti]

So it was Epic that didnt want to play more ut4 with the community - and after I asusme from their chineese partner Tencent ,main cause must be greed just as the case with Blizzard and their chineese partner

[@haloindecloudsergens7912]

i was a Unreal Tournament 2004 gamer i stopped in 2009 .

[@Tizniz]

Luckily I still have my DVD and case with cd key from EB games waaay back in the day of Unreal Anthology. Unreal gold, Unreal 2, UT, UT2k4 forever at least for me. Too bad multiplayer is dead. Sad days.

[@gendalfgray7889]

Song names pls. Are they all UT osts?

[@Cheecken]

Not all, the one that is sourced in the description is by Kubusschnitt. I can update the description later on in the day for the songnames. Most tracks came from the UT3 soundtrack.

[@shawty10ize]

What mostly turned me off to ut4 is that only a few maps actually seemed finished. So many had extremely basic visuals, as seen in this video.

[@Cheecken]

I get it! It is a gem in the very rough! Although the playability of the maps is great. Given that the game is a perpetual pre alpha, the turn off is understandable!

[@ZakTheGhost]

I just started playing Unreal Tournament in 2021 I wish Epic didn't shut the games down...

[@sebs-shenanigans]

27:00, I respect the sheer passion on display in this here moment but saying that people would STRAIGHT UP abandon video games because Unreal Tournament is gone, is like saying people would drop reading mangas completely after Berserk's Creator met his untimely end. With all due respect, I am not even calling bullshit. I'm calling a psychiatrist.

[@Cheecken]

In this timestamp Exit is talking about a *very* specific portion of players here, basically the Unreal Tournament diehards that really only play this game and essentially nothing else. Those players who play only one or a few games exist. I am not one of them and I am glad I found an interest in many different kinds of games, this just isn't the case for some people who are really invested in one specific title. If you don't like most Mangas and the only comic in the scene you enjoyed reading was Berserk which is unfinished to this day and never will be, I cannot blame someone for not being interested in the scene as a whole. I don't understand what is so weird about the statement to be quite honest.

[@sebs-shenanigans]

@@Cheecken A civilized, respectable and well worded opinion chief. But It just doesn't sit well with me. But not only that statement, the whole "had me in tears thing too," I cannot bring myself to think other way, yet I completely understand where you're coming from. I just hope I didn't come off like purebred cunt. And if I did... then I'm sorry

[@Cheecken]

@@sebs-shenanigans No you are good dont worry! It is sometimes hard to understand where other players are coming from. I personally wouldn't abandon gaming as a whole either for one game being gone, but again, those players do exist!

[@sebs-shenanigans]

@@Cheecken Thanks chief. Great video, btw. Glad the lads behind Postal 3; Catharsis reborn mod pointed me your way. Take care!

[@MBBGun14]

Its hard to watch UT videos for me nie, given what happened to the franchise. I still play the series with bots and friends.

[@HeathenMetalhead221]

The one thing I take away from this video is: Fuck Fortnite

[@Trazynn]

It does feel like this isn't really a business decision, but more of a statement. As though they want people to shut up about the game, crush any hopes of there ever being another UT again.

[@roberthunter6122]

Sadly, I'm very sure UT3/UTX's deal, was cancelled too.

[@Cheecken]

I heard those news... bummer

[@JAZIBKALEEM]

Fortnite earns Epic games over $1 million EACH DAY! They have dumped the development for Unreal Tournament for Fortnite, and that's an open secret. It makes financial sense for them, but I don't see why they couldn't have another team overlook Unreal Tournament on the side.

[@IAMEYI]

You mean create another game that I have to keep playing to play lol no thanks. I feel you would love to see a free remake, but MICRO TRANSACTIONS and constant updates and having to be online as an only option is a no go for most gamers like me. It use to be the norm to buy a game and play it and unlock it with INGAME MONEY but now they tell the new generation of idiots to use your real money to unlock shit in a game already made and released. I know now games are 100% made not made and released completely done. They release 5% of a game nowadays and charge everyone the remaining 95% to add stuff to the game to finish it. But if it pays to never finish making a game and charging idiots who willing pay the company to "finish" the game would you stop??? I probably wouldn't either. 😂😂😂😂 Gaming today = YOU GOTTA KEEP PAYING TO PLAY bahahahahaha

[@VSPhotfries]

Unfortunately, the new normal is one of live service and/or flash in the pan stuff that dries up fast. All we're likely to get is indie titles trying to replicate it (which can be good, but scatters old players), or free-to-play-we-totally-promise-guys live service games that still fail to attract or maintain an audience (Quake Champions, for instance, which is still live but I play every day with the same 20 other players). Or, you know, the actual games, which only basically have veterans stomping the rare new, curious player that often gives up after getting stomped so much harder than new players in the actual games' heyday. Which, of course highlights that it's partially the fans' fault: A lot of old grognards are gatekeeping the experience and that's killing any revival attempts. I think UT, Q3, and the like is just gone. Companies with the ability to make them as massive titles are going to make more approachable games and use all the scummy tactics, and indie games are often great but aren't going to ever collect the same fanbases (or get a bunch of aforementioned grognards). But hey, it was REALLY awesome to live through that era, and as much as it sucks to not see the same thing reappear, there's still a huge variety of new games that weren't even possible back then to also enjoy. It's a bittersweet feeling.

[@mmacias78]

"Ad Nocendum Potentes Sumus" - Regards

[@GetJesse]

🌶

[@schiaccius1clay]

🌶❓

[@bishco9]

awesome words about what I personally consider the best pvp game ever made. I'm honestly confused by epic's behaviour regarding ut, i get that fortnite exists but why don't they allocate even a small amount of resources in ut4, i feel like they're THE company with the ability to revive and dominate the afps genre

[@haraldd1006]

we want unreal tournament back... none of these soulless alternatives will ever come close

[@gh0stlich299]

@28:00 I wonder if people will recognize that that voice talking is Demon1

[@zangl2955]

I truly don't understand why they delisted the ut games, and I haven't read an explanation anywhere that makes sense. It's just people saying "wow epic sucks for doing that." Okay but WHY did they do it? It's not as if ut99's existence is eating into fortnite battlepass sales.

[@Cheecken]

@@zangl2955 I honest to god dont understand myself. Epic planned on releasing a remaster for ut 3 but ended up abandoning it too it seems as it never was seen again. Frustrating!

[@watnou346]

My pc cant handle UT4

[@desireless4092]

I don't get the argument with vetoing the games when you are a kid. I played tons of UT when I was a kid and it had 0 impact on my psychology since it is simply a fiction. Not more harmful than a movie or a book. And to this day, along movies, games are one of my favorite form of escapism.

[@Cheecken]

I only speak for my own experience: I think Multiplayer games when too young can be a bit of an issue, more so if games feature things like voice chat. There also are some very violent games I am glad I didn't play too young, and I agree that games are very similar to things such as movies or books, however online games are a sticking point for me. On one hand they can be a very enriching and character building experiences, (much of my english speaking and comprehension can be attributed to Team Fortress 2, I also learned how to shit talk and stand up for myself in that game) on another I believe one has to be ready for online gaming to a certain extent, we all know how some shooter lobbies can be like lol I played games constantly growing up, all sorts too. I don't think my psychology was impacted either and I would let my kid play video games too! I would however think twice about giving them access to online experiences if they were too young. I think if they outsmarted me and just got to play these games somehow anyways, the trial by fire starts, have your fun and your arguements and flame wars, both are part of online experiences :)

[@desireless4092]

@@Cheecken now this is a different thing. I never played online games that much. I only played with friends since I avoid competitive online games for the very same thing you pointed: I've had bad experiences and after trying the online multiplayer of various games and was turned off by the many annoying people I slowly caught myself becoming them and immediately dropped those type of games. I now only play co-op games of games with friends and nothing else when it comes to multiplayer. In this case I am not trying to defend X or Y developer/game but this is one of the moments where you might meet some nasty people that bring nasty things with them. But for single player games: I always liked them even when I was a kid and I enjoy them at my pace with no pressure. The over the top nature of UT, Quake, Half Life or other games of that period impacted my brain in only in one way: they fueled my imagination further.

[@majorhemroid]

The biggest reason for UT3's failure was it was a Gears of War variant. It wasn't it's own game. The style of the game, even the cinematics, looked like it came out of GoW. It was ok, but not UT99 level great. And that's what we wanted with UT4 - UT99 for the 2010's and 2020's. What we got was a half-assed effort by devs working for a company that dedicated themselves to the cashcow known as Fortnite going forward. And with all the good players and community efforts, they still killed what could've been a tier 1 title, for a kiddie game, boring and slow. What a shame.

[@jingbot1071]

I'm sure they'll cry real hard about it in the dump truck full of money they have. It's always the money guys that wreck art...

[@ut99pt]

Never die!