The Rise and Fall of Unreal Tournament

[@JustAFan444]

One of the biggest crimes in gaming is what Epic has done to try to erase Unreal.

[@HXRDWIREDGaming]

It's clear it stopped being about the love of the game and became about money. Once they "adopted" the gamemode in fortnite, they shitcanned unreal tournament SO FAST.

[@JustAFan444]

@HXRDWIREDGaming it's not just about canning the new one, it's them removing the old games from every storefront that I don't understand.

[@PineappleStickers]

@@JustAFan444 This part's the most infuriating. I'd happily play the 1999 Unreal Tournament with all my friends indefinitely but they just refuse to make it accessible

[@JustAFan444]

@PineappleStickers still ways to do that. Unfortunately you're stuck buying old physical copies, pirating, or buying keys from grey market sellers (if any grey market keys even exist) if you don't already own them.

[@chemergency]

@@JustAFan444 If they were transparent or upfront towards fans on why they had to delist them (some speculate it has something to do with a contractual conflict with Digital Extremes or some stupid lawsuit over parental controls in Fortnite) it'd be one thing but the fact they refuse to elaborate why is a fucking slap in the face. I will never play Fortnite again because of that.

[@3dfxlegacy]

When those games were deleted of the platform, I lost the faith in the industry :(. Those games are as important as Doom, Starcraft or Call of duty. Thanks for the video

[@pygmalion0451]

​@1chriscwf Did you even watch the first minute of the video? It's not about the game (I can just pirate it), it's about the message it sends: that people shouldn't care about history. This channel alone is proof that this just isn't correct

[@reyjimenz]

Unreal is not on Doom level.

[@3isr3g3n]

Yeah that day Epic died for me.

[@ThisIsMyYouTubeAccount1]

I was already never gonna use their store but now I'll never buy a single Epic game. Glad I got the UT collection before the shutdown. Too bad UT4 will never happen. Fortnite is 🏳️‍🌈

[@theenchiladakid1866]

You can run ut99 on windows 11

[@CozyWizardVibes]

UT99 is one of the best games ever made. I still boot it up once a year around the holidays and do a full single-player Tournament run. Incredible vibes.

[@nogoodgreen3274]

Best soundtrack of all time

[@wynkss]

I only got to play UT2004 and still had a blast!

[@nazgulsenpai]

During the summer I would stay up all night long, playing TDM on Facing Worlds. I learned how to lead shots with the sniper rifle with a 999ms dialup ping from the top of the towers :)

[@sunburystudios]

I am seriously hoping that RTX remix brings this game back to life.

[@Zeithri]

UT99 is one of the best games ever made. I've got countless hours played in that game! All my 16+ bots were customized with custom skins and voices. Some had absolute sniper aim when they got their preferred weapons but sucked when they had anything else. And let's not forget, the amazingly beautiful and intelligent adult star Asia Careera was an UT 99 player as well, even making her own custom skin. Still a great game to load up and play. BUT I WISH, I could play as the robots in Single Player 'Campaign' style :/ I love them.

[@mortemtyrannus8813]

This was a difficult video for me. When I was a kid, we had Unreal Gold and UT99's GOTY edition on PC. Me, my sister and my dad used to play both of them all the time. I still remember playing Hydro and Facing Worlds, and him just sitting there in the tower, sniping away at the bots. At the time, my sister and I, we couldn't finish either game. It was my dad who beat the Skaarj queen at the end of Unreal, my dad who beat the Skaarj Warlord at the end of Return to Na Pali, and my dad who, after god knows how many tries, finally beat Xan and won the Tournament. A decade later, UT3 comes out, and I manage to save up enough money to buy it on the 360. Same thing happens, but now, we're not taking turns, we're actually playing it, two of us at once, the way we would've liked to have played the original all those years ago. Sure, age had caught up with him, and his reactions weren't as quick as they were when we were kids, but dad still jumped in and joined us whenever he could, up until he reached the point where the game was just too fast-paced for him and he couldn't keep up at all. Cancer took him, New Years Eve last year. I lost those original disks long ago, but luckily I managed to pick up the full series before Epic delisted them. I think I'm going to go see if I can remember his favourite character and play through the original, just as a reminder of better times. Thanks for bringing back memories I'd almost forgotten.

[@anon_y_mousse]

I still remember when I first got UT setting up a server to play with just me and my friends online. The ChaosUT mod was definitely the best reason to get the GOTY edition. The explosive crossbow was and still is my jam. I can't imagine how much more I'd cling to my memories of those days if I had played the game with my father and he wasn't still around. There are still public servers up now, if you get the settings from the Old Unreal site, and plenty of us old timers still play both U1 and UT online. It wouldn't be the same, but maybe you could still have fun.

[@Ritualsrevenge]

He's fighting Xan in hell now 😊

[@francesoxberry6816]

Take out those bots one more time for dad bro❤‍🔥

[@mihaelvulchev7003]

Thank for sharing this with us.

[@WolfenDay]

Huge empathy for you and sorry for your loss, really cool of you to share though. For what it's worth i think you are absolutely doing a good thing celebrating the loss of a loved one in a way like this, it's the little things that let us cherish memories and hopefully heal over time.

[@MrDilkington15]

I'll say it over and over again.. Unreal Tournament 2004 offline with bots in 2024 is more fun than 99% of modern FPS games

[@Isaacfess]

Amen brother.

[@MothershipLoudspeakerz]

They have the same IQ of the average rando matchmaker gives people anyway

[@Falcnuts]

This and avenged sevenfold playing over my cd player wa all I needed in high school brother

[@madphilip12]

UT 2004 was so good, ut3 actually did something nice

[@kestrel1917]

@@Falcnuts The soundtrack to the bus ride home from school lol

[@MisterNightfish]

Everything else aside, the announcer from Unreal Tournament remains my absolute favourite.

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

UUUULLLTRRAAA KILLLL!!!!!

[@37Kilo2]

I love that in UT 2003, when you bump up all the graphics settings to their highest, the announcer yells "Holy Shit!"

[@Isaacfess]

That happens in UT2004 as well!

[@OpenTournament]

The announcer is so good they continued to use his voice in DOTA (all throughout the WC3 mod days) and even in the early days of DOTA2. That's lasting impact!

[@MisterNightfish]

@@OpenTournament I am well aware :D Part of why I never got into DotA2 is that I thought the new announcer was incredibly lame.

[@emaheiwa8174]

I used to play Unreal Tournament while listening Fear Factory and NIN... Good Times 😎

[@dja5766]

my childhood encapsulated in a single yt comment

[@thomashverring9484]

Sounds relatable :^)

[@romerogoon]

Speaking from the UK, it was a wild time. The Internet was becoming mainstream so news of new and decent bands from the US were being talked about, but the bandwidth wasnt there to download (let alone stream) media at will, so grunge and numetal enjoyed a second wave of popularity when Korn, Soundgarden, Rammstein et al came along. Those bands were the soundtrack to my Quake 3, Daikatana, and CS deathmatches. That, and music was becoming an actual thing for games - the 32-bit edition of Road Rash threw me feet first into Therapy?, Paw, Swervedriver etc. Banging tunes from a banging era.

[@benpc1794]

Facing world's and fear factory was a strong combo!

[@avozsaj]

GVMERS casually breaking my heart with that title

[@StillTheVoid]

😭😭

[@Isaacfess]

UT2004 is still my favorite multiplayer arena shooter ever. So many good memories with it. Such a shame how hard Epic dropped the ball with UT4 and then delisting the *entire* series afterwards.

[@Shmandalf]

I was just playing it the other day, it absolutely still holds up as a high-adrenaline arena shooter. Now its all about hero shooters which just doesn't have the same vibe, I guess we have Halo infinite for our arena shooter needs but even that isn't the same

[@Isaacfess]

I still play it almost daily and I never get tired of a quick botmatch.

[@hansolowe19]

Instagib ctf, most intense mode. Small simple maps, it was beautiful.

[@bioshock6935]

@@hansolowe19 For me the fun of playing todays games as gone why i tend to go back to my 90's heydays of gaming there just nothing out there that even come close to them even the new doom reboots for me are so disappointing there not doom no more. My last fun game i loved playing online was the l4d 1 and 2 that i can truly say i did enjoy so much but its just to old to go back now unless they really remaster them all up big time as for back4blood just a complete disappointment again

[@ratfood3875]

​@@Shmandalfong bruh, it's fun asf, would love to play this online today. Way better than lame ahhh Valorant

[@juliomonk]

Unreal Tournament 99 is still the greatest arena FPS of all time. The spectacular music, iconic maps and amazing AI provides such a unique experience. It's a shame that Epic delisted the game everywhere. I can only hope for a proper remaster made by Nightdive but I doubt the game will ever be forgotten. Great video. *Congratulations, you're the winner.*

[@oso_Peligroso]

People don't talk enough (in my opinion) about how good the enemy bots really were! Balanced but challenging always. The first few levels made you feel like it was going to be an easy ride and then you found yourself in hectic firefights!

[@JTHundley]

@@oso_Peligroso They were pretty good, but I still remember the time I figured out that the bots always take the same path when exiting the spawns in Facing Worlds. You could just keep your sniper rifle zoomed in on one spot and click as each head walks into it lol

[@burnercolt6647]

​@@oso_Peligroso you responded to an AI comment. The prompter even copied and pasted his own response to his prompt. Most comments are AI.

[@burnercolt6647]

​@@JTHundleyyou responded to an AI comment. The prompter even copied and pasted his own response to his prompt. Most comments are AI.

[@JTHundley]

@@burnercolt6647 No I responded to a guy who responded to an AI comment lol

[@TheBrokenEclipse]

UT was such a GOAT series, it's a crime it is no longer available.

[@n0rbert79]

@@TheBrokenEclipse You can still grab the game across the whole internet and thanks to OldUnreal and many patches and community supported master servers these games can be played still.

[@aurawolf664]

its available, just not officially

[@dstacks2301]

I played it online last night. Just search up the server ip's on google and put it in the game.

[@koettfaers]

​@@aurawolf664i think that was his point.

[@3Black.1Red]

UT was many people's childhood. The soundtrack slaps just as hard today.

[@docmadhattan]

Yup, got lots of people into Drum'n'Bass.

[@MeganeMondeoMX5]

Such great memories of Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition. Back in Secondary School, loads of us would play LAN in the "Tech" room after school hours. CTF while Sniping on Facing Worlds was my jam! Cannot capture that same experience playing online, with a headset. I miss UT!

[@Shmandalf]

Thats awesome, someone had put one of the UTs on all the computers in the lab at our high school and we'd be playing there too lol Facing Worlds is a legendary map in any FPS

[@n0rbert79]

@@MeganeMondeoMX5 I hope you realise, that you can still play today. Have an 4.51 updated version, then search for OldUnreal 4.69d update, apply the update and enjoy the game as in 1999. It's still going strong.

[@Milesamanjaro]

Same. Our entire school was connected by the same LAN, and we could join from any classroom during lunch, circa 2004. Unreal, Quake, and Starcraft we at the top of the list.

[@rizzle187187]

same here man. The amount of time i spend out in that game is crazy. I remember joining clans everything hahha

[@benpc1794]

I did the same at my secondary school in the UK! Nothing like half an IT lesson playing facing world's 😂

[@madmansprinkles]

A favorite memory I have of UT was playing it at home, having my super serious uncle who I have never seen touch a single video game, come by and say I was bad at it, played it better than me, and then tell me that he played it in the office at work

[@nogoodgreen3274]

Unreal Tournament 99 my favorite shooter of all time

[@OpenTournament]

Good choice

[@azmalguthek4502]

Man of culture.

[@FuzedBox]

I bounce back and forth from preferring 99 or 2004. Each of them have their little niches that they excelled in. The original Domination mode was far an away better than the travesty that was Double Domination, Assault traded blows with each having spectacular and... subpar maps for it. Bombing Run in 2k4 was the tits, but there was a modded mode for '99 called Slave Master, and it's probably my all-time favorite game type. Each had fantastic community mods and maps.

[@TheRealistMus]

Always a pleasure to see a new GVMERS retrospective

[@Shmandalf]

This guy's voice is MADE for this kind of work, lol. I wouldn't be surprised if he ever got a radio or documentary narration job

[@GearHead4G63]

Thank you for this trip down memory lane :) I was with Digital Extremes at the time and Summer of 1999 is one my fondest career memories working on this game with some of the industries finest. Fun fact: In addition to various character and weapon textures, I was also the voice of "Male 1". To this day, there's nothing quite as awesome as getting fragged by a bot during a 2am playtest, then taunted in my own voice. I still have new unopened PC copies of Unreal and Unreal Tournament in my personal collection as mementos. Good times they were, and I am extremely grateful to have been part of it.

[@ashh8746]

Salute 🫡

[@smantie]

Unreal Tournament really was the best FPS of its time, and perhaps the best arena shooter of all time. The movement, weapons, and overall gameplay was premier.

[@steveetienne]

Spot on.

[@hakhtml]

do you like feet?

[@Garcian_Smith]

To those old enough and to clarify to younger audiences, Unreal Tournament never died off on its own. It was killed off effective immediately the moment Fortnite and the battle royale game genre kicked off and started raking in massive profits. In that regard Unreal Tournament was seen as an antiquated relic from a time long passed that did not look anywhere near as profitable as Fortnite unfortunately...

[@Anonymous-iw4hx]

Just imagine how much money they made with Fortnite, its mind boggeling. they could run a team working on a new UT just as a vanity project. But they dont. Hearing sweeney say UT is the DNA of the company hurts in 2024

[@NicholasBrakespear]

"It was killed off effective immediately the moment Fortnite" Nope. It was killed off earlier - when Epic actively and overtly shunned the PC gamers who represented their core fanbase, in favour of the XBox and the Gears of War franchise. This was expressed most in the sudden change in art design for UT3, which PC players immediately recognised as being the Gears of War look, with a slight reskin (and the Gears of War look, desaturated and grim, was arguably the total opposite of UT). That's also leaving aside major changes to the multiplayer experience and UI design - all visibly favouring consoles. Fortnite didn't kill UT - it simply prevented its rebirth from being completed. UT was already dead by that point.

[@Anonymous-iw4hx]

@@NicholasBrakespear fortnite was the last nail in UTs coffin then

[@patlefofort]

Consoles and their popularity killed arena shooters.

[@Biouke]

@@NicholasBrakespear I experienced it that way too. UT99 and 2004 being unanimous successes shows that every time EPIC diverted too much from the core gameplay and feel of the first instalment, it flopped.

[@alexdietrich7975]

This is the one I've been waiting for you to cover...this one hits harder than all the other downfalls for me cause I was there since Quake and UT was where the real memories were made. 04 is legendary, we got killing floor and red orchestra. What an era.

[@devinraikkonen8974]

Feels kinda weird to be considered an OG FPS PC gamer. I remember building my first (and only) gaming PC. To think... AMD processors were 3L337. Some time after I got to play Halo for the first time on console. Felt odd. Took me a while but I eventually left my roots of PC (guess it's good thing I never had to care about the graphics card mining fiasco downfall of the last decade). Rip to my cousin who molded all my early knowledge and foundation of computer and technology. And letting me borrow your UT install disk set and cd-key.

[@VioletElite4]

UT was one of those games that introduced me to the novelty of adding bots to a multiplayer custom game in case you didn't have anyone to play with or just didn't have intenet. It was a great way to simulate multiplayer gaming

[@christianbethel]

Was? It still is!

[@PaulC-Drums]

I want a new Unreal Tournament game pretty much more than ANY OTHER GAME. I can't even fully fathom how ambitious a fully fledged Unreal Tournament game would be in 2024. Half-Life 3 is seriously the only other game I want more. PLEASE MAKE IT!

[@GFClocked]

At this point we have a higher chance of hl3 than unreal. Really sad state of affairs how epic forgotten who made them what they are today

[@OpenTournament]

Hi there. Encourage you to check out Open Tournament.

[@TheTytan007]

The difference is that there is a lot of indication that Valve has started working on next Half-Life game as early as in 2019 even before Half-Life Alyx launched and that game ended in the way that suggests that their next game would be a non-VR Gordon game. Epic on the other hand just doesn't care.

[@slowtrigger]

Why? It would flop or be "too modern" for old school arena players, you can already play Diabotical and other similar games that are already struggling. Arena shooters time is over.

[@tituscrow4951]

@@slowtriggerrelease a new one with ONS ( onslaught ) mode front and Center. A battlefield game with future weapons and vehicles. That could bring in battlefield players maybe.

[@andrwarrior]

the footage really helps to convey how big the visual and tactile upgrade it was getting into UT2003 and 2004 as a shooter lover. The explosion of gibs with trailing blood, high quality bulky sweet ass guns, responsiveness in the controls, and an AI that could kick your ass back to spawn on the harder difficulties, made the game truly feel alive and immersive like the blockier older generations didn't

[@tituscrow4951]

I still count 2004 the start of modern pc graphics. That was like the base layer of rasterisation. Everything has been added on since then.

[@soulsphere9242]

@@tituscrow4951It was part of the first generation of games to be designed around hardware accelerated geometry transform and geometry cached in video RAM. This was why there was a huge explosion in polygon counts around that time.

[@Rugg03]

I’m just happy Unreal Tournament is getting its own episode in the new “secret level” series coming out.

[@Inmate-vi6kv]

Thhank you for this

[@Th3Gr33k]

I played UT2k4 for years, in competitions and for fun. Absolutely fantastic community. Jolt competitions and such was fantastic. Long gone now.

[@boosted2022]

The whole video game industry is cooked in my opinion. We need a 1983-esque reset. Nintendo just sues everyone, Microsoft has completely lost its customer base, and Sony just blew 400+ million on a horrible overwatch clone. We’re lost right now.

[@RobbleRouser]

Sony losing millions off of Concord is actually a really good thing. It forces them to take a look at what they've done and see where they went wrong.

[@boosted2022]

@@RobbleRouser They will not learn anything from that mistake, I assure you. The culture within Sony and all of big tech is that of toxic positivity. I’m sure they believe it’s the consumers fault. We’re just not open minded and woke enough to accept their corporate slop

[@christianbethel]

Yep, we need a second video game crash so we have a second Golden Age.

[@StrigWilson]

Fromsoft still out there cooking but they are falling into a "no feedback bubble" imo. Elden ring/DS3 felt like a few steps back from bloodborne/sekiro in some ways to me

[@boosted2022]

@@StrigWilson See, that’s the thing. I’ve played none of those games. I could care less about a giant, better graphics and different story version of something Bethesda was capable of doing 20 years ago. Where are the NEW game ideas. Where are the groundbreaking titles? They’re no where.

[@Bloodynine606]

The best multiplayer series of all time. The original Unreal is also very underrated. I still remember the first time you step out of the ship to see the alien planet of Na Pali. RIP

[@Ablequerq]

Yeah so underrated it sold millions.

[@Bloodynine606]

@@Ablequerq not good enough. Underrated

[@azmalguthek4502]

@@Bloodynine606 It's not underrated at all, my friend. You have to realize that the amount of people who had a PC or actively knew how to use one back then, as well as the amount of gamers in general, was SIGNIFICANTLY smaller. Unreal could have made several changes to be bigger or smaller, but it is NOT a sleeper game. It was critically acclaimed by pretty much every major, moderate and minor magazine, journal or publication that got their hands on it. It was enormously respected during its day.

[@Bloodynine606]

@@azmalguthek4502 I realise. You need to realise popularity on its release doesn’t actually support your argument

[@azmalguthek4502]

@@Bloodynine606 Unreal revolutionized many things and pushed others, including but not limited to environmental storytelling, graphics rendering, optimization, bots, map making/editors, engine iteration, and more. It was received across the board to WIDESPREAD, OPEN applause and got pretty much 8s, 9s or 10s across the board, or 4/5 out of 5 stars. There was no controversy around it, just widespread acclaim. It was acknowledged by every source that mattered, Carmack himself included. Underrated means rated lower than it needs to be. Hence the two words "under" and "rated.' It is not a 10/10 in every single regard, but you could EASILY argue it's a 9/10 in every single regard. Thus it's rated exactly as where it needs to be - an excellent game. Reality supports my argument, thus your opinion doesn't need to. Unreal was not slept on. It was not a sleeper hit. It was a widespread beloved game that shaped many games after it, including the landscape of shooters as we know it.

[@3Black.1Red]

I was JUST on a Unreal Tournament binge watching sesh. And this showed up just in time. 👍

[@GFClocked]

Literally same. I'm playing with some guys 'the finals' and when i mentioned my arena roots they said they don't even know what's quake and unreal, i couldn't believe it. It's so sad that these have been dormant for so long people don't even know what they're missing anymore

[@devinraikkonen8974]

​​@@GFClockedTeam Arena 🎉

[@wishnix60]

Got some present binge available, not the best gamer but it's is there..

[@najhoant]

Apparently, one of the episodes of "Secret Level" will be based on Unreal Tournament 4, so at least some new people will be introduced to it

[@samcrowley7786]

Gotta watch it bro, so good

[@dragonmares59110]

To this day i can still install my copy of ut2k4 on any machine i want, mod it, play with bots, play in lan, host custom private servers. Modern multiplayer shooters have none of it and i refuse to touch them because of that.

[@arnox4554]

Just a pro tip for anyone getting into UT2004 for the first time, download Ballistic Weapons. It has full ping compensation for weapons INCLUDING all modded weapons. And the mod is just generally astounding too.

[@sujimayne]

That's cool, but you are 0.0001%. Most people are not interested in any of it; they just wanna get home from work and shoot some stuff against other players while looking at pretty graphics. Arena shooters and boomer shooters are quite a niche nowadays.

[@Yamakambo]

This episode is gonna make me cry 😢 UT3 and Timesplitters 2/3 are my favourite game of all time

[@davidjacob8176]

UT2004, overall and taken as a whole, is the best FPS I've ever played.

[@tituscrow4951]

Same! The real golden era of gaming 🫡

[@steveetienne]

UT99 GOTY Was the superior game for me.

[@akebo92]

Play Unreal tournament in that giant tower stage while listening to Janet Jackson in the background on media player is a core memory for me

[@break-neck758]

Unreal Tournament... the game that is forever in my heart. Face.... the music.... the redeemer

[@Garage.Philosophy]

Unreal tournament reboot would honestly crush in todays market , it’s like a class shooter but the classes are the weapon pick ups

[@kadajsnightqueen]

The original Unreal Tournament is one of my all-time favorite games with one of my favorite soundtracks, and I hold it right up there with Doom as one of the best in the genre. More than anything else in the game industry, I wish we could get both a remaster for the GotY edition on modern systems (preferably from LRG), and a sequel at long last. I hate that Epic Games has essentially swept it under rug when it and the original Unreal are what made the company big in the first place. This series deserved so much better than that.

[@GFClocked]

The irony, epic is now known for Unreal, the engine, but the engine was known for Unreal, the game..

[@DoomRulz]

Nah, forget LRG. They're scammers. I'd rather Epic revisit it and distribute it themselves.

[@existential_]

Unreal Tournament was one of the first games I constantly played on my first computer. It was one of the few that would even run on 32MB VRAM of the Riva TNT2 and it ran pretty fast too. Since then always thought of Unreal Engine as being an efficient engine, funny now it is known as one of the heaviest. I would play with the Red Space Marine, Bullet Time and 3rd person camera mods on Facing Worlds. Getting nostalgia overload with this documentary and Space Marines II out now!

[@Jojje94]

I was never a big PVPer so Unreal Co-op was my jam. Made a lot of friends there, had my own server, good times.

[@Seawater195]

Thank you for making this video. I am a die-hard fan of the series and this upload brought tears to my eyes. I still play to this day, although not so often as before.

[@wishnix60]

Come visit us online

[@thenextlevel123]

I really miss Unreal Tournament.

[@Cube3830]

as one of the rare ppl who have been playing ut for 20 years its really nice to see a larger channel finally put more eyes on ut really nice video

[@n0rbert79]

UT99 is still going strong. I am playing daily with online buddies on servers. The community is great too, and you can have your own servers and there are community master servers. UT99 lives on.

[@NicholasBrakespear]

I've been playing it with my wife and some friends, after carefully acquiring every single third party map I could find that was of sufficient quality. My deathmatch map list is now 600 entries long, and I had to get the "xmaps" mod to make big enough maplists to accommodate it. The first reaction my wife had to UT, after having played nothing so old before? It was immediately and consistently fun. It felt good to play, even to someone whose first "FPS" was Minecraft in 2019.

[@seraph8]

I recall playing "competitively" (via IRC chat and message boards) during my early years of high school, still a couple years after its release and the initial hype had died down. The community may not have been as great then, but it _was_ a bunch of young kids being kids for the most part, so it was about what you'd expect. While I can't honestly say that I would enjoy this type of game today, the memories I have of meeting people, participating in a team game, and competing in "clan" matches on competitive ladders have stuck with me to this day. It's nice to hear that people are still having fun with it, even 25 years on💜 Edit: Are people still playing IG or SA? Just out of curiosity, no need to answer!

[@n0rbert79]

@@seraph8 Hello there. I personally play classic sniper rounds or the community made Monsterhunt gamemodes (Monsterhunt is basically a map with imported monsters from Unreal 1 with additional mutators added). IG is still around, yet not often played and sadly I never played Sword Arena. The community is not big but it exists and there are even new players too, which is amazing considering the age of the game. Furthermore thanks to the community made patches you can enjoy the game on a nice range of operating systems on different architectures as well. As times have shown: only the moddable games survive the passing of time and in the end the players define the fate of a game, not the opposite.

[@steveetienne]

Discovering Unreal GOTY 1999 is one of the greatest gaming experiences of my life. I've been gaming since the 70's so have played a great many games & I rate this iteration in my all time top 10 maybe even top 5. The nostalgia I feel when seeing footage or hearing some of the soundtrack overwhelms me with a desire to return to the past. Incredible game.

[@EveBatStudios]

These were my first games. Specifically unreal tournament 1999 GOTYE. I was raised in a household so conservative they didn't allow technology so I basically bought random pc parts at yardsales in secret and put one together in the attic. They eventually found it and shot and burned it but opening the unreal level editor that came packaged with that software changed my life forever and cemented obsession with game development.

[@christianbethel]

Wow, that's awesome and fucked up. Can't believed they destroyed your computer.

[@NotDBCooper]

I still play UT2004 to this day.

[@OpenTournament]

I see you are also a man of taste.

[@wishnix60]

I hope it's online 😇

[@ShadOwFax2287]

I could write a novel about UT. I played UT99 when I was a kid and fell in love. I then went on to play UT3 on PS3 and became the 2nd highest ranked EU Duel player. I was also one of the best CTF Flag runners in the world. I spent years of my life completely dedicated to the game and was fully part of the community taking part in major tournaments and winning and losing with and to some of the best players/teams in the world. Losing this series pains me to this day and I miss it so much. It's like a part of my heart and I really hate Epic these days for replacing it with a shitty game like Fortnite. UT was 10000000000% better and involved so much more skill. I really hope Epic give there head a wobble and bring back one of the best series of games ever made. SORT IT OUT EPIC !!!!!!!!!!!!

[@eimantaskiseliovas677]

Unreal Tournament still remains of of the best FPS games of all time - excellent gameplay, excellent level designs, excellent AI, excellent graphics. Its a shame it was pulled out of storefronts...

[@tehprimelime1063]

unreal was what got me inspired to learn how to make art for games. I hope one day arena shooters come back; they were peak gaming for me.

[@Mr.SethSquatch]

I cannot tell ya how much I love this channel y’all are kicking ass keep it up my friends and take care :)

[@danielwhite1670]

The amount of hours I put into Unreal Tournament 2004 was literately UNREAL.

[@Cheecken]

Unreal Tournament didnt deserve to go out the way it did. It left such a profound impact on the games industry and the players who loved the games the most, who still keep the series alive to this day. Im glad this video is well watched, maybe some people are interested enough to seek out the games and play them again. Thanks for making this video!

[@darkowl9]

What's insane to me is that Carmack spent ages figuring out how to use BSP in Quake and it was super fast. Then Sweeney looked at the result, figured out a completely alternative approach and made a fully real-time system that didn't need to be compiled and could be previewed live in the editor. Just crazy what what happening in gaming technology in the late 90s.

[@StillTheVoid]

Geniuses.

[@babysunflower6282]

Thank you for this video, this series is dear to me and the first video game I’ve ever played as a kid. I’m forever depressed about how they treated UT over greed… all things we hold dear comes to an end now…

[@ФеофанЭтополедолжнобытьзаполне]

Sweeny got greedy. First he wanted to become Carmac, then he wanted to become Gabe, in result he's halfway to becoming Kotick.

[@AxeMain]

Forgone destruction off facing worlds is such a cool song. I love how the hi-hats circle from left to right in the mix

[@exharkhun5605]

In the early 2000's there was this guy going around software companies making them put the year in the title and ensuring the product would feel dated past July of the same year. I'd be very interested to know which publisher eventually hunted him down and had his head mounted to the wall of their marketing team.

[@blunderingfool]

Lol, to be fair it was a holdover from the 90s. Putting the year in the title of software was an easy way to keep buyers up to date on what was the latest... the we had the new milenium!

[@exharkhun5605]

@@blunderingfool That should have a major red flag. Many decisions were made in the 90's, barely any had logic behind them that survived the first tentative rays of the next sunrise.

[@blunderingfool]

@@exharkhun5605 True, but at least people were generally less mental. :P

[@RDJ134]

This channel is zo good and so professional on the production and telling video game history. So muche respect.

[@Szapi]

I think the saddest thing was that the only time UT99 and UT2004 players kind of united under the same banner was when the entire franchise was delisted. Decades of gaming history erased, in a split second, just like that. While it is another fantastic documentary, I have to disagree with the closing remarks. They don't have to come back to UT. They won't. They have a solid revenue source that's seemingly not going to end any time soon. And even if it did, after all they've done to distance themselves from their past, I'm not sure anyone is going to be there to say "welcome back".

[@ProfesorWillem]

I don't hate fortnite, but I'm not blind to see how that game singlehanded killed not only unreal, but also any possibility to make more ideas into new games, and f*ck epic for delisting all unreal games for no reasons

[@petelongrs]

I had a long time to enjoy Unreal Tournament 2003/2004. Simply superb.

[@LAHFaust]

UT2003 is, ironically, what introduced me to tactical FPS games via the Red Orchestra mod.

[@adambomb51]

Thanks for making this! So many memories! I would even buy a remaster of 99 today full price

[@viewtiful1doubleokamihand253]

It’s called *Unreal* because it *WAS* .

[@DyliosG]

The original “Headshot!” Sound bit freaking awesome will never forget that

[@michiganjack1337]

UT 2004 is peak

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

Seeing those early builds in HD is awesome. Some of those ultra early, Unreal-esque UT99 builds were fascinating. I'd never seen those. I adore the Tournament games, but Unreal is the one that truly has my heart.

[@Guarrow]

It's .... actually painful to see that episode. I had so much faith in Unreal Tournament 4, it could have been so much greater, it didn't even need that much investment. They had to get this team to develop Fortnite's Battle Royale and never come back ... Even worse that they went out of their way to remove the game from all the stores. Crazy to see that Epic seem to actually hate their legacy for some reason

[@carpediem4619]

My career in video editing was epically jump-started when Mark Rein gave me the chance to create the game trailers for UT2004. I was a huge fan, having played UT'99 for years. So to be able to sit at cliffyb's computer, capturing video using a sony dv converter, and playing with all the developers was a dream come true. The ut 2004 vehicles trailer i completed that year is still my favorite video ive ever done. I had to mix in explosion sound effects, announcer vo, and a bunch of other stuff in post since many of those elements weren't ready yet, lol. And every scene is of me playing. Ah the very best of times. - TyeFang

[@FacingWorlds84]

Thanks a lot for this video! Unreal Tournament 99 is by far the best game ever made! A game in perfection. I loved it so hard rocking with my german clans leagues like gsl, esl and so on in ctf. I loved my childhood. I wish everyone best

[@WrestlingColin]

The amount of hours I sunk into Unreal Tournament in high school... those were the days. What a phenomenal game.

[@theactualTVB]

I can never forget Unreal Tournament thanks to the Angry German Kid back in the mid-2000s. Good times

[@sandrinowitschM]

That kid made a hilarious video that ruined his youth in the process because no one got the joke. It's a sad story

[@alicecantsleeep]

FINALLY. So pumped for this one. TY for everything team!

[@xrabbit6585]

Finally some one made a video about unreal tournament

[@massam9343]

As a kid who picked up Unreal Tournament 2004 in Circuit City back in the day this hurts my soul. Series used to be a staple of any PC gamer’s arsenal now its just a passing memory nowadays.

[@immortanleo3868]

My friend first let me play this on his Dreamcast. He’s in prison now for murder

[@davidjohnson36st]

#FreeTheGuy

[@AchiragChiragg]

That turn a hard turn

[@DP12321]

Tim Sweeney should be there next to him for murdering this great franchise.

[@fattony75]

Mmmmmmonster killlllllll! 😅

[@bluedistortions]

Are those two statements related is what I'm wondering

[@xgmode]

Unreal tournament 2004 was my favorite version, played all the available gametypes for many many hours.

[@szeltovivarsydroxan9944]

I only got my first PC in 1999, and Unreal was the first game I bought for it. I don't think I've replayed any game more than Unreal, last time in 2018. And I still think it holds up extremely well. The atmosphere and environmental storytelling of this game is unmatched IMO.

[@SIRCAM73]

I still play and enjoy UT'99, installed HD textures, HD Skins and Weapons and some of the most fun mutators out there. The communities behind this game are pure diamond skilled programmers, modders and players. You guys rock.!!!

[@JCBeastie]

UT99 seems so simple, so pure, it's baffling how much they struggled to give us the same ever again.

[@NicholasBrakespear]

Because its purity was actually the result of careful design choices and iterative development - let's not forget, all the weapons were refined versions of those that appeared in Unreal 1. The movement, the sound design, the level design, the AI for the bots... all of it was an iteration on the already-excellent Unreal 1. A polished, flawlessly crafted piece of wooden furniture might appear simple... but that apparent simplicity belies endless hours of craftsmanship and practice. When subsequent titles came along, they weren't iterating, they were throwing too much old stuff away... changed material, changed tools, ended up making Ikea furniture instead.

[@desireless4092]

@@NicholasBrakespear 2004 was also GOAT material.

[@NicholasBrakespear]

@@desireless4092 It was great.. but it did implement changes that demonstrated they had already forgotten how to recapture the magic. Watch "The Importance Of Nothing" - a GDC talk on youtube, in which some bloke from Epic discusses why their attempts at remaking CTF-Face kept failing, and why the introduction of new graphical technologies basically messed with level design right through to Gears of War. It's kinda fascinating to see exactly why the artistic principle of "less is more" isn't esoteric and subjective, but actually an objective issue of human pattern recognition and signal to noise ratio.

[@FB87291]

I played UT99 and UT2004. The latter is much more memorable and the former is really limited in comparison.

[@SeLeXeL]

Great Vid !! Brought back a few memories of my early years getting into UT99 and the later PC titles to UT3 and 'UT4'. Went by the handle, TiryaZae. No clan affiliation. Still load up UT99 every now and then. Very few active servers though.

[@jspencer89yt]

A new GVMERS video today is a good day.

[@fuzzcabbit]

Unreal Tournament is why im a pc gamer too this day My uncle was obsessed with this franchise. He would show me unreal tournament 2003, and I'd be hooked too that Windows 2000 professional edition computer every time i was over! i remember him buying a Radeon HD 3800 just for UT3, updating his rig just for the best experience possible! Thank you for the trip down memory lane and telling what happened! It breaks my heart, not seeing this franchise around

[@CharlieViking95]

UT99 and UT2K4 are absolute fucking masterpieces. So many gems came out of the Unreal brand it's insane ❣

[@darkbornelines4587]

Still waiting for the next UT, one of my favorite video game series ever

[@clonexradio]

Don't think I'll ever forget my teenage gaming years spent playing UT99.

[@okarss]

At some point I switched to Half-life, CS and TFC. But i definitely spent about 3 years obsessed with UT and this nostalgic and informative doc was very much appreciated.

[@zanekorvek8643]

UNREAL TOURNAMENT IS THE GREATEST FIRST PERSON SHOOTER EVER MADE AND ITS THE BEST MULTIPLAYER EVER MADE!

[@noireops5917]

Sniping on Face

[@Wastingsometimehere]

Thank you for telling me what happened to this series. One of my most played in the early 2ks.

[@Pexeroso]

I was part from the UT Pre-Alpha community, and i can assure, epic was trying to erase this game. look no other game got 8 years into pre-alpha status, and i say more, UT Pre-Alpha could be one of the BESTS e-sports games ever done, the gameplay was soo polished by the community that i can assure, in a competitive way, UT Pre-alpha was the best on the franchise, and i LOVE UT99 and 2004, community was creating something big to shut people mouth, epic promissed UT3X but it was cancelled, maybe the ego of Tim Swenney was hurt by the fact he would need to launch the game at steam months ago, Valve gave us Half-Life, the game that make them raise years ago, Epic banned you from buy the game that make them raise

[@LordBrizz]

I don't think so. The pre-alpha has poor movement and player scale issues that they really were never able to resolve. For a pre-alpha its flaws can be excused but it would have been complaint city if they launched that way.

[@Pexeroso]

@@LordBrizz sorry, but i think you don't have too much contact with the game bro. I can assure you the moviment was great, you can combo dodges with walls to create gap jumps into the maps, it was possible to combo this with wallrides and and even create shortcuts and escapes using this, and player scale was great, shock rifle and rockets was easy hit, but the server tickrate was bad, i can assure you that, i will recommend a video called : Dead Game Review : the unkillable Unreal Tournament, there is loads of comments from players from the comminity that will make you understand even better !

[@LordBrizz]

@@Pexeroso I mean, I put hundreds of hours into it, and was invited to a community event.

[@LyneaSilver]

@@LordBrizz Cool story bro.

[@siimoraba2043]

Still playing UT99. With the most recent patches and textures, it's even better than back in the day!

[@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames]

I just downloaded and played both UT99 and UT2004 the other day, and dumped HOURS into them. Amazing games, and a travesty they aren’t respected.

[@Aragorn7884]

playing UT on the DC online was amazing back in Y2K 🥰

[@aussiekozy]

Why is there no mention of the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 versions?

[@gloriouskatatsumuri]

Come on Epic, let Nightdive give it the remaster treatment and re-release 'Unreal' deserves. You've already been silly and missed the 25th anniversary already but don't let a very special game fade away like this 🙏🙏🙏

[@Ashborne117]

I'm so lucky to have been able to enjoy this entire franchise. It was such a huge part of my life Unreal will forever be a part of my DNA.

[@bokunogentoo4420]

This documentary was good, but I was disappointed in how it didn't go into detail about how much Gears of War caused the downfall of UT3

[@Alex-ip1dn]

You guys are the best! Thank you

[@pokemon1666]

Nooo, my childhood cannot die.

[@Cryotyde]

I'm going to have to prepare myself for this one as the Unreal / Unreal Tournament / Unreal Championship games are some of my all-time favorites. I still listen to the soundtracks to this day.