Recently it was confirmed that Free Radical, the developers of the original TimeSplitters trilogy, is being reformed. A number of the studio’s original founders are coming together to be part of this new studio under the same name, and they’re working on a new TimeSplitters game. This is something I’ve been waiting for ever since the release of Haze. That game, unfortunately, killed the studio, even though I don’t think it was quite as bad as it’s made out it was. Now though, all I’m thinking about is how damn excited I am for a brand new game in the TimeSplitters franchise.
TimeSplitters is a franchise steeped in lore around both aliens and space travel. Essentially, a race called the TimeSplitters are messing around in human history, trying to change the past to suit their needs. A group in the future is working against this alien scum, and over the course of three games, you actually come to realize that it was a human who created these creatures in the first place. It’s a brilliant story that I’d love to see continued, but the gameplay is actually the real star.
These games had arcade mode and challenges that provided hundreds of hours of gameplay long before any sort of season pass came along. They were the original time sink games. Ones you could sit down and play for hours on end and feel like you’d mate just a tiny bit of progress. That’s because there’s just so much to unlock in the games, from new multiplayer maps, arcade levels, challenges, and of course characters. This is what makes playing the games so appealing, and it’s why they’re so popular that fans have been working on a remaster for years.
I have no expectations for this new, unannounced, TimeSplitters game as of yet. My hope is that it will take full advantage of all the game mechanics and practices seen today and make them work for the player. A TimeSplitters game that could be played indefinitely is my dream, but we’ll have to wait and see what comes from this brilliant studio.