Unreal and Unreal Tournament, the pioneering titles that introduced Epic Games' now iconic Unreal engine, are now available for free download and play via the Internet Archive. This move has been made with the blessing of Epic Games themselves. Released in 1998, Unreal and its 1999 sequel, which focused heavily on multiplayer, were groundbreaking in an era where FPS games and online multiplayer were just starting to gain traction. Following the success of Quake 2's online multiplayer in 1997, Unreal quickly established itself as a competitor with its visually stunning and fast-paced gameplay. This success led to multiple sequels, with the last fully released game being Unreal Tournament 3 in 2007.
In 2014, Epic released a pre-alpha build for a new Unreal Tournament game, but it was officially canceled in 2018 as the company's focus shifted entirely to Fortnite. The preservation of these classic games, which were delisted from storefronts in 2023 when Epic shut down their official servers, is largely due to the efforts of the Old Unreal community. They have made the process of downloading and installing these games on modern PCs incredibly straightforward. Although official dedicated servers no longer exist, community servers are keeping the multiplayer spirit alive in 2024.
In a statement to Polygon, Epic confirmed that they are not hindering access to these classic titles on Archive.org, allowing fans to freely link to and play these versions. This lenient approach is not new for Epic; in 2018, they released $12 million worth of in-game assets from their defunct MOBA Paragon, allowing developers using the Unreal Engine to repurpose them for new projects.
Source link: https://www.gamespot.com
