It's called Unreal...Because it is....

[Meshugger]

Unreal is not getting a remaster/remake, is it?

It seems like no developer, let alone Epic, really understood what made the original so great to begin with.

 

[Nutmeg]

I consider the first Metroid Prime the spiritual sequel to Unreal.

 

[NecroLord]

Unreal is not getting a remaster/remake, is it?

It seems like no developer, let alone Epic, really understood what made the original so great to begin with.

Never heard of any attempts to remaster it.
At least not official ones, only modders doing their thing.

 

[anvi]

How did Unreal not dominate the world? UT was godlike. UT2004 was amazing too, I was so hooked. Then UT3 I didn't like. Then I lost track, what happened?

 

[Gostak]

Guess the problem was that there also were Quake and more so Half-Life and then Counter Strike happened there.
Diablo II etc. already too much to distract and divide people.

And then Epic divided the UT community with 2k3 and 2k4 releases.

Unreal games when fresh demanded good hardware to run in a way that was enjoyable.
So misers and poor people were left behind.

And UT had so many mods and gamemodes that even in one game the playerbase was further divided into camps.

Every Unreal/UT fan holds it dearly, though.

 

[NecroLord]

How did Unreal not dominate the world? UT was godlike. UT2004 was amazing too, I was so hooked. Then UT3 I didn't like. Then I lost track, what happened?

Competition with another heavyweight - Quake.
Also the rise of console shit and COD-like games.

 

[NecroLord]

And UT had so many mods and gamemodes that even in one game the playerbase was further divided into camps.

I remember playing Tactical Ops, sort of a Counter Strike in the Unreal Engine.

 

[Gostak]

Then we might have fragged each other there, I also played some TacOps back in the days.

On the topic of Unreal: As Zboj Lamignat said, the intro castle flyby was awesome and IMO already setting the mood for the game.
The music, the reflection on the marble floor of the narrow path over the moat it starts at, the green flarish flames around the the title with that U character in that font which is to become an
iconic piece of the upcoming franchise.

 

[Beans00]

Unreal 2, UT3 and then gears of war killed Unreal.

Quake had nothing to do with it, if anything Unreal killed the quake franchise.

 

[soulburner]

I think it's similar to what happened to "2D isometric" RPGs. Publishers lost interest with single player games like Quake and Unreal and believed they would no longer sell. At first there was a push for making another Half-Life, more narrative focused FPSs and then on hero based online "pay to win" shooters. It's like classic rock and metal music - record companies and journalists did everything they could to tell us those genres are dead, but when a new Iron Maiden record comes out it outsells all the plastic lady gagas without any kind of marketing.

Additionally, Epic somehow completely lost interest in anything Unreal besides their engine. I think all the Unreal series were also delisted from all online stores, including their own Epic Store - I don't know if they returned since then or are they still unavailable.

The only way to somewhat revive the game would be a Nightdive remaster (I would love to see all the history, early screenshots, videos and alpha versions in one place) but I believe Epic is not interested in allowing that to happen, either.

 

[Meshugger]

I think it's similar to what happened to "2D isometric" RPGs. Publishers lost interest with single player games like Quake and Unreal and believed they would no longer sell. At first there was a push for making another Half-Life, more narrative focused FPSs and then on hero based online "pay to win" shooters. It's like classic rock and metal music - record companies and journalists did everything they could to tell us those genres are dead, but when a new Iron Maiden record comes out it outsells all the plastic lady gagas without any kind of marketing.

Additionally, Epic somehow completely lost interest in anything Unreal besides their engine. I think all the Unreal series were also delisted from all online stores, including their own Epic Store - I don't know if they returned since then or are they still unavailable.

The only way to somewhat revive the game would be a Nightdive remaster (I would love to see all the history, early screenshots, videos and alpha versions in one place) but I believe Epic is not interested in allowing that to happen, either.

Has Tim Sweeney ever given an official reason on why he hates the very source of his success?

 

[Lemming42]

Half-Life was surely what killed Unreal outright. With hindsight you can see that the comparison isn't really appropriate as they're two different games with different goals, but even as a big fan of Unreal as a kid I remember thinking Half-Life was clearly the more polished and slick game.

Epic should have remade Unreal with each new version of the Unreal engine, to demonstrate the new capabilities of each iteration and keep it relevant. The whole game is one big tech demo, which people normally say as an insult but I mean it as a compliment. Like fuck yes I'm interested in seeing your water effects. Yes I would love to see a huge alien jungle gorge with waterfalls and all that. Yes I would love to see how your engine is capable of reflective surfaces.

If they'd done that, the FPS genre wouldn't have died out in the mid-2000s, guaranteed.

 

[index.php]

 

[Gargaune]

Well, I guess I owe Tim Sweeney an apology. I was foaming at the mouth when I found out they'd pulled the old Unreal games from sale, but this is a stand-up move.

 

[Avonaeon]

Well, I guess I owe Tim Sweeney an apology. I was foaming at the mouth when I found out they'd pulled the old Unreal games from sale, but this is a stand-up move.

Yeah, I was the same. Props to them for allowing it, but I'll give more credit to the OldUnreal folks, since they were likely the ones campaigning for it. It cost Epic nothing but a yes.