Images showing Free Radical Design's sadly canceled TimeSplitters project have surfaced online, revealing five minutes of gameplay.
The video, published in LinkedIn by a former Free Radical Design staffer, shows a build of the game from July 2023, roughly five months before parent company Embracer canceled the project and closed the studio.
TimeSplitters fans will likely be excited (and upset, since the project is already dead) to see numerous familiar elements return, including an expanded Siberia Dam level, iconic weapons, fan-favorite characters, and the classic user interface. GoldenEye's health/shield.
Let's Play TimeSplitters 2 – Late to the PartyBut there are certainly differences, seen in the movement of the more modern characters and the speed of the game. Towards the end of the video, several elements look a lot like Fortnite, such as the mention of an open world and a shot of a character sliding to the ground. The UI screens show a menu copied directly from Fortnite, as well as an item shop that displays characters and accessories for purchase.
This fits with what we've heard about the project before, which is that it started out as a Fortnite clone but then morphed into an expanded alternate universe of the classic TimeSplitters 2.
“It was originally a Fortnite clone. No one really wanted that, not even us, but we didn't have much choice for a long time,” a developer on the project previously stated.
But a subsequent U-turn took the project into safer waters, it was claimed, with a tone that was “mostly TS2” with a couple of TimeSplitters levels: Future Perfect, an original level, and a couple of entirely new sections.
“It was going to be a 'What If…' where Corporal Hart would happen instead of Cortez so we could do things a little differently,” the developer continued, referencing TimeSplitters 2's two main characters.
Today's footage can currently be viewed via LinkedIn and has already been relocated elsewhere.
“So, you want to know about the canceled TimeSplitters game?” the developer wrote. “I'll be sure to post what I can… Embracer Group may be hiding in a cave somewhere.”
Embracer is currently in the middle of a devastating restructuring process that has led it to lay off eight percent of its workforce, a total of 1,387 employees.
