Like an annual Call of Duty game or the eventual heat death of the sun, Team Fortress 2's popularity on PC is a constant truth. However, the game is starting to age, especially as things like ray tracing and 4K resolutions become more common. To help the game stave off old age just a bit longer, a team of modders are recreating the game in Valve's new Source 2 engine.
The modding team, Amper Software, is "a passionate team that loves Team Fortress 2." The team started toying with the idea of recreating TF2 after another game, s&box, began releasing tools for the engine. While it's not clear if players will be able to play this new version of TF2, the team is dead set on recreating "the Team Fortress 2 experience in Source 2 using s&box, with many improvements to the base game, as well as creating a truly new unique Team fortress experience."
To that end, Amper Software's team of 23 volunteers has been reworking every part of the classic team-based shooter, from its lighting and assets to its UI. So far, the team's results are impressive, remaking many of the game's iconic weapons with modern textures and lighting. Of particular note are the Soldier's rockets, which now light up the space around them as they zoom towards impact.
Team Fortress 2 is currently in somewhat of a renaissance. While Valve hasn't provided the game with any meaningful updates recently, that hasn't stopped it from slowly amassing a sizable player base. Just this past June, Team Fortress 2 had over 150,000 concurrent players on PC, although it's not clear how many of those players were actually bots.