Fan-made TimeSplitters Rewind reemerges with call for help to reach finish line

TimeSplitters Rewind – the fan-made recreation of TimeSplitters 1, 2 and 3's multiplayer, which has been in development since 2013 – has reemerged with its first update video in over the year, offering a fresh look at the project and an urgent call for assistance as its developers find themselves in an “incredibly challenging space” due to the current state of the industry.

The TimeSplitters Rewind team secured permission to create the multiplayer remake back in 2012, from then-rights holder Crytek UK. Since then, its volunteer developers have continued to plug away on the project in their spare time, intermittently offering video updates on its progress. The group's latest video – the first since December 2022 – describes itself as a “candid discussion”, mixing footage of its work-in-progress maps with a call for development help.

“With the state of the games industry,” explains lead writer Jake 'The Voice' Parr in the video, “it has placed our developers into an incredibly challenging space where Rewind cannot be a focus for them. Whether that's dealing with potential layoffs, an increasingly difficult job market, or, in the case of TimeSplitters, some changes to the landscape of the IP.”

“TimeSplitters being a free project means that it cannot be at the forefront for people,” Parr continues. “This has always been the case but specifically within the last year that has been especially true.”

In this light, the Rewind team needs “more help and a more refined focus” to polish the experience and get it over the finish line. As such it's seeking everything from character artists and environment artists to technical designers and animators. “We cannot overstate our need for help to make this first release the best one possible,” Parr adds.

According to the update, Rewind's environments currently range from finished to “functional”, while the Spaceways map is “very behind”. The project also needs new character and music assets, as well as weapon animations, with the developer saying it doesn't have enough help to prioritize anything beyond assets at the moment, noting, “Unless we have changes to our team composition, representation from TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect may be quite limited.”

There's no sign of a release date for TimeSplitters Rewind then, but, notably, it's now the only TimeSplitters project in development following Embracer Group's decision last December to close developer Free Radical Design and cancel its official new TimeSplitters game. That project has since been revealed to have started life as a Fortnite clone before morphing into an expanded alternate universe take on the classic TimeSplitters 2.