With the success of TF2 rebounding and Battlebit growing, I am convinced developers are going to totally miss the point and deliver new games with graphic fidelity removed but maintain the same shitty and clunky gameplay thinking that’s the difference.
As someone who bought a physical disc copy of The Orange Box on launch day, it…kinda slays me that TF2 is still running. It’s a very different game than it was in my day, and it is just wild hearing kids younger than the game talking about it. Gaming almost always moves on faster than this.
That launch day was amazing. We had a 2 day LAN party that weekend and played TF2 almost exclusively. This was with a group that had formed around TFC. Then about 6 years after launch I introduced my son to it and he became hooked and we played for years together. There’s a certain magic to all versions of TF that just doesn’t exist in other games.
(it’s probably the well balanced gameplay and dedicated servers)
This peak is obviously because of the update, but why is it keep getting more popular in general in the last 3 years? It was on downward trend before that. What changed?
Within my own personal circle, I’m pretty sure it’s because Overwatch imploded. Most of us saw it as the spiritual successor to TF2 and got really invested because it was pushing the genre forward. As OW2 slowly shat itself, everyone kind of just split off and fell into mourning. Now that it’s been around a decade I think we’ve collectively begun feeling that nostalgic itch and are steadily coalescing back around TF2.
Yeah that’s me lol.
OW came out, I couldn’t get it for 8-10 months, I was already playing TF2 a bit so I went hard until I could buy OW and barely touched TF2 again for a few years.
OW stopped their updates, I started picking up TF2 again outside of OW’s seasonal events. OW2 launched, I uninstalled and was back on TF2.
You’re able to fuck around and get into shenanigans with taunts and stuff. It’s not all just competitive, so I think that giving the option to goof around is great!
Since the game doesnt take itself too seriously, it lends the opportunity to play however you want. It’s neat!
The art-style and character designs has also aged super well, too.
Team Fortress 2 not Titanfall 2.
I loaded up TF2 a few months ago just for a quick game, expecting to get into yet another round of I’m-so-over-it 2fort.
What happened instead of that was a completely nostalgic get-into-any-map-I-wanted round after round of full servers like I’d never put the game away. Dustbowl, Gravelpit, Steel, trying to re-learn all the maps, finding other players who had long since figured out new clever ways to use weapons and classes that I’d always thought of as sub-standard.
And I’m in a region where there should be less players.