Five minutes of gameplay from TimeSplitters Next, the canceled project that was in development at the recently shut down Free Radical Design, is now on the internet.
In 2021, then publisher Deep Silver finally announced the return of TimeSplitters, developed by a number of key original members of Free Radical Design, including founders Steve Ellis and David Doak, at a new studio set up in Nottingham, UK.
However, in December 2023, Free Radical shut down amid the devastating and ongoing restructure at embattled games company Embracer. Embracer-owned publisher Plaion confirmed the closure in a statement that failed to mention the future of the unreleased TimeSplitters reboot.
Now, an ex-Free Radical developer has posted gameplay footage to LinkedIn alongside the message: “So, you want to know about the canceled TimeSplitters game? I'll be sure to post what I can.... Embracer Group can go hide in a cave somewhere…”
The video, which reveals a "status snapshot" dated July 2023, gives us a look at what might have been had the project made it to release. There are elements that will be familiar to TimeSplitters veterans, including GoldenEye’s iconic health and shield UI (the original TimeSplitters games were developed by former Rare staff who worked on GoldenEye). The Oblask Dam, which was home to the first level in TimeSplitters 2, is also shown.
But there are key differences, chief among them the Fortnite-style movement, user interface elements, iconography, and loot grading. The open world, too, very much looks like a Fortnite style map. Reportedly, TimeSplitters Next began as something of a Fortnite clone before it was shifted to more closely resemble TimeSplitters 2.
TimeSplitters was a first-person shooter series masterminded by Doak, Ellis, Karl Kilton, and Graeme Norgate after the four left UK studio Rare amid the development of N64 shooter Perfect Dark. TimeSplitters was first released in 2000 as a launch game for the PlayStation 2, and echoed elements from the team’s seminal GoldenEye 007. It took place across multiple different time periods with 18 separate characters battling against the titular foe, creatures who can travel through time and wreck history using special crystals.
It got a sequel in TimeSplitters 2 in 2002, and a further entry in 2005 called TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. After Free Radical struggled to find a publisher for a fourth game, the rights languished at Crysis developer Crytek for years before Deep Silver parent Koch Media bought them up in 2018. Eventually, as with so much video game intellectual property, TimeSplitters ended up in Embracer’s vault.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
