One of the developers behind Homefront: The Revolution recently revealed there is a full 4K port of TimeSplitters 2 hidden within the game.
Responding to a Tweet asking game developers to detail their favourite hidden easter eggs, Matt Phillips responded with an easter egg he hid in Homefront: The Revolution.
My proudest moment. Fully playable, native 4K port of TimeSplitters 2 hidden in this arcade machine in Homefront: The Revolution. https://t.co/U0ulGEW1A1 pic.twitter.com/a4UsyOw7eh
— Matt Phillips (@bigevilboss) April 4, 2021
Phillips revealed that the full game is hidden within Homefront: The Revolution’s files, on Twitter. Only two levels in the port were playable at release.
Players discovered the easter egg when Homefront: The Revolution released. Shortly after, data miners found all of TimeSplitters 2‘s files hidden within the game. Even after finding the files, players were unable to access the full port.
Unfortunately, Phillips lost the unlock code to the port a few years ago: “The unlock code has been lost to time, I don’t have the notebook with it in any more. I once gave it to a friend to leak in some Discord channel and they called him a liar and banned his account.”
The port features 4K visuals and TimeSplitters 2’s full single-player and multiplayer modes. Phillips’ easter egg is the closest fans have got to seeing the series remastered for modern consoles.
The term easter egg in video games describes hidden messages, images or features. Easter eggs typically reference other video games and popular culture.
Developed by Free Radical Design, TimeSplitters 2 is a first-person shooter that released in 2002. It featured local multiplayer modes which have since fostered a dedicated fan-base in the years after the game’s release.
Fans have waited for a modern remaster of the title for some time, but license holder Koch Media hasn’t shown any interest in rebooting the series.
Elsewhere, E3 has been confirmed as a free online-only event for 2021 after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The event will be held online instead of in its usual Los Angeles location. The official account E3 twitter confirmed the details yesterday (April 6).
