Nearly two years ago we reported on New Zealand developer Reuben “reubs” Ward’s impressive demo showing off a “remake” of the beloved 2003 classic, The Simpsons: Hit & Run, that was made in just a week. In the months since, Reuben has been plugging away at a much more impressive and thorough version of that remake, and the journey has seemingly come to an end.
In a new 26-minute climactic video, aptly titled “THE FINALE – Remaking Hit & Run #10,” reubs chronicles the year-long process of pretty much rebuilding the game from scratch in Unreal Engine 5 and using his own UE5-based narrative engine, by way of showing off the game itself in action across a number of early-game missions.
It’s an impressive effort from the solo developer who’s spent that time figuring out what made the original game work and reproducing it in the new engine along with new art assets created in collaboration with other creators like Korylon.
The bad news in all of this, is that Reuben hasn’t exactly reproduced the entire game, and there’s a good reason for that – none of us will ever get to play his remake. Thanks of course to the incredible world of IP and copyright law, there’s no feasible way for Reuben to get this thing out to the public without landing himself in hot, hot water, so it shall remain as a private project shared to the world via the magic of YouTube and a harrowing lesson to anyone that believes remaking a video game in this way is at all easy.
Take a look at THE FINALE – Remaking Hit & Run #10 below:
Reuben says there are more video game remake projects on the way, directing keen fans to follow his Instagram to get the latest on what he’s cooking up next, which seems tobe… LEGO Island??
Next remake #whoops pic.twitter.com/YFkLgbZdzj
— reubs (@ward_reuben) July 20, 2023
Cheers Ash at WellPlayed for bringing this one to our attention!
