Unreal Tournament 2004

Did You Know?

• The modification Red Orchestra, a total conversion focused on the Eastern Front of World War II, won the Make Something Unreal Contest and became a retail title on Steam.
• Alien Swarm, winner of Phase 4 of the Make Something Unreal Contest for best non-first-person shooter modification, was later released as a standalone free game based on the Source engine.

Development

Unreal Tournament 2004 was built with Unreal Engine 2.5 and content from Unreal Tournament 2003. Epic Games led the project, with lead programmer Steve Polge describing each company's role. Epic enhanced existing game types, added a new user interface, voice over IP, bot voice command support, engine optimizations, an improved single-player game, community and demo recording support, thirty-one new playable characters, the Sniper Rifle, one Onslaught map, AI for Onslaught, sixteen Deathmatch maps, five Capture the Flag maps, two Double Domination maps, one Bombing Run map, and the Assault game type.

Digital Extremes contributed three Deathmatch maps, six Capture the Flag maps, two Bombing Run maps, three Double Domination maps, two playable characters, a new HUD design, and weapon models for the Assault Rifle, Shock Rifle, and Link Gun. Psyonix designed and implemented the Onslaught game type, six vehicles, four weapons (Grenade Launcher, Spider Mine Layer, AVRiL, Phoenix Target Painter), the energy turret, seven Onslaught maps, and collaborated with Streamline Studios on ONS-Torlan. Streamline Studios created the single-player introduction movie and the Assault map AS-Confexia.

Release

A playable demo was released in February 2004 for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux on x86-32, and Linux on x86-64. An updated demo with bug fixes and original content was released on September 23, 2004. After a delay from late 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 was released in March 2004 in North America and Europe for PC. It was available as a six-disc CD-ROM or a special edition DVD-ROM that included a Logitech microphone headset and a second DVD with video tutorials for UnrealEd; the European DVD release lacked the bonus extras.

A DVD-ROM without the microphone followed in the US on April 13. All original PC versions included a $10 mail-in rebate requiring a form and the manual cover of Unreal Tournament 2003, though in Europe the rebate required the play CD of Unreal Tournament 2003. A MacOS version on DVD was released on March 31. An official 192-page Prima Games strategy guide by David S. J. Hodgson was published on March 23, 2004, covering gameplay basics, tips, characters, vehicles, map overviews, and a list of commands and cheat codes.

Post-release

In summer 2004, Epic and Atari released a free XP Levels downloadable map pack with two Onslaught maps, ONS-Ascendancy and ONS-Aridoom. In September 2004, Atari released the Editor's Choice Edition in stores, adding three vehicles, four Onslaught maps, six character skins, and several community mods selected by Epic; this extension was released as a free Bonus Pack on September 23. A Windows x86-64 version was released as a downloadable patch on October 1, 2005.

In December 2005, Epic released the Mega Bonus Pack online, including new maps, the latest patch, and Editor's Choice Edition content. In June 2006, Midway Games acquired publishing rights to the Unreal back catalog from Infogrames and Atari, and in November released Unreal Anthology, bundling Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, and Unreal Tournament 2004. In March 2008, Epic released the game on Steam and later as part of the Unreal Deal Pack, followed by the Editor's Choice Edition on GOG.com.

Subsequent Midway editions omitted the Linux installer from DVD content. On December 14, 2022, Epic announced they would shut down online services for older titles, including Unreal Tournament 2004, and delist them from digital storefronts; the Steam version was delisted that day, and the GOG.com version on December 23. Epic's online servers were shut down on January 24, 2023. In December 2025, the fan group OldUnreal received official permission from Epic to re-release the game as freeware, which became publicly available in February 2026 with a community patch restoring online multiplayer and improving performance on modern systems.