"Team Deathmatch: Classic"
29/11/2025
Back in 2019, I got myself intrigued with the TF2 modding scene, especially the subgenre where people create their own spinoffs of the main game.
I was only aware of Team Fortress 2: Classic at the time, a mod that takes an alternative approach of TF2 without the wacky world and economy boom it grew to have, while adding its own flavor of unique gamemodes and charm such as the return of VIP escort and 4Team mode.
In its early betas like the infamous "Beta 4", it used to have an interesting gamemode called Deathmatch where you play as a new, nameless mercenary duking it out with other nameless mercenaries in a free for all/team deathmatch section of the game.
That unique and ambitious gamemode eventually split up in its own branch and called itself "Team Deathmatch: Classic" developed by the same team that maintained the DM portion when it was part of the TF2:Classic package, now registered as "Compucolor Pictures."
However, after the announcement of splitting up in 2019, that was pretty much all of the information that was given to the public.
Ever since then, it remained a mystery for years, with little to no information about the game other than a "representative" within the TF2C discord server who'd answer questions regarding what the game will be, from features, gameplay elements, gimmicks, etc.
There was another project being worked on by a different group with few shared devs from TF2:C called Open Fortress with its main gimmick being an open source version of tf2 that can be modified by everyone (no longer the case after back n forth with Valve about its legality), and one of its core gamemodes that are intended to release with the base game is a mode where you play as a Mercenary fighting off other mercenaries in an all out deathmatch...sounds familiar?
From what I remember, gossips about Team Deathmatch Classic taking a more grounded approach with a fresh coat of paint gameplay was unpopular within the core modding scene, and OF was created as a side project to attempt and create the more "Quake-like" gameplay the early builds of TF2C:DM had
I kept myself up to date with Open Fortress and partaken in its public alpha sessions because at the time, the idea of a playable 10th class was mindblowing for me and "he felt like he really belonged there," plus it was the closest I could get to what tf2 classic had but actually letting you play the game
(Team Fortress 2 Classic was still being worked on without a release date at the time & no public beta)What I liked about open fortress is the unintentional sandbox it provided, it being in public alpha with an active development gave many people the ability to mess around with what it had, seeing all the nine classes being able to be played in deathmatch mode and pickup any weapons either picked up from the item spawn or dropped by class was so alien at the time it was outright "blursed."
Still, it wasn't free from controversies, I recall many people accusing the game to be stealing assets from TF2C/TDC development, indoor fighting behind the scenes of developers with different creative goals and a group of nondevs having strong ties and ego throughout the sourcemodding scene originating within there,
despite all that, Team Deathmatch Classic was still an enigma to many people, with only few ideas of how the game will eventually be, that is until around 2022 where somebody who goes by "Daniel" hosted a download link to a random build of the game.
safe to say I was one of the lucky few to obtain such build from Daniel before it got taken down
So? What's the hype?
While the game is full of dev assets, alot of broken scripts, and clearly unintended to be viewed by the public, requiring me to get a fanmade patch to get it functioning, it stands out alot by sticking to what worked for tf2 while going crazy with their own ideas.
There are three playable classes, Light, Medium and Heavy, the trio ooze personality while also giving you the ability to customize each character freely, even their skin color!
There is a variety of maps inside the game, excluding the fanmade patch, the game takes place in 1970s america, which is the main direction the game goes for, even to the music, consisting of Jazzrock, R&B and Disco covers.
Gameplay wise, there is a variety of gamemodes built into the game, you got the basics like FFA,TDM,CTF, and some unique modes like Blood Money, Invade, Infection, duel and VIP. I cant get any further in detail with that since it is a multiplayer focused game and the lack of bots in-game leaves me no choice.
The Fanmade Patch cleans and patches some common problems, it also adds the 4Team mode from TF2C back into the game and lets you play the VIP class through a console command outside the VIP mode, a welcoming feature for those who want to mess around with the game.
I know TDC now has a public server you can chat in, and social media accounts you can follow, I left the community 2 or 3 years ago since I was rather a nusiance to everyone within the community and had my fair share of cyberbullying inside after playing an unintentional role with its huge situation at the time, but my love for these projects is still there and I very much look forward to all of this to release someday, who knows when or how long but I will be there for the ride, just observing from afar.
Nice fuckin' model! *honkhonk*