C&C Renegade Successor Finally Ships
After 12 years in beta, a fan-made spiritual successor to Command & Conquer: Renegade has finally released version 1.0, offering both nostalgia and new features for the old-school tactics crowd. The project represents two decades of development work bringing the classic real-time strategy shooter into the modern era.
The project, known as Renegade X, began not as a standalone game but as a mod for Unreal Tournament 3, with the volunteer development team Totem Arts forming in 2006. The initial mod was released in 2009, but the team later decided to create a full standalone version using the Unreal Development Kit. Before the full multiplayer beta, Totem Arts released a single-player mini-campaign in 2012 titled "Operation: Black Dawn" to showcase their work. The multiplayer open beta, which players have been participating in for years, was first launched on February 26, 2014. The 1.0 release primarily focuses on bug fixes and balance adjustments after more than a decade of testing and community feedback. The most significant new addition is the map "CnC-City," a long-awaited adaptation of a map from the original Command & Conquer: Renegade. The game pits the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) against the Brotherhood of Nod in 64-player matches where the ultimate goal is to destroy the enemy's base. Each building on the map serves a specific function, and its destruction directly impacts the team's capabilities, blending first-person shooter action with real-time strategy elements. This fan-led project received encouragement from former Westwood studio developers and even EA Games. Over its long development, it has won multiple awards, including accolades for its multiplayer and vehicle design during its modding phase. With version 1.0 now live, the development team at Totem Arts is also working on an even more ambitious project called Firestorm. This will be a standalone game that reimagines the Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun era in the first-person shooter format.
