New Valve leak reveals a treasure trove of Team Fortress 2 assets
Over 61GB of unused maps, models, animations, and more have been found.
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What you need to know
A massive leak of a Valve asset repository has been released, resulting in the reveal of over 61GB of unused Team Fortress 2 (TF2) maps, models, textures, animations, and more. While some of the cut content included in the leak has been seen before in concept art or screenshots from previous leaks, tons of it has never been seen before and reveals significant details about what Valve had in store for its popular class-based shooter.
Since the files became available online, fans have been digging through them to see what lies within. So far,countless unused mapshave been found, ranging from simple test levels for AI-controlled bots and training maps for the Soldier’s “rocket jumping” mechanic to brand new maps for modes like King of the Hill, Payload, Payload Race, and Mann vs. Machine that appear to have been scrapped during the development process. There’s even a sequel to the classic TF2 map Dustbowl — simply titled “Dustbowl 2” — that bears a significant resemblance to the official Payload map Gold Rush.
Unused taunt animations for theScout,Heavy, andSniperclasses have all been discovered as well. Some variations of existing taunts have also been spotted, such asthis alternate version of the Skullcracker tauntfor the Spy class that never made it into TF2 officially.
pic.twitter.com/ZtxjdbfsxEJanuary 12, 2023
The leak has also given fans a peek at agigantic three-legged robot, which may have been the final boss of TF2’s cancelled Raid game type that is believed to have become Mann vs. Machine. Onescreenshoteven shows the robot next to a “Mecha Level 4 Sentry Gun” model. This humorously upgraded version of the Engineer’s Sentry Gun was also revealed to be part of the Raid experience in aprevious leak.
There’s atonof stuff here, and with 61GB of files to sift through, it’s likely that all of it won’t be fully uncovered by the community for awhile. We wouldn’t be surprised if TF2’s dedicated modding teams are planning to create new forms of playable content with the leaked files, though.
At the time of writing, Valve has yet to comment on the leak, though we’ll update this article if it does moving forward. Notably, the company hasn’t made any statements about TF2 sinceit promised it would solve the game’s hacker problemin May 2022.
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
