It's taken 2 decades to appear, but this fan-made spiritual successor to Command & Conquer: Renegade has finally hit 1.0: '12 years of beta testing has led us to this'

Back in the primordial mists of 2007, when BioShock was the apex predator and open world games were only just evolving, a group of modders revealed plans to create their own successor to EA’s ambitious but underwhelming first-person shooter Command & Conquer: Renegade. Conceived in response to Renegade 2’s cancellation, Renegade X aimed to do what EA wouldn’t using the hot new tech of Unreal Engine 3.

Now, almost 20 years later, Renegade X is finished. To be honest, I thought Renegade X was finished already, distantly recalling news about a release from many moons ago. But it turns out that release was for its playable beta, which Renegade X has remained in since 2014.

After more than a decade of testing, however, Developer Totem Arts put the finishing touches on its 1.0 version earlier this week, announcing the launch on its forums. “After 20 years of development, and after 24 years of rock ’n’ roll time, we’ve got a present for ya, writes Totem Arts founder FobbyGen. “12 years of beta testing has led us to this: Renegade X 1.0.”

The full version of Renegade X brings large-scale, team-based combat across over 30 maps, with all manner of vehicles from tanks to planes, and even devastating superweapons like orbital cannons and nuclear strikes. The 1.0 update primarily focuses on bug and balance fixes for the game. But there is one major addition, a new map called CnC-City. This is Totem Arts’ long-awaited adaptation of the similarly-named C&C-City from the original Renegade, and really the last thing Renegade X had yet to adapt from the original.

The release was accompanied by a new trailer, which does a fantastic job of showcasing the scale and spectacle of Renegade X’s combat. It’s worth noting that Renegade X’s multiplayer comes with both full online functionality and extensive bot support, and there is also a single-player campaign called Black Dawn that was released way back in 2012, though I imagine the multiplayer is substantially more polished than that at this point.

You can download Renegade X via Totem Arts’ website. While its spiritual successor to the original Renegade may finally be finished, Totem Arts isn’t done. The studio is also working on Firestorm, a first-person reimagining of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Totem Arts says Firestorm is even more ambitious than Renegade X, with more devastating superweapons and a multiplayer game mode that’s “very different” to Renegade. “It’s going to be out of this world,” FobbyGen proclaims. Given what Totem Arts achieved with Renegade X, I’m inclined to believe them.

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