Given that it was one of the most popular shows on TV back in its prime, it’s not surprising there have been a number of video game adaptations of The Simpsons.
Some have been less than impactful, while others have been downright abysmal. However, one that tends to get mentioned (even these days) is Simpsons: Hit & Run, the collective of open world adventures of the titular yellow characters that parodied the likes of GTA.
Now, it’s made a comeback. Sort of. That is to say that someone has managed to remake Hit & Run entirely in Unreal Engine 5. Taking a year to complete, developer reubs has now finally managed to do a full recreation from scratch of the iconic 2003 Simpsons game.
Not for public consumption
Sadly, reubs says he won’t be making his UE5 version available for all to play, stating clearly that this is not a downloadable mod. However, we do get to see the first 30-minutes of this unofficial remake.
There’s plenty of content that the developer goes through, showing us the new graphics (with artwork done by technical artist korylonplay) and the new cutscenes. It still has that Simpsons: Hit & Run charm that Radical Entertainment gave us 20 years ago. It just looks more up-to-date.
For those who remember playing the original, it’s a little trip down memory lane. Okay, so we can’t play it, which kind of sucks, but you can imagine the litigation that would have to be traversed to get a remake approved by Disney (which now owns the franchise).
Simpsons writer and joint showrunner Matt Selman has expressed interest in seeing the game get remade, but describes the “complicated corporate octopus to try to make that happen.” Given that, reubs’ proof-of-concept is probably the closest we’ll ever get to a modern take on Hit & Run.
