Ex-Free Radical devs hide TimeSplitters levels in Homefront: The Revolution

The new Homefront sequel features a nice treat for arcade shooter fans.

Hidden within one of Homefront: The Revolution’s prison levels is an arcade machine, which offers fully-playable versions of the Siberia and Chicago campaign maps from 2002 cult FPS TimeSplitters 2.

The TimeSplitters franchise, which ran for five years until the release of TimeSplitters: Future Perfect in 2005, was helmed by Free Radical Design, which was acquired in 2009 by Crytek.

In 2014, the outlet was closed completely, with the majority of staff jumping ship to the newly-formed Dambuster Studios – the developer of Homefront: The Revolution.

While subsequent fan campaigns and crowdfunding attempts have tried to raise the possibility of a new TimeSplitters instalment or remaster, the series is yet to be revived.

The two Easter Egg levels in Homefront are sure to raise expectations, but likely without payoff – they appear to have been untouched graphically since their debut 14 years ago.

Crytek continues to own the TimeSplitters IP, while Dambuster was sold onto Deep Silver in 2014 – how the nostalgic secret came to be in Homefront remains unclear for now.