Developer remakes The Simpsons Hit & Run from scratch in Unreal Engine 5

This The Simpsons: Hit & Run fan remake makes us want to see something official

Almost 20 years ago, Radical Entertainment released The Simpsons: Hit & Run, a video game that successfully brings together The Simpsons with gameplay that is one part Crazy Taxi and another part Grand Theft Auto. The game is a classic for any Simpsons fan, but the game’s lack of digital availability has made it hard to gamers to enjoy Hit & Run in 2023. 

For the past year, a developer on YouTube called reubs has been remaking The Simpsons Hit & Run from scratch using Unreal Engine 5, and in his latest video, the developer has called his project complete.  During this project, Reubs has worked to recreate The Simpsons Hit & Run and replicate the game’s features by figuring out how the original game was coded. This is not a mod for The Simpsons: Hit & Run, and (sadly) this mod will not be made available to download online for copyright reasons.

In the video below, Reubs showcases the first seven missions of The Simpsons: Hit & Run, and talks about the process of recreating the near 20-year-old classic on a modern game engine. In previous videos, Reubs has recieved comments from developers who worked on the original The Simpsons: Hit & Run, with Joe McGinn (the game’s lead designer) praising the effort by saying it was “Amazing what you [Reubs] accomplished!” and that his work “Really gives a taste of what a full modern remaster could be.”

Originally, The Simpson Hit & Run was released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in September 2003 (October in PAL regions), with the game launching later on PC in November 2003. While the game is available on PC, it is not available digitally, which makes the game difficult to access on PC. Additionally, the game’s PC version requires mods to run properly on modern PCs.

While this remake of The Simpsons Hit & Run is not available to download, it cannot be denied that Reubs’ remake of The Simpsons Hit & Run is an impressive piece of work. Reubs’ creation highlights the demand that there is for an official remake or remaster of The Simpsons Hit & Run, a remake that might never happen due to the legal mess that is IP rights, and the fact that both the game’s developer (Radical Entertainment) and publisher (Vivendi Games) no longer exist. 

You can join the discussion on The Simpsons: Hit and Run’s fan remake on the OC3D Forums.