Unreal Tournament 2004 (often abbreviated to UT2004) is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. Part of the larger Unreal franchise, it is the third game in the Unreal Tournament series and an updated re-release of Unreal Tournament 2003.
Among significant changes to gameplay mechanics and visual presentation, one of the major additions introduced by Unreal Tournament 2004 is the inclusion of vehicles and the Onslaught game type, allowing for large-scale battles.
Unreal Tournament 2004 was released for Windows and Linux systems on March 16, 2004, and for macOS systems on March 30, 2004. It was met with a highly positive reception, with acclaim for its gameplay variety and multiplayer; many critics and publications cited it as one of the strongest first-person shooter games of the year. An expanded edition with additional content was released later in 2004, titled Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition. A sequel, Unreal Tournament 3, was released on November 19, 2007.
In December 2022, Epic Games chose to remove every game in the Unreal and Unreal Tournament series from all digital storefronts; as a result, Unreal Tournament 2004 became unavailable for digital purchase. All of Epic Games' online servers for the game were later shut down in January 2023. However, in December 2025, the fan group OldUnreal received official permission from Epic Games to re-release Unreal Tournament 2004 as freeware. This free-to-download revival of the game was made publicly available in February 2026 alongside a community patch that introduced numerous updates, such as restored online multiplayer functionality and improved performance on modern systems. Plot The game is set in a science fiction universe where humans long before fought a war with an alien species called the Skaarj, leaving their galactic empire in shambles. To assist in the rebuilding of the colonies by calming down enraged colonists, the Liandri Corporation came up with the idea of staging a gladiatorial tournament for the miners. The interest was so high that it grew into a sport, with sponsored teams battling in specially made arenas.
From the beginning, Xan Kriegor, a robot, reigned as champion in the Tournament, until Malcolm, then leading the team Thunder Crash, defeated him and proceeded to merge with the other popular team at the time – the Iron Guard, led by Brock. In last year's Tournament, they were defeated by the Juggernauts, led by gene-boosted monster Gorge.
The game takes place as the Tournament enters its 10th year. Malcolm is back with his old team Thunder Crash and trying to reclaim his title as champion, Brock is back with the Iron Guard and trying for the glory of his own, and Gorge and the Juggernauts are there to defend their title. Additionally, the Skaarj Empire has sent a team of their own to the Tournament in search of honor and glory, and ex-champion Xan Kriegor has had some modifications and is back to return the title where it belongs.
Gameplay Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person shooter (with a toggleable third-person perspective) representing a fast-paced extreme sport of the future. The game, designed primarily for multiplayer gameplay, offers multiple ways of movement including double-jumping, dodge-jumping, wall-dodging and shield-jumping. Unreal Tournament 2004 also features an extensive array of weapons, all of which come with a secondary fire. Some of these weapons, such as the Grenade Launcher and Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher (AVRiL), were designed specifically for use in vehicle-based game types, and typically appear only in those game types. More than 100 maps are included in the game for all new and existing game types.
Gametypes The available game types are:
Assault (AS): An objective-oriented game type in which one team attacks the objectives (usually one at a time in a specific order) while another defends. Often, attackers will be rewarded for completing an objective by being allowed to spawn closer to the next objective. If the attacking team completes the final objective within the allowed time, the teams switch roles and another round on the same map begins. If not, the original attackers lose. If a second round begins and the new attackers complete the final objective in less time than the first attackers, they win; if not, they lose. Onslaught (ONS): A vehicle-based game mode in which the objective is to capture a series of power nodes connecting the player and their opponents' bases and destroy the power core located within their base. The first team to destroy opponents' power core wins. Bombing Run (BR): Each level has a ball that starts in the middle of the playing field. The player's team scores by getting the ball through the enemy team's hoop. The player scores 7 points for jumping through the hoop while holding the ball and 3 points for tossing the ball through the hoop. The player holding the ball cannot use weapons but can pass the ball to teammates. The ball is dropped if the player is killed. Capture the Flag (CTF): The player's team must score flag captures by taking the enemy flag from the enemy base and returning it to their own flag. If the flag carrier is killed, the flag drops to the ground for anyone to pick up. If the player's team's flag is taken, it must be returned (by touching it after it is dropped) before their team can score a flag capture. Deathmatch (DM): A game type where the goal is to either reach a specified number of frags (kills), or to reach the highest number of frags within the allotted time limit for the match. Team Deathmatch: Two teams duke it out in a quest for battlefield supremacy. The team with the most frags wins. Invasion: A simple survival mode. The players are forced to work together to try and survive endless waves of monsters from Unreal that get increasingly difficult with each wave. Once a player dies they cannot respawn until the round is over. Rounds can either end after a time limit (victory) or when all players are dead (failure). Double Domination (DOM): The player's team scores by capturing and holding both Control Points for ten seconds. Control Points are captured by touching them. After scoring, the Control Points are reset to neutral. Last Man Standing: Each player starts with a limited number of lives. The last remaining player to still have lives wins the match. Mutant: All players start in a Deathmatch setting with all weapons, and the first player to kill becomes the "mutant". This player receives unlimited ammo, camouflage, Berserk (which increases rate of fire and knockback), and super speed for an indefinite amount of time, but they slowly lose health and cannot pick up any health items. When the mutant is killed, the mutant powers are passed to the killer.
Characters Unreal Tournament 2004 features 90 different playable characters (some of which are simple palette swaps of each other), including humans, aliens, robots, cyborgs, and more; six of these characters (Mekkor, Skrilax, Barktooth, Karag, Kragoth, and Thannis) were added to the roster with the Editor's Choice Edition of the game. Many characters return from Unreal Tournament 2003 and its Xbox port Unreal Championship, while others are brand new additions. Each playable character in the game is aligned with a specific team or faction within the fictional Tournament and given their own unique description and statistics. AI bot behavior in single-player modes also includes specific weapon preferences for each individual character, adding an extra layer to gameplay variety.
Following his absence from both Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2004 notably reintroduced the robotic former Tournament champion Xan Kriegor, the final boss of the first Unreal Tournament game's single-player mode. Like in the original game, Xan can be unlocked as a playable character if the player faces and defeats him at the end of the single-player Tournament mode. Two other team leaders in the Unreal Tournament 2004, Malcolm and the Skaarj Clan Lord, are also unlockable like Xan; depending on how the Tournament mode is played, the player may face any one of these three opponents to become champion.
Vehicles There are many vehicles available in Unreal Tournament 2004. Most of them make an appearance in the Onslaught game type, while a few feature in Assault. The full set consists of different types of ground-based vehicles and aircraft. Like each weapon in the game, most of Unreal Tournament 2004's vehicles also possess two different abilities. Some vehicles can only be used by one player, while others seat multiple players simultaneously, thus encouraging cooperative team play. There are also two spacecraft which only officially feature in one Assault map (AS-Mothership) and different types of gun turrets which players can take control of. Controllable vehicles and turrets can often be slowly repaired by players using the secondary fire mode of the Link Gun (an energy weapon commonly found in both smaller game modes and larger, vehicle-based modes), though this repair feature still consumes the weapon's ammunition.
Development
Unreal Tournament 2004 was built with Unreal Engine 2.5 and the content of its predecessor, Unreal Tournament 2003. The game was developed by multiple studios, with Epic Games leading the project. Lead programmer Steve Polge described the role of each company involved:
Epic Games Enhancements to the Unreal Tournament 2003 game types, the new user interface, voice over IP and bot voice command support, engine enhancements and optimizations. They made an improved single-player game, and improved community and demo recording support, in addition to thirty-one new playable characters. The Sniper Rifle, similar to the one included in the original Unreal Tournament, was added. They created one Onslaught map and developed AI support for Onslaught. Sixteen Deathmatch maps, five Capture the Flag maps, two Double Domination maps and one Bombing Run map were added. The Assault gametype design and implementation were also reintroduced from the original Unreal Tournament. Digital Extremes Three Deathmatch maps, six Capture the Flag maps, two Bombing Run maps, and three Double Domination maps, two playable characters, a new HUD design; weapon models for the Assault Rifle, Shock Rifle, and Link Gun. Psyonix The Onslaught gametype design and implementation, with six vehicles, four weapons (Grenade Launcher, Spider Mine Layer, Anti-Vehicular Rocket Launcher (AVRiL), and the Phoenix Target Painter), and the energy turret. They created seven Onslaught maps and collaborated with Streamline Studios on the popular map ONS-Torlan. They made the model for the Translocator, a portable teleporter. Streamline Studios The single-player introduction movie and ONS-Torlan in collaboration with Psyonix. Streamline Studios created the Assault map AS-Confexia as a test for ONS-Torlan, which they released for free.
Release A playable demo was released for multiple platforms in February 2004, including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux on x86-32, and Linux on x86-64. An updated demo version, including all the bug fixes from official patches and some original content, was released on September 23 of the same year.