After nine years in development, twelve years of uninterrupted fun, and five years of bot-induced misery, Team Fortress 2 has proven its worth as a classic through its sheer resilience, standing the test of time so well that thousands of people still play it to this very day. Or maybe it isn't really that special and the only reason they're still playing is because TF2 is literal crack cocaine in video game form. Who knows. The only thing I do know is that Team Fortress 2 is still one of the best first-person shooters available today, and that it's absolutely free; granted, there are some microtransactions, but they're entirely cosmetic and you can trade your way around them if you're crafty enough. Don't think you'll enjoy it? This game has something for everyone, offering nine different types of varied, skill based gameplay, and you can change things up a little with the weapons you get from random drops. The amount of customization available in this game is truly laudable, with tons of unique cosmetics you can mix, match, and recolor to adjust your classes to your liking and a diverse ecosystem of community-made gamemodes and servers. Especially with all these options, it can be challenging to get into the game at first due to its skill ceiling and established playerbase, but once you learn the basics and everything snaps into place, it quickly becomes an insanely rewarding experience. (that gets even better if you're playing with friends) If you haven't played TF2 yet, I implore you to step out from under the rock you've been stranded under since 2007 and hit the download button right now. While you wait, you can check out some of the official TF2 comics and shorts, which are a fun time to sit through and help set up the world of the game.

Despite its age, Team Fortress 2 still receives regular updates with an assortment of new maps and cosmetics to coincide with the seasons, all of which are community-made via the game's Workshop. The game represents a successful experiment in player-driven game design, being kept alive after nearly two decades solely through the community's passion and Valve's willingness to provide all the tools necessary to make new content for the game. While this model has faltered a bit in recent times, with the game's official servers becoming flooded with cheaters and bots between early 2020-mid 2024, it seems Valve, having updated their anticheat to completely resolve this issue, is again committed to ensuring that Team Fortress 2 remains the source of most fun you can have online. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of this game, even though I know it probably isn't going to receive any more official content updates, and I hope it plays as well fifteen years from now as it did fifteen years ago.

8.5/10 - Nominated for the Labor of Love award.