Valve finally released a major update for Team Fortress 2 and the game immediately picked up a pile of players, resulting in record numbers since its release in 2007. However, the stat turned out to be bittersweet.
Team Fortress 2's update came in town for Halloween and the game now has a themed event. Scream Fortress XII adds four new community maps - Megalo, Bloodwater, Hassle Castle and Moldergrove.
That is not all the themed content, however, as Wicked Windfall Case contains 22 new cosmetic items that were created by the community. It has a chance to drop one of the six new Halloween-restricted items as a bonus item, all of which have been once again created by the community.
Besides those additions, there are several other features that TF2 players can look forward to:
- 19 new community-created Unusual effects
- Scream Fortress XII War Paint Case
- Soul Gargoyle for everyone who logs in provided it wasn't obtained before
- Killing enemies, doing map objectives and other activities will grant souls for your Gargoyle
- Halloween Contract reset so they can be completed again
- Contracts for the featured community maps
- Contract completions grant classic Halloween items and chance for Wicked WIndfall Case or Scream Fortress XII War Case
- Cosmetic and taunt cases will grant Halloween 2020 Unusual effects instead of the regular ones
- Halloween matches featured in Special Events category
The event update, along with the rest of the huge patch notes seemingly brought more players than ever as the concurrent player 24-hour peak on October 2, 2020, was the same as the all-time one.
Unfortunately, there are reports that most of these numbers are comprised of bots.
Regardless of the bots in the game, it is still clear that many legitimate players are interested in TF and can't wait for new content. It only remains to be seen if Valve will oblige them.
