Need For Speed Underground 2 RTX remaster sends fans wild

A Need for Speed: Underground 2 RTX remaster has sent fans wild and wondering, where’s the real thing?

There’s so much love for the Need for Speed series, especially when it comes to the retro entries, and perhaps none more so than Need for Speed Underground 2. Released in 2005, Underground 2 improved on its 2003 predecessor in almost every way.

The street racing gameplay was more refined, it looked better, had a compelling story campaign, gave the player even more customisation options, and so much more. There’s a good reason why fans today still can’t get enough of this absolute classic.

However, as reported by DSOgaming, those that are able to play Need for Speed: Underground 2 on PC are in for an added treat, all thanks to YouTuber, ‘Uncle Burrito’. The remaster in question brings RTX Remix Path Tracing to Underground 2 and the results are looking fantastic.

In the description of the latest video upload, Uncle Burrito does state that this remaster is “still a bit buggy, but a lot better than before.” After all, the remaster is still in its early phase, so some bugs and glitches are expected until ironed out. In particular, there are lighting anomalies. Nonetheless, I think we can all agree that Need for Speed: Underground 2 is shaping up to look better than ever.

The comments in the YouTube thread were full of praise and compliments on the potential that this fan-made remaster has. “This almost looks like the UE5 remake (or close to it) but on the original/vanilla game, it’s a miracle! Looks pretty good so far, keep it up!” said AdrienShadow.

“Need to see a side by side, this is pretty awesome. I would love to see GTR2 and GT4 on Pcsx2 get a similar treatment. These old games are still fun today,” added socksonfeet8125.

Naturally, fans will be wondering if we’ll ever get an official Need for Speed: Underground 2 remastered. It is possible that EA might consider it, after all, we did get Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered in 2020.

The most recent entry in this series only arrived last year with Need for Speed Unbound. So hopefully with a bit of luck, seeing as the fans want it, EA might just give us that Underground remaster we’ve been desperate to see. What’s more, we’ve already seen what Underground 2 could look like if powered by Unreal Engine 5, so make it happen EA, you cowards!