Battlefield fans revive underrated 2009 console exclusive with free playable PC port

A group of modders have successfully revived Battlefield 1943 with a brand new fan project that brings back the 2009 game with multiplayer intact.

Battlefield 1943 Reborn is a new project by modder TekRantGaming with the aim of restoring the original Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 1943 on PC.

The original Xbox 360 game has been statically recompiled into 64 bit code, meaning the game is running natively on PC rather than being emulated.

Although the original game ran at a maximum framerate of 720p and 30 FPS, this new version runs at your screen's resolution and refresh rate, meaning you can go as high as 4K and 120 FPS if your rig is powerful enough. It uses keyboard and mouse support, but also has rebindable keys with prompts for Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam Deck buttons.

It features all four of the original maps, with Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima available as classic infantry maps, and Coral Sea available in the Air Superiority mode.

Each mode supports up to 24 players per server. Since EA took the servers offline in 2023, Battlefield 1943 Reborn features its own backend multiplayer infrastructure, complete with a server browser, Quick Match, stats, and leaderboards again, with anyone able to host their own server.

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New content available in Battlefield 1943 Reborn

In terms of new features that the port adds, you now have the choice between Classic and Modern movement. Classic behaves like it did in the original, but modern offers quicker starts and stops, faster aiming with no turn lag, and quicker ADS after coming from a sprint. Each server has either option activated, so everyone on that server uses the same movement style that you can select from the Server Browser, so there are no clear advantages of taking one over the other.

Other boosts with the graphics include "shadows up to four times sharper, FXAA, sharpening, texture filtering up to 16x, ambient occlusion, global illumination, and grass on Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima."

In order to play this new version of the underrated classic, you'll need to own a copy of Battlefield 1943 and grab its package file from your own console. The port itself is just source code, and doesn't feature any in-game assets.

You can download Battlefield 1943 Reborn now from the project's own GitHub page.

Battlefield 1943 was released in 2009, and was a console-only exclusive on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was made during a time where EA and DICE were experimenting with yearly releases for the series like its competitor Call of Duty was doing, made to fill the gap between Battlefield: Bad Company and Bad Company 2 which were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Although it was a smaller, digital-only release, with barebones progression and content, the game was popular among the crowd that played it and is seen as an underrated entry in the Battlefield series now. It was delisted and taken offline in 2023.

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