Team Fortress 2: A Sneak Peek at Its Early Concept, Invasion! [VIDEO]

Hot news News 05/04/2026

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Valve rethought Team Fortress 2 quite thoroughly before the game finally launched in fall 2007 as part of The Orange Box, which also included Portal, Half-Life 2, and the first and second episodes of Half-Life 2.

First, we need to clarify what “Invasion” actually refers to. “Invasion” is the nickname given to the version of Team Fortress 2 that was in development between 2000 and 2004, although the exact timeframe remains somewhat unclear. So yes, this also ultimately became one of those games that Gabe Newell and his team scrapped before we finally got the popular 2007 release, which is now available to the public as a free-to-play title, and has been for years.

The first concept for Team Fortress 2 followed a steampunk and sci-fi aesthetic in which players could take on the roles of aliens or humans instead of mercenaries. The gameplay focused on gathering resources and reportedly included RTS elements as well. Although some graphics, concept art, and even the game’s code have leaked before, this is the first time we can actually see animations created for that version of the game.

The materials were shared on Instagram by Moby Francke, a former artist at Valve, and were then collected in the embedded tweet below so that nobody has to click around endlessly, making the whole thing much more convenient. In any case, it is striking how different Team Fortress 2 was at first compared with the version we eventually received. This also shows how common it is for a studio to take a concept, work on it for a long time, then eventually discard it and reboot the entire project. The same happened with DOOM in 2016, which ended up looking nothing like the 2007 version of DOOM IV, something we could sarcastically call “Call of Doom”.

Still, this is also a franchise that stopped at number two. There is another one where we have been waiting for a third entry for a very long time. Everyone knows what we mean, so we will not even mention what it is… all we have to say is that it is another Valve franchise…

Moby Francke, an ex-Valve artist, has shared some early dev videos of “Invasion”, a pre-release design concept of Team Fortress 2.

Animations are done by Miles Estes. All shared on his Instagram. pic.twitter.com/TtyKqGEEjB

— LambdaGeneration (@LambdaGen) May 3, 2026

Source: LambdaGeneration / Official Team Fortress Wiki

Angyal Anikó

Anikó, our news editor and communication manager, is more interested in the business side of the gaming industry. She worked at banks, and she has a vast knowledge of business life. Still, she likes puzzle and story-oriented games, like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, which is her favourite title. She also played The Sims 3, but after accidentally killing a whole sim family, swore not to play it again. (For our office address, email and phone number check out our IMPRESSUM)