Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter (FPS) multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Source engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360. A PlayStation 3 version then followed on November 22, 2007. The game was later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X two years later. Team Fortress 2 is distributed online through the Steam system, while retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts. On June 23, 2011, the game became a free-to-play title, supported by microtransactions for unique in-game equipment through Steam. The development of Team Fortress 2 is led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the Team Fortress modification for Quake in 1996.

The game was announced in 1998, and was first powered by Valve's GoldSrc engine, but this changed as it passed through several different design stages. In 1999, the game appeared to be deviating from its predecessors by pursuing a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, but the design metamorphosed over its nine-year development period. The final rendition sports cartoon style visuals influenced by the art of J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell and is powered by the Source engine. The game itself revolves around two teams, each with access to nine distinct characters, battling in a variety of game modes set in different environments, often with a factory-warehouse theme. The game is set in 1968, and is a cartoonish take on Sixties Espionage. The environments and music have a Sixties Spy Movie feel to them, taking elements from James Bond, Get Smart, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Austin Powers, The Avengers.

Fortress 2: Re-Entry is the sequel to the 1993 film Fortress. In the film, the principal actor Christopher Lambert reprises his role as John Henry Brennick, still on the run from the MenTel Corporation. Lambert was the only original actor from Fortress, as his on-screen wife was re-cast and all his on-screen cell mates and the prison director perished in the original film.

Fortress 2 takes place about 10 years later. John Brennick is somewhere in North America, apparently still on the run since he takes a shotgun with him everywhere. His son Danny tells him that his wife Karen wants John to come home immediately. When they arrive there are three people waiting for them. They ask John to help them destroy Men-Tel's new power station, saying that the company is on the verge of collapse and "without their power, they have no power". John refuses, wanting to protect his family, so the trio leave on a boat. As John waves goodbye, two Men-Tel helicopters appear and John scrambles his family's escape plan. He sends Danny and Karen through an underground passage while he leads the soldiers on a wild goose chase. The battle ends, though, with one helipcopter destroyed, but Brennick's Jeep is overturned.

Team Fortress is a team- and class-based online multiplayer video game mod originally based on the first person shooter Quake, made by iD Software. Team Fortress was designed and written by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley in 1996. The mod's gameplay has caught on with a large following of fans, which has spurred many developers to create similar gamemodes on other engines. In August 1999, after the development team was hired by Valve, Team Fortress was ported to Valve's GoldSrc engine in the form of Team Fortress Classic. An official sequel developed by Valve Corporation was hinted at for many years, and was finally released in October 2007 as Team Fortress 2.

The premise of the game is a class-based battle, typically between two teams, colored red and blue. Players are defined by which class they select (the classes being Medic, Sniper, Soldier, Demoman, Pyro, Spy, Heavy Weapons Guy (Heavy for short), Scout, or Engineer), with each class having strengths and weaknesses. Each class also has unique weapons (e.g. Pyro has the flamethrower and Heavy has the minigun) and abilities (e.g. Scout being able to run the fastest and Medic being able to heal teammates).