It's a non profitable developer that is making the game. What i like about this game is the freedom of movement you have. You can control the movement of the hooks and select which buildings you want to place them on. I'm sure the game will be better than the original one. It's Unreal Engine 4, the game looks beautiful graphically.
Contrary to popular opinion, nonprofit does not overrule copyright law. You may not be charging money but that does not give a person the right to distribute. You need to pay for the right to use an intellectual property and distribute it. Not charging for it simply means you will not make a profit and thus some companies wont mind as there is no direct loss of profit - however there can be indirect loss of profit as in the case of the now cancelled Star Wars fan project, Galaxy In Turmoil. The game was a nonprofit fan project, reviving the infamously cancelled Battlefront 3, using the game's original assets and reworking them into a spiritual successor. EA issued a take-down for the game however, as it would have taken attention away from their own Star Wars licensed games, a license that EA no doubt paid millions of money for the right to use.
Back on topic though, I do agree that this game benefits greatly from using Unreal Engine 4 - as the details on the buildings and even the horizon line are stunningly present. What I'm most curious about however is how this project will handle combat, how smooth it will be, and how multiplayer is incorporated. Those three are largely what I was inferring when I mentioned it would be better for now to simply play the licensed game - as those things have been ironed out already =D
