MrFlibble Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Not long ago I've become interested in free games whose authors seem to consciously imitate well-known classics, or at least closely follow them in design. If a commercial game of this kind could be considered a "clone" (made to repeat the original's success on the market), freeware games usually aim for accurate recreation of the game's atmosphere and mechanics, as people behind them are more often that not dedicated fans of the originals. Below is a list of such games that I've found so far. I've tried not to include projects that make use of copyrighted material (e.g. resources from the original game), or engine recreation projects that require original game files to play. There are also no free-to-play, play in your browser or multiplayer-only games. 1. Free content replacement for original engine/engine recreation Battle Isle 2200 o Advanced Strategic CommandDoom o Freedoom (Doom engine)Duke Nukem o Dave Gnukem [download]The Great Giana Sisters o OpenGGSHalf-Life o Black Mesa (Source)Heretic o Blasphemer (Doom engine)Hexen: Beyond Heretic o Zauberer (Doom engine)M.A.X.: Mechanized Assault & Exploration o Mechanized Assault & eXploration ReloadedPanzer General II o OpenGeneralQuake o Open Quartz (QuakeForge, DarkPlaces) o OpenQuartz 2 (DarkPlaces) o OQPlus (QuakeForge, DarkPlaces) [SVN]Quake III: Arena o OpenArena (Quake III engine) o World of Padman (Quake III engine)RPGMaker o EasyRPGTotal Annihilation o Zero-K (Spring RTS Engine)Transport Tycoon Deluxe o OpenTTDWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness o Aleona's Tales (Stratagus)X-COM: Enemy Unknown o UFO2000 2. Freeware clones A-Train o FreeTrainCarrier Command o Thunder&LightningChip's Challenge o Tile WorldCrayon Physics o Numpty PhysicsCrimsonland o VioletlandDungeon Keeper o Dungeon Digger o OpenDungeonsElasto Mania o X-MotoElite o Galaxias o OoliteEscape Velocity o NAEVGuitar Hero o Frets on FireHerzog Zwei o Herzog 3DLemmings o Lix o PingusLode Runner o SDL ScavengerMaster of Magic o Continents [download]Microsoft Flight Simulator o FlightGearMinecraft o Manic Digger o MinetestOutRun o RunOutParatrooper o Dragon FirePlanet Defender o Planetary DefenseRailroad Tycoon o FreeRails o FreeRails II o Railz2Rescue! o Rescue! MaxRPGMaker o Advanced RPG Maker o Mokoi Gaming o Open Legends o Open RPG Maker o Sphere RPG EngineRobot Odyssey o DroidQuest o GateScorched Earth o Atomic TanksSecret Agent o Special AgentSentinel o SentryThe Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici o WidelandsSid Meier's Civilization II o FreecivSid Meier's Colonization o FreeColSimCity o Lincity o Lincity NG o MicropolisStars! o Stars! NovaStunts o Ultimate StuntsSuper Mario Bros. o Giana Worlds [download] o Giant Sisters o Secret Maryo Chronicles o SuperTuxSuper Mario Kart o SuperTuxKartTotal Annihilation o Robotic WarTransport Tycoon Deluxe o SimutransTurrican o T2002Warlords o Hostile TakeoverWarlords II o FreeLords o LordsAWar!Wing Commander o Flight CommanderWing Commander: Privateer o Vega StrikeWorms o Hedgewars o WarMUX 3. Free games inspired by classic titles (not exact remakes) Age of Empires o 0 A.D.Anno series o Unknown HorizonsBattle Isle 2200 o Crimson FieldsBattlefield series, Call of Duty series o Blacklight: RetributionBos Wars, Command & Conquer: Red Alert o Commander StalinBoulderDash, Emerald Mine, Supaplex, Sokoban o Rocks'n'DiamondsCastle of the Winds, Ancient Domains of Mystery o FameCastlevania series o Return of EgyptCeltic Legends, Heroes of Might and Magic, Civilization o Legendary LegionsCommand & Conquer series o Annex: Conquer the World o Dark KonflictDark Colony o Dark HiveDescent o Sublevel Zero (prototype) [download]Diablo o Fire & Dragons o Flare o FreedroidRPG o Gates of Destiny o Summoning WarsDoom o HarmonyDoom, Quake etc. o Cube o Cube 2: SauerbratenDune II o ArrakisEarthworm Jim o Kapitan BinarnyEmpire Deluxe o GEMpireFleet Command, Harpoon o Global Conflict BlueFrontier: Elite II o PioneerGradius, Castlevania, R-Type o HydorahGrand Prix Legends o Dolphinity RacerGrand Theft Auto series o Crimelife o Crimelife 2 o Crimelife IIIGun o Guns and SpursHalf-Life: Counterstrike o AssaultCube o Assault Cube Reloaded o Urban TerrorHeroes of Might and Magic series o Knights of WarKKnD, StarCraft o Bos WarsLost Vikings o Lost SnowmenMaster of Magic o LeylinesMaster of Orion o FreeOrionNatural Selection o Tremulous o UnvanquishedOxyd, Rock'n'Roll o EnigmaPopulous o ReprisalPuzzle Bobble o Frozen Bubble o Hex Bubbles o ZorxQuake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament o Alien Arena o Arena of Honour o Nexuiz Classic o Red Eclipse o Warsow o XonoticR-Type o GazerStarScorched Earth o Scorched3DSid Meier's Civilization II o C-evo o ConquestsSimCity o City of Rauma o Kylavanem o OpenCityStar Wars: TIE Fighter, Descent: Freespace o Space CombatStarCraft o Priority: SurviveSolar Fox o Solar WolfSuper Monkey Ball o NeverballTurrican series o HurricanUltima series o The Kingdom of Syree o Nazghul o Untima IX: Descension o Zorak: The Mountain of TerrorWarcraft II: Tides of Darkness o Dark Oberon o WyrmsunWarcraft III: Reign of Chaos o Glest o MegaGlestWarsong, Master of Monsters o The Battle for WesnothWarlords II o The Wargame ProjectWizardry VII o Escape From The Maze o LostHero - Story of GilgameshX-COM: Enemy Unknown o Project Xenocide o UFO: Alien Invasion o X-Force: Fight for Destiny 4. Board game implementations Diplomacy o Ludus RegiusRisk o JavaRisk o NetRisk o OpenFracas o yura.net DominationSpace Hulk o Alien AssaultTitan o Colossus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D2k Sardaukar Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Wow, that are a lot. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X3M Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Drooling Eye's Wander The List. AWWWWESOME...Although, at first glance, I didn't notice you had them into 4 categories. (add colours? :) ) If the Twilight series was still out there. They could put these all together.It's free anyway. What about open source projects? A category 5?Warzone 2100 is one of such projects. It's completely legal too. Perhaps numbering them from how much they look like the original game. The higher the number, the more it looks like the original game? That post needs a lot of likes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 If the Twilight series was still out there. They could put these all together. It's free anyway.What's the Twilight series? Â What about open source projects? A category 5? Warzone 2100 is one of such projects. It's completely legal too.The problem with open source games is that there aren't a lot of those that have both the engine and the game data released for free (I assume you mean formerly commercial games that went open source - otherwise there are quite a few open source games on the list already, such as FreeCiv, Lincuty etc.). I have mentioned some of them, like Seven Kingdoms, in the free games thread. That said, the "free alternatives" thread started as an attempt to find really free games (and not formerly commercial ones) that were created with the goal of serving as a "free (and in many cases, open source) version" of certain commercial games. Freedoom and OpenArena are prime examples of this. At some point I was considering including liberated games too, with entries like "Warzone 2100 = free alternative to Earth 2150" but after some pondering I decided that this was counter-productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X3M Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 The twilight series was somewhat illegal. But mostly legal.And eventually they only had the legal demo's on the disks. And where sold in the shops.They had all kind of games compiled together that where just out, or about to get out. For the player to see. Some sort of commercial cd. But these days you can download demo's from the creators sites. There wasn't much internet back then. And getting a full cd would take much much longer. I guess internet killed the twilight series. "Warzone 2100 = free alternative to Earth 2150"That sounds a bit confusing. Warzone 2100 is the predecessor to Earth 2150. It almost sounds like that Warzone 2100 is based on Earth 2150 :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 The twilight series was somewhat illegal. But mostly legal. And eventually they only had the legal demo's on the disks. And where sold in the shops. They had all kind of games compiled together that where just out, or about to get out. For the player to see. Some sort of commercial cd. Â But these days you can download demo's from the creators sites. There wasn't much internet back then. And getting a full cd would take much much longer. I guess internet killed the twilight series.I assume you're talking about some shovelware CD compilations? In Russia there were plenty of those, mostly completely pirated stuff. Someone has recently uploaded a whole bunch of images of such CDs to archive.org, with no one caring :P Â That sounds a bit confusing. Warzone 2100 is the predecessor to Earth 2150. It almost sounds like that Warzone 2100 is based on Earth 2150 :DFrankly I don't think that the chronological order is very important if one wishes to play a similar game. It is that I believe that although similarities should be noted and taken into account, it is not the same thing as "freeware clones" so to speak, or free/open source content replacements for the original engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias M. Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 http://osgameclones.com/ features an ever growing list as you can contribute your findings there.  I miss http://open-ra.org (Dune 2000, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert), http://rttr.info which reimplements Settlers II as well as the various projects which reimplement Dune II like http://dunelegacy.sourceforge.net, http://www.opendune.org and http://dunedynasty.sourceforge.net on your list.  For Dungeon Keeper this Starcraft II mod looks pretty cool http://www.moddb.com/mods/hive-keeper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted December 1, 2013 Author Share Posted December 1, 2013 I know about the Open Source Game Clones website and have contacted its author in the past. However, as you may have noticed, it is primarily focused on engine recreations rather than complete games or open source data sets like Freedoom (which is actually the opposite of game engine recreations). I miss http://open-ra.org (Dune 2000, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert), http://rttr.info which reimplements Settlers II as well as the various projects which reimplement Dune II like http://dunelegacy.sourceforge.net, http://www.opendune.org and http://dunedynasty.sourceforge.net on your list.None of these can be considered "free alternatives" IMO because they all require original game data to play. I've also heard that, unlike OpenDUNE for example (which is a result of reverse-engineering of the original Dune II game executable), OpenRA doesn't accurately reproduce the game mechanics of the original Command & Conquer games (despite using respective game data). C&C and Red Alert are freeware anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias M. Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I see. In that case have a look at http://www.urbanterror.info/ which is inspired by Counter-Strike, but using the Quake 3 engine with their own assets. Also the various http://osgameclones.com/#Minecraft-clones which sometimes even predate the popular commercial title which itself is just an Infiniminer clone. http://simutrans.com also fits better into your list as it is not a clone like OpenTTD, but something that started with own assets and ideas in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias M. Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Oh and you are linking Glest, but the fork still in development is http://megaglest.org here. Also SpringRTS is more like a project like OpenRA which reimplements a classic game engine. You probably want something like http://zero-k.info/ in your list instead. As you can see, I am also pretty much obsessed with this topic. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 I just discovered the games collection of Daniel Remar, aka, Ultimortal. Not really alternatives to any specific games, but there's a load of fun shooters and puzzle games in there, and they're all free. http://www.remar.se/daniel/games.php "Iji" is definitely worth playing. It's a bit of a mix of classic platformer shooters, and games like Deus Ex, having a leveling system that allows you to choose specialization of skills, and the choice to either kill enemies or evade them. Interestingly, the storyline actually gets subtle changes depending on that, and I found the 100% pacifistic run to be loads more fun, because you get to talk to people who would otherwise simply be nameless enemies :) (there are some small details you actually have to know to succeed in a pacifistic run, though. Certain not-too-obvious choices have to be made in the game or you simply can't avoid killing, especially in some boss fights. Also, a boss fight where you get an ally actually helping you to defeat the boss? So bloody epic :D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted December 6, 2013 Author Share Posted December 6, 2013 I see. In that case have a look at http://www.urbanterror.info/ which is inspired by Counter-Strike, but using the Quake 3 engine with their own assets. Also the various http://osgameclones.com/#Minecraft-clones which sometimes even predate the popular commercial title which itself is just an Infiniminer clone. http://simutrans.com also fits better into your list as it is not a clone like OpenTTD, but something that started with own assets and ideas in the first place.Simutrans is on the list, section two :) I know very little about Minecraft, thanks for the link and info, this certainly warrants investigation (when I have time that is). Urban Terror - have heard/read about this one but somehow it didn't occur to me to put it on the list. Oh and you are linking Glest, but the fork still in development is http://megaglest.org here.Again, thanks for pointing that out, I haven't gotten around to personally check Glest yet, I am aware of the various branches (including one that is focussed on ancient civilizations or something, although I forgot the title) Â Also SpringRTS is more like a project like OpenRA which reimplements a classic game engine. You probably want something like http://zero-k.info/ in your list instead.It's not like I'm against game engine recreations per se, it's just that those of them that do not have their own assets have little use as free games, because they are obviously not stand-alone products. Several game engine recreations, like OpenTTD, OpenGeneral and UFO2000, have included an option to use free, open source data sets as an alternative to the data of the respective original games that they recreate. In these cases it is perfectly possible to get a free game without the need to own the original. If OpenRA does have a similar feature of free alternate data sets, then I have to apologize because I wasn't aware of this. To be honest, I never really bothered to check all the Spring Engine games, perhaps I should just put Zero-K and maybe also Evolution RTS on the list instead. Â I just discovered the games collection of Daniel Remar, aka, Ultimortal. Not really alternatives to any specific games, but there's a load of fun shooters and puzzle games in there, and they're all free. http://www.remar.se/daniel/games.php "Iji" is definitely worth playing. It's a bit of a mix of classic side scroller shooter, and games like Deus Ex, having a leveling system that allows you to choose specialization of skills, and the choice to either kill enemies or evade them. Interestingly, the storyline actually gets subtle changes depending on that, and I found the 100% pacifistic run to be loads more fun, because you get to talk to people who would otherwise simply be nameless enemies :) (there are some small details you actually have to know to succeed in a pacifistic run, though. Certain not-too-obvious choices have to be made in the game or you simply can't avoid killing, especially in some boss fights. Also, a boss fight where you get an ally actually helping you to defeat the boss? So bloody epic :D)I've heard about Iji, and it seems like a worthy game, but again, haven't found the time to actually try it out yet :) Anyway guys, thanks for all the feedback, much appreciated ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthias M. Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Nope, OpenRA does not have a project like http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/opengfx probably because the pressure is too low as the files are all freeware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted December 6, 2013 Author Share Posted December 6, 2013 Alrighty, I have updated the list with the following titles: Total AnnihilationZero-K (replacing Spring)MinecraftManic DiggerMinetestHalf-Life: CounterstrikeUrban TerrorWarcraft III: Reign of ChaosMegaGlestAgain, thanks for the suggestions guys! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Chip's ChallengeTile WorldLode RunnerSDL Scavenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 Updated the list with the following games: Command & Conquer seriesAnnex: Conquer The WorldDungeon KeeperDungeon DiggerThe Great Giana SistersOpenGGSHerzog ZweiHerzog 3DRailroad TycoonFreeRailsFreeRails IIRailz2Rescue!Rescue! MaxTotal AnnihilationRobotic WarFleet Command, HarpoonGlobal Conflict BlueWarcraft II: Tides of DarknessWyrmsun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Added the free/prototype version of Sublevel Zero as a game inspired by Descent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Feudal Wars is a project of a free browser-based medieval RTS inspired by Age of Empires II. The list of features can be found here, and the project messageboard showcases the graphics and other stuff already done. According to the FAQ, there will be a kickstarter for the game at some point. There seem to be no plans for a non-browser versions for now, but perhaps the authors will agree to release their assets into public domain and those could be combined with the OpenAge engine recreation of AoE2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted April 29, 2017 Author Share Posted April 29, 2017 I haven't updated the list in a long while, but there's no reason not to. Some links were fixed, a few more titles added. Also the list formatting should be more reader-friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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