Some of the Best Truly Free and Open Source Games on the Internet
The internet is filled with rubbish games that claim to be free but are in fact ad ware, propaganda or just plain boring. Rather try these totally free, totally ad free and totally fun games. These games contain something different that make them truly unique.
Tremulous
This super addictive open source game blends elements of team based FPS (first person shooter) and RTS (real time strategy).
- Choose to be an alien or human player
- Build up to 16 different structures; each with it’s own functions
- Scale walls as an alien waiting for an unsuspecting human to pass by
- Realistic physics
- Buy weapons and armor as a human
- Several alien classes with unique abilities
Frets on fire
Fret on Fire is a game of musical skill. Play guitar on the keyboard while trying to be as accurate as possible. Many people believe this to be one of the most fun games ever made.
- Distinctive inverted keyboard gameplay style
- Supports guitar controllers or joysticks
- Hundreds of songs
BZ Flag
When it comes to multiplayer games this must be one of my favorites, I don’t even know why but it’s just so much fun! And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Its one of the most popular open source games ever.
BZ Flag is a multiplayer tank battle game with no special features just a winning formula for the perfect package of distilled fun.
Danger from the Deep
DftD is a graphically rich and engaging World War II submarine simulator.
I chose this game because it’s turning out to be the best free submarine simulator and everybody loves being the silent hunter…
This game is still in the ALPHA stage of development but playable and recommended none the less.
If you don’t believe me have a look at the screenshots.
True Combat: Elite
I love this tactical-team shooter because in my opinion it’s one of the few games to add a variety of options and weapons without robbing the game of any of its fun or pace.
TC:E is a feature rich total conversion for Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and for me it’s even more fun than Enemy Territory itself.
You may be thinking: “just another terrorist counter terrorism shooter” but don’t be fooled TC:E is engaging and not just a brute force show of skill, many other factors play a roll. In essence TC:E is just a more realistic experience than the other games of this kind.
- Letterbox and widescreen modes
- Cross Platform Support (Win, OS X, Linux)
- Realistic weapon behavior simulation
- Iron sight aiming system, no crosshair
- Sophisticated ballistic simulation including multiple-layer object penetration
- Balanced, team specific set of real-world weapons (Grenades, Pistols, SMG’s, Assault-, Shotgun- and Sniper-Rifles)
- Lag compensation, client-side bullet prediction
Conclusion
What I looked at in this article is games with that little something special that transforms a game form just another game to the game I can’t seem to stop playing.
Many other free games are indeed very good but these games are something different and to me they seem to stand out.
Stay tuned for more games.
These are my favorite free games, you are welcome to comment and share yours too.
Liked it
There’s Gunz online, MapleStory (it gets boring after a while though), Runescape, Eudemons online, and Silk Road.
Some games that you can get money from is/are Second Life and…er…I forget the other one.
I’ve never played Gaia Online but I’ve seen a few things for it (cheat engines, etc.) so I think it’s pretty popular.
You forgot Alien Arena, Warsow, Nexuiz, World of Padman, loads of others, but decent stuff here
True, those seem very good.
I’m planning another article with more so in the meantime I’ll research and play some of your suggestions.
Thanks for commenting.
2 ryan:
those won’t count because they are not open-source.but yes, they are good games, especially Gunz XD.
I think wesnoth is also multiplayer, but im not sure. I only played the single player campains and they were very fun. Great list!!
Tremulous and danger from the deep look awesome! I’ve never heard of these games before…Thanks.
Alien arena is kind of fun but I can never find servers with more than 4 people playing at one time.
True combat elite is REALLY fun. I’ve spent a lot of hours playing that.
Thanks, grabbing the submarine simulator now.
I don’t know how “truly unique” that DDR ripoff is…
I don’t know about the FOF being a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) rip-off.
Yes it uses the same basic idea but I think of it more as another title in a genre rather than a rip-off.
If everyone criticized games using the same genre we would probably still be playing Spasim(1974) because all other FPS games are rip-offs.
It contains features making it unique like the ability to play guitar hero style on your keyboard.
Thanks for posting this article. Definitely some guilt free fun to be had playing these games with everyone.
I’d bet that DDR ripoff meant StepMania, not FOF
Neither TrueCombat: Elite or Enemy Territory are open-source…
Yes that is true, in retrospect my title should have read: Some of the Best Truly Free OR Open Source Games on the Internet.
I don’t care that a game isn’t open source as long as there isn’t any strings attached.
wots #open source’ mean guys? please?
I just tried to play that ‘Frets of fire’ but when I click on your link (the title) all I get is a page that opens with ‘About Frets Of Fire’, no download or play option ?? Can anyone help pls? Thks
http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/ for all the download options.
An open source program is a free program of which the source code(the files used to make the program) is freely available for anyone to improve or use in other free projects.
At last! My second list of games is finished, find it here:
http://tinyurl.com/33y8uw
wesnoth is multi player, and another great single player game is cave story
btanks is really confusing. I dont know who’s on my team, or much of anything for that matter.
I recommend dwarf fortress, despite the fact that it is still an alpha.
Another great game (that I am currently addicted to) is Soldier Front, found on ijji.com… You buy your weapons with money they provide you and then fight real people from all over the world (I even played someone from Israel!). The only problem, as I have already said, is that it is unbelievably addicting (but that comes with great games) and there are hackers
Game that I currently play thats free is BattleCity Classic! You build, defend and attack cities while riding a tank
http://battlecity.looble.com
The second article(Some of the Best Truly Free or Open Source Games on the Internet 2) has moved here:
http://orange-blog.net/?p=41#more-41
Reason for move: More visible and reputable site than Gameolosophy.
Thanks.
There is also Warrock.
http://warrock.net
where is America’s Army in this list? it should be #1…
Nice list, I checked out some of those games. If you make another, you might want to add Flyff. It’s not bad, and totally free. Except for paying for extras, if you count that. You get the full game free, but some ’sparkle’ you can buy.
Is there a plane combat simulator, like the long lost Crimson Skies? Oh how I wish some kind soul makes an open Source from that game, or at least sometning similar.
I found my split near the end. Where is the other cabin? Please your lord.
What about americas army huh? u left that great game out…
No matter how you look at it; AA is and always was propaganda (and consequently not really free). It is fully government funded and has the sole purpose of promoting the US army. But I agree it is a high budget quality game.
Many people seem to ask for another one of these lists despite the fact that I already made one (first comment #18 and then comment #25) but the second list (even better than this one in my opinion) hardly gets traffic.
Here is the link again: http://orange-blog.net/?p=41#more-41
Remember to stumble or digg if you like it
Nice informative article dude, I’ve played a number of open source games and most of them are actually pretty good.
Great list! I think the only one of those games I’ve played is the tank one, and then of course the guitar game I’ve played on an xbox. I look forward to a second list. I don’t really know of any truly free games, but you’ve got a lot of suggestions here.
it’s good
Nice variety of free games. I have bookmarked various sites for free computer games.
hi! ı just downloaded Frets on Fire but when i entered the game and select to play the game, it gives me some errors and quits the program.Do someone have any idea what should i do about it or do anybody else have theese kind of problem?
thank you!!
Good list, I’m a big Tremulous fan. Another good free game engine is Marathon Aleph One – http://source.bungie.org/get/
There’s loads of scenarios for it.
you forgot friendasap.com
from comment #1: “Some games that you can get money from is/are Second Life and…er…I forget the other one.”
I believe the other game is called Project Entropia
Over 150 Free Open Source Games.
http://fossgamer.110mb.com/index.html
yEAH ALL looks well, check out this gaming site http://420games.blogspot.com
Well I WAS going to stumble this but… seeing as the title says free AND open-source… no rating
NAAAH JUST KIDDING! Of course im going to give this thumbs up
Don’t forget Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Emeny Territory. Wonderful multiplayer-based first person shooter.
Not open source but a great free game is Trackmania Nations Forever… loads of multiplayer fun
I farted.
rsrsrsrs só foto nao adianta rsrsrs
Thank you for posting this information. For people that don’t spend alot of time on the internet playing these types of games finding good ones is difficult. I have been looking for truly free online games and haven’t found many.
I haven’t vetted the games that you have listed but I would be interested if anyone can point me in the direction of games that don’t require the purchase of any points to gain an advantage. I don’t recall having to spend money to beat my friends or strangers in games of skill.
Good games that are massive, and provide a level playing field. Please post information about these games so that I can check back in a month and see where I should look.
Aces High 2 – Great online and offline WW2 flight combat simulator. The newest version 2.13 removed LAN support but the previous version 2.12 has it. You can set up an 8 player LAN game in that version if you want. It’s mainly for online play but offline is playable as well.