Free alternatives to classic/well known games

[MrFlibble]

Just as the title suggests, this is an attempt to list free games that very closely follow a well-known product or franchise and can thus serve as an alternative to that particular game.

What I have not included on the list are multiplayer-only games, browser-based games, and all kinds of free-to-play and "freemium" online products. I have also tried not to include projects that make use of original assets like graphics and sounds (unless authorized by original copyright holders, as is the case of T2002).

Any further suggestions as to what games qualify as free alternatives are more than welcome

Update from 2023/05/02: Another complete overhaul of the lists, with simplified groupings and presentation.

Clones and similar games

A-Train - FreeTrain
Abuse - fRaBs
Advance Wars - Tanks of Freedom
Age of Empires - 0 A.D., The Fertile Crescent
Alien Breed - Alien Assault II
Alien Shooter - Theseus: Return of the Hero
Anno 1602 - Unknown Horizons
Another World, Flashback - onEscapee (MajorGeeks.com)
Arcade Volleyball - Hairy Harry
Arkanoid - PopCorn
Asteroids - Roxx
Astrosmash - Cosmosmash
Atic Atac - The Burps (TheBurps.zip)
Atomix - WAtomic, Atomic, Moleculix, Atomix (NiMuSi Software)
Bard's Tale Construction Set, The - Bt Builder
Bard's Tale, The - The Bard's Lore, The Bard's Quest, Tower of Fortune
Battle Isle II - Advanced Strategic Command, Crimson Fields
Bejeweled - Freegemas
Bomberman - Mr.Boom, Fracas, Bombs and Bugs, I Can't Believe It's Not Bomberman (Wayback Machine)
Bombuzal - Bombzuka
Boulder Dash - GDash, Rocks'n'Diamonds, RockRush
Bouncing Babies - Gargoyle Revenge
Breakout - Mega Breakout
Bubble Bobble - Acter World
Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble - Bobble Puzzle, Frozen Bubble, Zorx
Carrier Command - Thunder&Lightning
Castlevania - Silver Night's Crusaders
Catacomb Abyss, The - The Vigilance of Nephthys
Centipede - Megapede'95, Crawly-Pede, The Rustic Classics
Chaos - Anarchy, Chaos Reborn
Chip's Challenge - Tile World
Choplifter - Airlift Rescue (rescue.zip)
Chuckie Egg - Chickie Egg
Clonk - OpenClonk
Columns - Bref, Columns (Brian Boese)
Command & Conquer - Dark Konflict, Future Conflict (fc_101pm.zip), Arrakis, Eudora, Dark Konflict (caiman.us), OpenHV, Annex: Conquer the World
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Fractured Realms
Commander Keen (second trilogy) - Planet Cloudius IX
Connect 4 - Velena
Contra - iiChantra
Crayon Physics - Numpty Physics
Crillion - HitBlock, Crillion '97
Crimsonland - Bloodworks, Violetland
Crusade - Conquests
Crystal Quest - XQuest
Daedalian Opus - Puzmania
Defender - Defendguin, Abductor, Glook
Defender of the Crown - King Arthur's KORT (download), Knights of War
Deflektor - Mirror Magic, Reflektor
Descent - Sublevel Zero (Prototype) (mega.nz)
Diablo - FreedroidRPG, FLARE, Summoning Wars
Doom - Freedoom (Phase 1), Harmony, Shaw's Nightmare, Anarch
Doom II - Freedoom (Phase 2), HacX, Shaw's Nightmare II
Duke Nukem 1 - Dave Gnukem
Duke Nukem 3D - Mr The Killer, Shadow Warrior
Dungeon Keeper - OpenDungeons, Dwelvers (Alpha), OpenDungeons Plus
DX-Ball / MegaBall - SDL-Ball
Elasto Mania - XMoto
Elite - Oolite
Empire Deluxe - GEMpire
Escape Velocity - NAEV
Fantastic Dizzy - Giddy 3: The Retro Eggsperience
Flight Sim Toolkit - OpenFly
Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures - Dungeon Craft
FreeCell - Bolitaire
Freespace 2 - Wings of Dawn
Frogger - Revenge of Froggie, DIV Frogger, Toad
Frontier: Elite II - Pioneer
Galaga - Cosmic Ambush
Galaxian - Galaxi
Gradius - Hydorah
Grand Prix Legends - Dolphinity Racer
Great Giana Sisters, The - Akiko and Minami
Guitar Hero - Frets on Fire
Gun - Guns and Spurs
Heretic - Blasphemer
Herzog Zwei - Herzog 3D, RAD - Rapid Aerial Deployment
Hovertank 3D - Robot Redemption (source code)
Jetpac - Jetpak (JETPAK.zip), Jetman (jetman.zip)
Knights and Merchants - Knights Province
Kula World / Roll Away - Cubosphere
Lemmings - Lix, Pingus, Hamsters, Lemmis
Lethal Tender - Industrial Killers (ikillers.zip)
Lode Runner - Infiltrator, Scavenger
Lords of Midnight, The - Lords of Midnight PC, The War of the Solstice
Lost Vikings, The - freeVikings
M.A.X. - M.A.X. Reloaded
MadTV - TVTower
Magic Carpet - Ogrian Carpet
Master of Monsters - The Battle for Wesnoth
Master of Orion - Star Lords, Remnants of the Precursors, FreeOrion
Mastermind - Dr. Mind
Mechwarrior - Linwarrior 3D
Mega Lo Mania - Gigalomania
Mega Man - Rockbot
Minecraft - Manic Digger, Minetest
Mortal Kombat - Open Mortal
Natural Selection - Tremulous, Unvanquished
Nibbles - Zmiy, The Rustic Classics, Nibbles (George Tzoumas)
OutRun - 'GhiniRun, RunOut
Oxyd - Enigma
Pac-Man - Paku Paku, Greedy, Open Greedy
Pang - Pang Zero, PANGG!
Panzer General - LGeneral + K.u.k. General
Panzer General II - Open General, OpenPanzer / Panzer Marshal
Paradroid - Short Cut
Paratrooper - Ack-Ack Attack!
Pengo - WetSpot 2
Pong - Emeritus Pong
Populous - Reprisal Universe (Beta)
Pulsoids - Pulsoid
Puzznic - Brix, Wizznic!, Japure
Quake - LibreQuake, Open Quartz, Open Quartz 2, Nexuiz Classic, Rexuiz, Xonotic
Quake II - CodeRED - Battle For Earth, CodeRED - The Martian Chronicles, Alien Arena, D-Day Normandy, Warsow
Quake III Arena - OpenArena, Acid Arena, World of Pandman
Quest for Glory - Heroine's Quest
R-Type - GazerStar
Raptor: Call of the Shadows - Kraptor, Rafkill
Repton 3 - Rock 'n' Spin
Rescue! - Rescue! Max
Rick Dangerous - Lao's Quest
Rise of the Triad - Rise of the Wool Ball
Robbo / The Adventures of Robbo - GNU Robbo
Robotron - Llamatron
Rogue - Rogue Clone IV, TileRogue
RPG Maker - EasyRPG, Open RPG Maker
Scorched Earth - Atomic Tanks, Scorched3D
Scramble - Zeroth Zone
Secret Agent - Special Agent
Sensible (World of) Soccer - YSoccer, Tux Football, Open World Soccer
Sentinel - Sentry
Settlers II, The - Widelands
Settlers of Catan, The - Pioneers
Sid Meier's Civilization - Freeciv, Great Nations, Kingdoms, Conquests
Sid Meier's Civilization II - Freeciv, C-evo
Sid Meier's Civilization V - Unciv
Sid Meier's Colonisation - FreeCol
SimCity - Lincity, LinCity-NG, OpenCity
SolarFox - SolarWolf
Sonic the Hedgehog - Open Surge
Sopwith - Sopwith (The Author's Edition), Sopwith 3
Space Hulk - Alien Assault
Space Invaders - Spaced-Out Invaders, XInvaders 3D
Space Quest - Cosmos Quest
Spit Wad Willy/Pea Shootin' Pete - Bubble Jeopardy (dpdl_bubble.zip)
Star Castle - Star Fortress
Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Space Combat
StarCraft - Priority: Survive, Bos Wars (latest Windows build), Astroseries
Starion - Starion 2010
Stars! - Stars! Nova
Street Fighter II - Super Fighter, Tough Guy
Stunts - Ultimate Stunts
Super Hexagon - Open Hexagon
Super Mario Bros. - Secret Maryo Chronicles, SuperTux
Super Mario Kart - SuperTuxKart
Super Monkey Ball - Neverball
Super-VGA Harrier - Jaguar GR1: Strike Force Delta Zulu, Tornado Squadron, Skyhawk Attack
Terminal Velocity - TerraScape: Breakdown Velocity
Tetris - Super ACiD Block Attack, Falling Block Game, Ptakovina, Tetris QUEEN
Thief: The Dark Project - The Dark Mod
Thrust - Thrust
Titan - Colossus
Total Annihilation - Zero-K, Robotic War, War Machines, Beyond All Reason
Tower Toppler - Tower Toppler
Trailblazer - Blazing Trails
Transport Tycoon Deluxe - OpenTTD, Simutrans
Tron - Cycles 3D
Trugg - Heartlight PC
Turrican II - Hurrican
Ugh! - CaveExpress
Ultima I-III - The Kingdom of Syree, The Kingdom of Syree 2
Ultima IV-V - Haxima
Ultima VI - IRE
Ultimate Doom, The - Freedoom (Phase 1), REKKR
Warcraft II - Aleona's Tales, Wyrmsun, Dark Oberon, Astroseries
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos - Glest, MegaGlest, Loria
Warlords - Hostile Takeover
Warlords II Deluxe - LordsAWar!
Wing Commander - Flight Commander
Wizardry VII - Escape from the Maze, Wizardry Legacy
Wolfenstein 3-D - Zillion 3D
Worms - Hedgewars, WarMUX
X-COM: Terran Defense Force / UFO: Enemy Unknown - X-Force: Fight for Destiny, UFO: Alien Invasion, UFO2000


Official/authorized remakes, source ports and fangames

Abuse - Abuse for Windows
Alien Breed - Alien Breed: Obliteration, Alien Breed Remake (Rob Farley) (1980-jeux-pc.com)
Alien Breed 3D - Project Osiris
Amulets & Armor - Amulets & Armor (Windows)
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 - Anacreon v2.1
Arcade Volleyball - GAV
AstroMenace - AstroMenace
Atomix - Atomiks
Blades of Exile - Open Blades of Exile
BlockOut - BlockOut II
Blood - Transfusion
Boppin' - Boppin' 2.0.5 (Windows)
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars
Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space - Race Into Space
C-Dogs - C-Dogs SDL
Castlevania - Castlevania 2: The Lecarde Chronicles, Haunted Castle II
Chex Quest - Chex Quest 3
Command & Conquer - OpenRA, Dawn of Tomorrow, Tiberian Aurora
Command & Conquer: Renegade - Renegade X: Black Dawn
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Twisted Insurrection
Cyberbox - The Continuing Adventures of Cyberbox
Cybernoid - Cybernoid I
Cylindrix - Cylindrix (Windows)
Cytadela - Cytadela
D/Generation - rE/Generation
Death Rally - Death Rally (Windows)
Deflektor - Deflektor X4
Der Clou! - Clou! Open Source Project
Digger (Alexander Lang) - Digger 2, Digger (Lutz Roeder)
Digger (Windmill Software) - Digger Remastered
Dink Smallwood - GNU FreeDink, Dink Smallwood HD
Duke Nukem 3D - Demon Throne, The AMC Squad, Hectic Realms
Eat the Whistle - Eat the Whistle GPL
Elite - Elite: The New Kind
Escape Towards the Unknown - Escape Towards the Unknown GPL
Fish Fillets - Fish Fillets NG
Gladiator - Openglad
Gravity Force 2 - Gravity Force 20
Great Giana Sisters, The - The Great Giant Sisters, Giant Worlds, Giana's Return
Greedy - Open Greedy
Gunocide II - Gunocide II EX
HacX - HacX 1.2, HacX 2.0
Homeworld - House Globe
Jet Set Willy - Top Hat Willy
Joe Snow - The Rustic Classics, Joe Snow
Ken's Labyrinth - LAB3D/SDL
King's Quest I - King's Quest I VGA
King's Quest II - King's Quest II Enhanced Edition
King's Quest III - King's Quest III: To Heir is Human, King's Quest III VGA Remake
Laser Kombat - Laser Kombat (Wouter Wijsman)
Liero - OpenLieroX
Maelstrom - Maelstrom 3.0
Marathon, Marathon 2, Marathon Infinity - Aleph One
Mercenary, Damocles, The Dion Crisis - MDDClone
Mindbender - Mirror Magic
No Gravity - No Gravity (Classic)
PopCorn - PopCorn 1988
PowBall - PowBall Deluxe
Power Pete - Mighty Mike
Prince of Persia - MININIM
Quest for Glory II - Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
Ragnarok / Valhalla - NorseWorld: Ragnarok
Rick Dangerous - xrick
Rise of the Triad - Return of the Triad
Robbo / The Adventures of Robbo - Robbo (JavaScript)
Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries - Seven Kingdoms Ancient Adversaries
Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge - Space Quest II VGA Remake
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters - The Ur-Quan Masters, The Ur-Quan Masters HD
Steel Panthers - SPWW2, Steel Panthers: World at War
Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles - SPMBT
Styx - Styx Remastered
Supaplex - OpenSupaplex, Supaplex Online, Rocks'n'Diamonds
Telengard - Telengard Remake
Triplane Turmoil - Triplane Classic, Triplane Web
Turrican II - T2002
Tyrian - OpenTyrian
VGA Civil War Strategy Game - Civil War Strategy Game
Warzone 2100 - Warzone 2100
Wolfenstein 3-D - Wolfram

[dosraider]

A nice list
And interesting.

THX MrFlibble.

And pinned

[MrFlibble]

Nice, thanks!

[MrFlibble]

Added Super Angelo as an obvious Super Mario clone/alternative.

[MrFlibble]

There's yet another Super Mario Bros. clone, called The Great Giana Sisters, which was, however, never published on the IBM PC platform. The interesting thing is that a German developer, Rainer Sinsch, made an unofficial DOS port of the game called Giana Worlds (later renamed to Giant Worlds for copyright reasons). Eventually Rainer Sinsch contacted the creator of the original Giana Sisters game, Armin Gessert, who gave official permission to develop and distribute Giana Worlds:

Copyright questions have been solved (07-07-01)
Yesterday I had a nice phone call with Armin Gessert (the original c64 author and inventor of The Great Giana Sisters). It turned out that he has the rights for Giana Sisters and he was so kind to give us the permission to continue publishing giana worlds (I am very glad that issue has been solved). In case you may want to have a look at what Armin Gessert does now try out the web-site of his game development company: http://www.spellbound.de.

(source)

Both the older Giana Sisters clone (1998) and the Giana Worlds game are available from download.

[MrFlibble]

Added the Giant Sisters/Giana Worlds games as Super Mario Bros. alternatives, and also Holistic Design's Battles of Destiny as a counterpart of Empire Deluxe.

[MrFlibble]

Added the following titles to the list:

Robot Odyssey

• DroidQuest
• Gate

Scorched Earth

• Scorched3D

Wing Commander series

• RiftSpace L
• Star Wraith 2 L
• Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion L
• Star Wraith IV: Reviction L
• Vega Strike

I've also found a couple of neat community-made Doom episodes that work nicely with Freedoom as a first episode replacement (the internal Freedoom levels are okay but they often have a noticeably different style):

CH Retro Episode
This is a creative reimagining of the shareware episode of Doom, with immediately recognizable yet subtly different visuals, and overall clever level design. It starts as a relatively straightforward thing but the levels quickly get interesting, and are full of puzzles and secret areas. The download link at the review page does no work but the file can be obtained here.

Simply Phobos
Another Knee-Deep-themed episode, but quite different from the one above. The author of Simply Phobos has a preference for vast, spacious areas, and also isn't shy of almost literal visual quotations from the original levels. It's equally fun to play nevertheless, and captures the atmosphere of the original game quite well too. In addition, this episode comes with an optional music pack in a separate WAD.

[dosraider]

Wing Commander series

• RiftSpace L
• Star Wraith 2 L
• Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion L
• Star Wraith IV: Reviction L
• Vega Strike

Hell yeah, good stuff there.
Personal opinion: Vega Strike is one of the best fanmade WC games you can find.

[MrFlibble]

Here's a couple more Doom Episode 1 tributes that work with Freedoom:

Phobos Revisited
The aim of the author was to create a "same but different" kind of feeling, following the original levels quite closely yet introducing something new at every turn. Phobos Revisited was designed to run in the original game as well as with source ports, and it won the Cacowards award in 2004. Screenshots can be viewed here at the team's website.

Phobos Outpost/Planet Phobos
Another interesting work, this one deviates a lot more from the original - for example, the first level is nothing like Doom's E1M1 - however later on similar details and areas become more frequent. The levels here are supposed to represent a single, coherent installation (the eponymous outpost), and at the end of each level the starting area of the next one can briefly be seen. Difficulty is a bit higher than in other similar works, or in the first episode of the original game for that matter, but clever design makes them interesting to play. For some reason, the author renamed the episode to Planet Phobos at some point, although no content was apparently changed.

The same author also released an Episode 2 replacement, The Base of Evil (which was also renamed to Planet Hell later), however it doesn't seem to work with Freedoom for now because of a missing textures issue.

[MrFlibble]

Added Jazz Jackrabbit as another counterpart to Sonic the Hedgehog.

[MrFlibble]

Added Star Lords as an alternative to Master of Orion, and onEscapee as a counterpart to Another World and Flashback.

[MrFlibble]

Added a working download link for Giana Worlds.

[MrFlibble]

Nazghul is a very nice-looking RPG modelled after Ultima V.

[MrFlibble]

I've just realized that Alien Carnage bears a lot of similarities to the Amiga/Genesis version of Alien 3: the levels are timed missions during which you need to rescue captives and reach the exit, and one of the weapons is a flamethrower; not to mention several direct references to the Alien franchise.

Also, added Amulets & Armor to the list.

[MrFlibble]

Following some constructive criticism in another forum, I've decided to drop the liberated games part from the list altogether. I've come to realize that thinking of liberated games as some kind of Ersatz for other titles is counter-productive, and this topic should be addressed elsewhere.

Further on, I've separated the list into three sub-lists:

1. More or less straightforward remakes or clones of well-known games. In many cases the authors will openly point to the game that they are trying to remake, and if not, the similarity is often quite obvious anyway.

2. Shareware clones of popular titles, mostly from the DOS era. These are generally of historical interest.

3. Games that are definitely inspired by famous titles, but the authors have added enough ideas of their own to make these games something more than direct recreations. As usual, this is the grey area as YMMV what makes for a simple clone and what constitutes an "inspired by" game.

Also, the following titles were added:

Crayon Physics
o Numpty Physics
Dungeon Keeper
o OpenDungeons
Elite
o Galaxias
Lemmings
o Lix
Natural Selection
o Tremulous
o Unvanquished
RPGMaker
o EasyRPG
SimCity
o Lincity
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
o UFO2000
Bos Wars, Command & Conquer: Red Alert
o Commander Stalin
Diablo
o FreedroidRPG
Empire Deluxe
o GEMpire
Frontier: Elite II
o Pioneer
Puzzle Bobble
o Frozen Bubble
o Hex Bubbles
o Zorx
Ultima series
o Nazghul
Wizardry VII
o LostHero - story of Gilgamesh

[MrFlibble]

Added some more titles:

A-Train
o FreeTrain
Carrier Command
o Thunder&Lightning
Duke Nukem
o Dave Gnukem [download]
Escape Velocity
o NAEV
Half-Life: Counterstrike
o Assault Cube Reloaded
Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament
o Arena of Honour
o Red Eclipse
Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Descent: Freespace
o Space Combat
Super Monkey Ball
o Neverball

Also added another section to the list, with the liberated games that have both the source code and all assets released for free, thus making it possible to create new builds of the entire game.

[MrFlibble]

Risk

• JavaRisk
• NetRisk
• OpenFracas
• yura.net Domination

[dosraider]

Duke Nukem

• Dave Gnukem [download]

Still some minor bugs .... but really funny game, a well done clone.

[MrFlibble]

Yeah, I wonder why it isn't that much known (maybe for fears that 3D Realms might "cease-and-desist" it, like they did with Dave 3D?). leilei mentioned it in another forum.

[MrFlibble]

Driller
o Driller (remake)
Elasto Mania
o X-Moto
M.U.L.E.
o Planet M.U.L.E.
NetWars
o NetWarsGL
Stunts
o Ultimate Stunts
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
o Project Xenocide
o X-Force: Fight for Destiny