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Spotlight: 15 free games inspired by DOS classics
Blogartikel von MrFlibble
The DOS era saw many a breakthrough in game development, including the releases of Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM and Duke Nukem 3D, or such brilliant classic strategy series as Warcraft or Command & Conquer. There is no wonder, then, that many such titles have inspired later developers to create their own games after these well-deservedly popular series.
Today, DOS Games Archive presents to you a fine selection of modern games - no DOSBox required to play! - that are heavily inspired by the DOS classics available from our collection.
1. Freedoom
This is a free and open source first-person game running on the DOOM engine. Fight against aliens on distant planets and on Earth. Over the years of its development (being a non-commercial community project), Freedoom has seen many changes, and has gradually improved its art, sounds, music and levels. It is highly recommended to download the nightly builds instead of the "stable" releases. You will need a DOOM source port to play, like Chocolate Doom or GZDoom.
2. Planet Cloudius IX
If you like the Commander Keen series of action platform games, you'll love this one. Made by fans of the game and running on the KEENGINE custom engine that replicates the look and feel of id Software's classics, this game is very similar to Keen in many respects, but is also quite unique with more colourful graphics and completely new characters and levels.
Download Planet Cloudius IX from GameJolt
3. Lix
Lix is an action/puzzle game that closely replicates the look & feel of DMA Design's Lemmings, without being a straightforward carbon copy of that game. Guide the little "lix" to the level exit while avoiding obstacles and traps! The game comes with over 700 singleplayer levels, multiplayer mode and a level editor.
Visit the official Lix website
4. Lincity
A city-building simulator/strategy game that was inspired by, you guessed it, SimCity. It looks and plays very similarly, and is completely open source and cross-platform. Well, SimCity is also an open source game (known as Micropolis) too.
5. Haxima
The Ultima series inspired many generations of RPG players, and also fostered the creation of numerous clones, including game creation kits such as The Dragon Engine, Azalta or Adventure Creation Kit. Haxima follows in the same direction, with quality high-resolution graphics, built-in scripting language and editor. It is completely free and open source.
6. FreeOrion
FreeOrion is a 4x space strategy game similar to, but not a direct recreation of, Master of Orion. You will guide your chosen race of sentient beings from their humble beginnings to space-faring age and ultimately dominance over all of the galaxy.
Visit the FreeOrion project page
7. Wyrmsun
If you love Warcraft II, you should check out this game. A very ambitious project, Wyrmsun is based on a fork of the Stratagus engine, which is an open source recreation of the original Warcraft II. Wyrmsun adds a whole new host of features, including unit traits, random map generation, technology ages similar to Age of Empires, among other things. You can play as Dwarves or Goblins, or as bronze/iron age to early Mediaeval human civilizations. There are campaigns, scenarios and skirmish maps available. The base game is free, but you can buy optional DLCs on Steam.
8. Dave Gnukem
Remember the original Duke Nukem? Well, this is an open source reimagining of that game (Gnukem as in "GNU GPL"). Run, jump, shoot stuff and collect useful items, like it's back in '91 again!
Visit Dave Gnukem project page
9. OpenTTD
OpenTTD is a large-scale project to accurately recreate the engine and mechanics of Transport Tycoon Deluxe. It can use both the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files or its own libre set that is very similar. The game is complex and offers you the role of a head of a transport company, with aims to develop road, rail, boat and air travel, leaving the competition way behind if possible. A true classic that receives a lot of well-deserved love.
Visit the official site of OpenTTD
10. Hurrican
An open source action platform/shooter game heavily inspired by Turrican II. You control a robotic character armed with a gun and shoot down lots of baddies, picking up weapon powerups in the process.
Visit the official page of Hurrican
11. Rise of the Wool Ball
Rise of the Wool Ball is a stand-alone game on the ZDoom engine, inspired by Apogee Software's Rise of the Triad. The story here is set in a cartoon world where hedgehogs battle evil alien cats. It is a sequel to Shadow of the Wool Ball, a Wolfenstein 3D-inspired total conversion for DOOM II, so it was only logical that it references Rise of the Triad (which was originally conceived as a Wolf3D sequel). The art in SotWB was created with MSPaint, but it is of excellent quality, and gameplay is fast and fun.
Download Rise of the Wool Ball from ModDB
12. LordsAWar!
Steve Fawkner's Warlords II was a very popular "light" turn-based fantasy strategy game in its time, and the hardcore fans have created their homage to the classic title. Here, you command one of the warring nations vying for domination in a land of castles and fantasy creatures. Build up an army, capture as many castles as you can, and crush all opposition! A selection of preset scenarios and a level editor are available.
13. X-Moto
X-Moto is an open source motorbike stunt game that is similar to Elasto Mania / Action SuperCross. You drive across pretty abstract terrains filled with pitfalls and other obstacles, collecting fruit on your way to the level exit. The game quickly becomes a matter of mastery of the balancing skill, with motion physics that are not exactly realistic, but quite tricky to get a grip of.
14. Advanced Strategic Command
This is a very close recreation of Battle Isle 2200, a popular sci-fi turn-based wargame from German developer Blue Byte.
Visit the Advanced Strategic Command project page
15. Enigma
Enigma was inspired by a rolling ball puzzle game called Oxyd, originally from Germany. The objective of each level is to safely guide the ball through a maze, viewed from the top-down perspective. However, there are many various obstacles and items, such as bottomless pits, laser fences, switches and so on, that you need to avoid or use in combination with one another to get through. The ball is not easy to handle because of the inertia and because it bounces off walls.