Open Source / Re-implemented Games

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I’ve recently played through a few open source re-implementations of games that I love. I wanted to share them here and also ask if anyone else had experience with these or other projects like this they wanted to share. To play any of the games listed below, you will need a copy of the original.

OpenRCT2

This is an open-source rebuild of Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 and I would love love love to see more games get this treatment (I think about Civ III and Populous: The Beginning a lot here). This just feels right in every possible way to me. It brings all the brilliance and joy of RCT to modern devices in a really authentic way. I rediscovered how much I love RCT by playing this - and the online multiplayer component was incredible. I lost an entire night of my life with some friends to making a park.

OpenMW

Though I know there’s something to be said about the original version of Morrowind, I recommend everyone who wants to play it on a modern machine use OpenMW. I love Morrowind to death and at this point I’ve put more time into OpenMW than I have the original.

Ship of Harkinian (Ocarina of Time)

Ocarina of Time is really special to me, so I’ve been watching this for a while now. Ship of Harkinian is a PC rebuild of OOT that gives you a frankly ridiculous amount of control over the game. It now runs beautifully on PC and you are free to tweak almost all elements of the game. It’s also a fantastic way to do an Ocarina randomizer, as it comes with built in support that is highly configurable.

Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe

I feel like this is higher quality than whatever Nintendo would attempt here. This is a complete rebuild of Mario 64 with built in online co-op (very user-friendly, too, no server hosting or shenanigans involved). It’s amazing how well Mario 64 translates into a cooperative experience, and when you have multiple people on at a time playing through the game you can get through it really quickly. It comes with built-in extra modes like hide and seek and a Fall-Guys-esque “flood” mode where you have to get to the top of the level before a deadly flood arrives. It also has support for tons of mods, and the community has made tons of custom models, levels, and textures. (Side note - it would be fun to do an Underscore playthrough of this some time!)

LEGO Island (Browser Build)

This one may also belong in “What is a very bad game that you like?” but I spent many many hours of my childhood exploring LEGO Island, clicking on people to change their hairstyles, and trying to see what was behind the door in the cave. You can now play through the whole game in-browser. This one is likely not for people who aren’t already fans, but I had a great time revisiting the island.

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As someone who uses Linux, I’ve found quite a few of these open source implementations, including for some surprising games. Here’s a few:

Devilution X is an open source re-implementation of Diablo and Diablo Hellfire. I haven’t tried playing it yet (or the original Diablo for that matter) but it comes highly recommended and you can even install it on your 3DS if you’re that kind of sicko.

ECWolf for Wolfenstein 3D. IORTCW for Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Daikatana 1.3 (this is more of a mod/enhancement but it includes a Linux port so I’m counting it here)

Arx Libertatis for Arx Fatalis.

There’s also quite a lot of these for Sonic games, most notably Unleashed Recomp and Sonic 3 AIR (Angel Island Revisited), both I can personally attest to being fantastic and possibly the best way of experiencing those respective games.

And lastly, the lovely (official and 100% free!) modern versions of Blupimania and Planet Blupi.

I almost forgot Stone Kingdoms for Stronghold, which also has official permission to include the original game assets so you don’t need to own it otherwise.

It’s amazing how many of these exist and it’s a testament to the dedication and often unsung hard work of fans. I wish more of these got official recognition and support.

Edit: I should probably give a quick shoutout to Lutris, a Linux gaming platform which is how I found out about a lot of these. If you’re on Linux, you can use it to install a lot of these completely hassle free, and even if you’re not you may be able find out about some patches or source ports of games that also work on Windows by searching up different games on the website.

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These are great lists, but don’t forget OpenTTD!

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I’ve just discovered Luxtorpeda, a Steam compatibility tool that allows you to play many games on Steam through unofficial native Linux ports, such as many of the ones I’ve mentioned here (and some other things like running a game in Proton with widescreen fixes or running DOSbox games in DOSbox Staging). I just tried it out by installing my Steam copy of Morrowind to play OpenMW and it allows you to just, do it, it’s fantastic.

Here’s the list of supported games, I recommend checking it out even if you can’t use the tool itself because you might find something cool.

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