One of the most popular alternatives to Age of Empires is 0 A.D., which is free and open source. Other popular alternatives are OpenRA, Warzone 2100, Age of Mythology and StarCraft. RTS Games like Age of Empires are a crowded field, with more than 50 alternatives for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and the web.
Free, open-source real-time strategy game focusing on ancient warfare spanning 500 B.C. to 500 A.D., offering 3D graphics, city building, economy management, a variety of civilizations, cross-platform support, multiplayer options, and extensive modding features.
United States
OpenRA is an open-source reimplementation of Westwood’s Command & Conquer Red Alert game engine, updated to use the hardware acceleration of modern video cards using OpenGL.
Join "The Project" to restore humanity's synaptic-link technology after nuclear war has devastated Earth, rendering it a Warzone 2100.
Age of Mythology is based on building towns, gathering resources, creating armies, and ultimately destroying enemy units and buildings. In this way, players are able to defeat and conquer rival towns and civilizations.
United States
Command the exiled Terrans, the relentless Zerg, and the abiding Protoss, in the world's most longstanding RTS. (Released in 1998.).
United States
Empire Earth, also known as EE, is a real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 23, 2001. It is the first game in the Empire Earth series: Empire Earth, Empire Earth II, Empire Earth III.
United States
Widelands is a free, open source real-time strategy game with singleplayer campaigns and a multiplayer mode. The game was inspired by Settlers II™ (© Bluebyte) but has significantly more variety and depth to it. Still, it is easy to get started through playable tutorials.
The Total Annihilation Inspired RTS you've been waiting for is coming.
Free (as in freedom) open-source RTS Age of Empires engine. Written from scratch in C++, Python, Cython, Qt/QML, OpenGL/GLSL, Vulkan, ...
Mexico
Stormgate® is a free-to-play PC real-time strategy game set hundreds of years in Earth’s future. Take command of the human resistance, the demonic invaders, or other factions yet to be revealed–solo or cooperatively.
United States
CaesarIA is an open source remake of Caesar III game released by Impressions Games in 1998, it aims to expand the possibilities of the classical city-building simulators and to add new features showing the city life. Now the game work with Windows, Linux, Mac, Haiku and Android.
MegaGlest is an open source 3D-real-time strategy game, where you control the armies of one of seven different factions: Tech, Magic, Egyptians, Indians, Norsemen Persian or Romans. The game is setup in one of 14 naturally looking settings, which -like the unit models- are...
