Best Free Games Like Age of Empires (Series) Top RTS Games & Historical Games like Age of Empires (Series)
The best free alternative to Age of Empires is 0 A.D., which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Age of Empires and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Age of Empires are OpenRA, Warzone 2100, Starcraft and Widelands.
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Age of Empires alternatives are mainly RTS Games but may also be Historical Games or City Building Games. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Age of Empires.- RTS Game
- Paid • Proprietary
235 likes43 0 A.D. alternatives0 A.D. is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy (RTS) game of ancient warfare. In short, it is a historically-based war/economy game that allows players to relive or rewrite the history of Western civilizations, focusing on the years between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.
0 A.D. Features
0 A.D. VS Age of Empires
Is 0 A.D. a good alternative to Age of Empires?
48 likes27 OpenRA alternativesOpenRA is an open-source reimplementation of Westwood’s Command and Conquer Red Alert game engine, updated to use the hardware acceleration of modern video cards using OpenGL.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- Flathub
- .NET Framework
- Mono
OpenRA Features
OpenRA VS Age of Empires
Is OpenRA a good alternative to Age of Empires?
65 likes28 Warzone 2100 alternativesJoin "The Project" to restore humanity's synaptic-link technology after nuclear war has devastated Earth, rendering it a Warzone 2100.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Flathub
- Snapcraft
Warzone 2100 Features
Warzone 2100 VS Age of Empires
Is Warzone 2100 a good alternative to Age of Empires?
118 likes33 Starcraft alternativesCommand the exiled Terrans, the relentless Zerg, and the abiding Protoss, in the world's most longstanding RTS. (Released in 1997.).
Starcraft Features
Starcraft VS Age of Empires
Is Starcraft a good alternative to Age of Empires?
36 likes27 Widelands alternativesWidelands 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.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Widelands Features
Widelands VS Age of Empires
Is Widelands a good alternative to Age of Empires?Comments about Widelands as an Alternative to Age of Empires
different game play and concept
0
18 likes40 openage alternativesFree (as in freedom) open-source RTS Age of Empires engine. Written from scratch in C++, Python, Cython, Qt/QML, OpenGL/GLSL, Vulkan, ...
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
openage Features
openage VS Age of Empires
Is openage a good alternative to Age of Empires?
6 likes28 Travian alternativesJoin the famous expert strategy game with thousands of real players, directly in your browser.
License model
- Freemium • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Online
Travian Features
Travian VS Age of Empires
Is Travian a good alternative to Age of Empires?
24 likes18 MegaGlest alternativesMegaGlest 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...
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
MegaGlest Features
MegaGlest VS Age of Empires
Is MegaGlest a good alternative to Age of Empires?Comments about MegaGlest as an Alternative to Age of Empires
Similar gameplay. Great graphics.
-1
18 likes30 CaesarIA alternativesCaesarIA 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.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- Wine
- Steam
CaesarIA Features
CaesarIA VS Age of Empires
Is CaesarIA a good alternative to Age of Empires?Comments about CaesarIA as an Alternative to Age of Empires
different game play and concept
0I enjoy the city build experience
0
11 likes39 Dune Legacy alternativesDune Legacy is an effort by a handful of developers to revitalize the first-ever real-time strategy game. Based from Dune II
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Flathub
Dune Legacy Features
Dune Legacy VS Age of Empires
Is Dune Legacy a good alternative to Age of Empires?
Comments about 0 A.D. as an Alternative to Age of Empires
0 A.D. was originally based off of Age of Empires II and is a /great/ alternative to the series. It includes many advanced features and multiplayer support, and is completely open source! How much better can you get? (0 A.D. is currently in alpha development, so there a a couple of bugs and a few features are missing, but it is still very playable and fun.)
0 A.D. is arguably the closest comparable game to Age of Empires 2. The civilizations and more advanced units within them are obviously different but play-wise and strategy-wise, the two are very close. Meanwhile, 0 A.D. has visuals that eclipse the later 3D graphics of AoE 3.
It works on all platforms and it's free and open-source.
It not only has most features present in AoE2, but also improves upon those features. The fact that it is open source means also: infinitely better mod support, constant improvements to AI and other aspects of the game. Also free and easy to install and to play multiplayer.
Historically it is a good game and always will be