Action games

In action games reaction-time and hand–eye coordination are the main challenges.

List of Action games

This is a list of free/libre action games:

Game	Screenshot	Last Release	Genres	Description
Kobo Deluxe		2007-12-27	Action	Kobo Deluxe Kobo Deluxe Genre Action Latest release 0.5.1 Release date December 27th, 2007 Developer David Olofson, Akira Higuchi, Erik Auerswald, Jeremy Sheeley, Simon Peter, Florian Schulze, Masanao Izumo Code license GPLv2+, LGPL (assumed 2.1; 2, 2.1+) Media license GPLv2 or 2+ P. language C++ Library SDL Contribute Kobo Deluxe is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Available as a package in:   OpenSUSE: kobo-deluxe Kobo Deluxe is a 2D scrolling space shooter written by David Olofson, based on XKobo by Akira Higuchi. The latest version is 0.5.1, released on December 27th, 2007.
SDL Asylum		2009-08-17	Action	SDL Asylum SDL Asylum Genre Action Latest release 0.3.2  (Announcement) Release date August 17th, 2009 Platforms Windows, Linux Developer Andy Southgate (original), Hugh Robinson (C port) Code license Public domain (original), GPLv3+ (C port) Media license Public domain P. language C Library SDL, OpenGL Contribute SDL Asylum is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Forum SDL Asylum is a 2D platform/shooting game designed and written by Andy Southgate in 1994, originally as a commercial project for the Acorn Archimedes. In 2002 Southgate released the source and media into the public domain, and a C port using SDL is now available. Source code is available for both, so both are free software.
Neverball		2014-05-21	Puzzle	Neverball Screenshot of Neverball v1.4.0 Genre Puzzle Latest release 1.6.0  (Announcement) Release date May 21st, 2014 Developer Robert Kooima Code license GPL Media license GPL Contribute Neverball is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Available as a package in:   Debian: neverball  Fedora: neverball   Ubuntu: neverball  OpenSUSE: neverball  Mageia: neverball Neverball is a game of skill in which the player guides a ball through various obstacle courses by tilting the entire level. The game, including the media, is licensed under the GPL. There is a game based on Neverball, called Neverputt. A version was included on OpenSource Game Power volume 1.
Liquid War 6		2015-05-07	Action games	Liquid War 6 Genre Action games Latest release 0.6.3902  (Announcement) Release date May 7th, 2015 Developer Christian Mauduit Code license GPL Media license GPL P. language C Contribute Liquid War 6 is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Available as a package in:   OpenSUSE: liquidwar6 Liquid War is an action game that involves blob of liquids written by Christian Mauduit. Liquid War 6 is a complete rewrite of Liquid War as a part of the GNU Project. It is licensed under the GPLv2. The latest version of the game is 0.0.9beta released in August 2010.
CAVEZ of PHEAR		2021-12-15	Arcade, Action	CAVEZ of PHEAR Genres Arcade, Action Latest release 0.6.1  (Announcement) Release date December 15th, 2021 Developers Tom Rune Flo, Dmitry Marakasov Code license GPLv3 Media license GPLv3 P. language C Contribute CAVEZ of PHEAR is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project CAVEZ of PHEAR is an arcade action game based on ASCII graphics, released under the GPLv3. It is inspired by games like Boulder Dash and Digger.
Key Runner		2013-01-05	Action	Key Runner Key Runner Genre Action Latest release r3  (Announcement) Release date January 05th, 2013 Developer Russ Adams Code license GPLv2 Media license GPLv2 P. language English Library SDL Contribute Key Runner is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Key Runner is a 2D overhead action game where Moschata, the Key Runner must race to retrieve the key and bring it to the lock.
Childish Cannoneer		2012-09-15	Artillery and Adventure	Childish Cannoneer Genres Artillery and Adventure Latest release Source Release 2  (Announcement) Release date September 15th, 2012 Developers White Island Software, Piga Software Code license GPLv3 Media license GPLv3, GFDL Engine Gambas (picture boxes) P. language Gambas 3.x Libraries Qt/GTK, SDL, and the Gambas Runtime Environment. Contribute Childish Cannoneer is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Childish Cannoneer is the first venture of the "Indie Games" project hosted by White Island Software at the Gambas Forum, and participated in by Piga Software through Graham L. Wilson. The aim of the project is to make computer games to show off the Gambas language, with the eventual hope of inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle for maximum attention. It is to feature a little boy building a makeshift air cannon from spare parts only to terrorize his older sister, and potentially the whole neighbourhood, while evading the wrath of his father. The majority of the game's multimedia are derived from vector graphics taken from OpenClipart and sound effects taken from SoundBible. Contributions to this project, or the creation of other entities for the Indie Games project, are more then welcome.
Open Hexagon		2013-06-16	Action	Open Hexagon Circular level with very fast small random walls and spirals Genre Action Latest release 1.92.b  (Announcement) Release date June 16th, 2013 Developer Vittorio Romeo Code license Academic Free License Media license Academic Free License P. language C++ Library SFML Contribute Open Hexagon is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker The player controls a triangle, which tries to evade polygons moving towards the center. The triangle can be rotated in both directions. The games gets more difficult over time and the goal is to survive as long as possible.
Bitfighter		2021-06-01	Action	Bitfighter Bitfighter Genre Action Latest release 022  (Announcement) Release date June 1st, 2021 Platforms Windows, Linux, Mac Code license GPLv2 Media license GPLv2 Library C++, Lua Contribute Bitfighter is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Forum Available as a package in:   Slackware: bitfighter  Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found Arch AUR: bitfighter   OpenSUSE: bitfighter  Mageia: bitfighter Bitfighter is an outer-space combat action game. There are difference ways of playing such as space exploration for warfare and construction.
Eskimo-run		2006-06-02	Action	Eskimo-run Eskimo-run 0.1 Screenshot Genre Action Latest release 0.1 Release date June 2nd, 2006 Developer HoleInTheHeadStudios Code license GPL v2 or later Media license GPL v2 or later P. language Python Library Pygame Contribute Eskimo-run is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Eskimo-run is a tutorial game that covers most of the basics for making a game in Pygame/Python. The development team is HoleInTheHeadStudios. The game is licensed under the GNU General Public License. The latest version of the game is 0.1 released on June 2nd, 2006.
Starfighter		2020-12-26	Arcade	Project: Starfighter Project: Starfighter 1.3 Genre Arcade Latest release 2.4  (Announcement) Release date December 26th, 2020 Developer Parallel Realities Code license GPL Media licenses various P. language C Library SDL Contribute Project: Starfighter is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Available as a package in:   Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found Arch AUR: starfighter   OpenSUSE: starfighter Project: Starfighter is a 2D shoot'em up game by Stephen Sweeney and Richard Sweeney of Parallel Realities. It can run on Mac and Linux platforms. It relies on the SDL library. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Atanks		2021-08-12	Action	Atanks Genre Action Latest release 6.6  (Announcement) Release date August 12th, 2021 Platforms Windows, Linux Developers Jesse Smith, Juraj Michalek, Thomas Hudson Code license GPLv2 Media license GPL P. language C++ Library Allegro Contribute Atanks is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Atanks or Atomic Tanks is a tank shooting game similar to Wormux. It is licensed under the GPL. It uses the game library Allegro. It is written in the C++ programming language.
Uebergame		2018-12-14	First‐person shooter	Uebergame Genre First‐person shooter Latest release 1.1.2.0  (Announcement) Release date Dec 14, 2018 Platforms Windows, Linux Developer Duion Code license MIT Media license CC0 Engine Torque3D P. language C++, TorqueScript Contribute Uebergame is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Uebergame (or Übergame from german über meaning above) is a realistic shooter with modern graphics. It's goal is to provide a modern up to date, libre gaming platform for basic multiplayer shooter gameplay types, like deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag etc taking part in different scenarios. The source code is licensed under the MIT license and the media assets are licensed under CC0 and MIT license license. The MIT licensed assets are derived from open sourced projects from garagegames, so they cannot be relicensed to CC0, but all other assets that get added are strictly under CC0 license. Uebergame's game logic is written in TorqueScript. The engine is a modified version of the MIT-licensed Torque3D game engine, which is written in C++.
ReTux		2023-02-01	Platformer	ReTux ReTux Genre Platformer Latest release 1.6.2  (Announcement) Release date February 1st, 2023 Developer The Diligent Circle Code license GPL Media license various (all libre) P. language Python Library Seclusion Game Engine Contribute ReTux is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Available as a package in:   Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found Arch AUR: retux-bin   OpenSUSE: retux  Flatpak: io.github.retux_game.retux ReTux (stylized as "reTux" in-game) is a libre 2-D platformer written in Python and utilizing media from SuperTux. Although ReTux re-uses the art assets of SuperTux, no code from SuperTux is used in ReTux. The software portion of ReTux is entirely new, written in Python and based on the Seclusion Game Engine. The main game contains 41 levels split into 5 worldmaps. Each level also has a Tux doll which can be found for bonus points and 100% completion. It was previously distributed commercially, but released to the public at no charge in April 2017.
Not Pacman		2013-01-12	Action	Not Pacman Not Pacman Genre Action Latest release 1.0.4 Release date January 12th, 2013 Developer Stabyourself Code license WTFPL Media license WTFPL Engine LÖVE P. language LUA Contribute Not Pacman is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Available as a package in:   OpenSUSE: notpacman Not Pacman is a pacman-style game with gravity in which the player controls the rotation of the game field.
Pacewar		2020-05-17	Action	Pacewar Pacewar Genre Action Latest release 1.6.7  (Announcement) Release date May 17th, 2020 Developer onpon4 Code license GPL Media license various P. language Python Library Seclusion Game Engine Contribute Pacewar is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Available as a package in:   OpenSUSE: pacewar Pacewar is a simple fighting game between two teams of ships. A team wins when it defeats the opposing team a certain number of times more than it is defeated by the opposing team. As a team gets closer to winning, it loses ships.
HeXon		2024-01-05	Action, Arcade	heXon Astral Arcade Genre Action, Arcade Latest release 20240105  (Announcement) Release date January 5th, 2024 Developer LucKey Productions Code license GPL Media license CC-BY-SA, CC-BY, CC0 Engine Dry P. language C++ Contribute heXon is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Chat Forum heXon is an arcade twin-stick-shooter created by LucKey Productions using Dry and other open source software. The game is available through GitLab, itch.io and the AUR.
Windys		2011-08-12	Arcade, Action Platformer	Windys Genres Arcade, Action Platformer Latest release 1.5.0  (Announcement) Release date August 12th, 2011 Developers Piga Software Code license GPLv3 Media license GFDL and GPLv3 Engine Gambas Platform Engine P. language Gambas 1.x, 2.x Libraries Qt, SDL, and the Gambas Runtime Environment. Contribute Windys is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Windys is a free software action arcade game by Piga Software, originally released on August 12, 2009. It utilizes the Gambas Platform Engine and is designed in a deliberately retro style, featuring ASCII graphics and simulated PC speaker beeps. It is the second Piga game to be released for GNU/Linux, the first being Alexei: Part IX. A bug release version was sent out on September 1, 2011, and a major update was released on August 12, 2011 featuring bug fixes, updates proofreading and proper installers on a new Gambas 2 basis. A complete rewrite using ncurses, making it a true terminal application, was started in February 2020.
Terminal Overload		2015-05-26	First‐person shooter	Terminal Overload Gameplay on a custom map in TOL 0.3.1, without the HUD. Genre First‐person shooter Latest release 0.7.0  (Announcement) Release date May 26th, 2015 Platforms Windows, Linux (experimental) Developer Michael "fr1tz" Goldener Code license MIT Media license CC-BY 4.0 Engine Torque3D P. language C++, TorqueScript Contribute Terminal Overload is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Chat Forum Terminal Overload (abbreviated TOL) is an experimental online multiplayer first-person shooter game. It is the free and open-source spiritual successor to Revenge Of The Cats: Ethernet and is currently in an early stage of development. The source code is licensed under the MIT license and all media assets are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. TOL's game logic is written in TorqueScript. The engine is a modified version of the MIT-licensed Torque3D game engine, which is written in C++.
Dead Justice		2003-09-22	Adventure, Action	Dead Justice Genre Adventure, Action Latest release prototype  (Announcement) Release date September 22th, 2003 Developer Olli Sorjonen, Sami Sorjonen, Jani Kajala, Toni Aittoniemi Code license BSD Media license GPL Engine custom 3D engine Library libjpeg, Lua and zlibd Contribute Dead Justice is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Dead Justice is an 3rd person action/adventure game prototype featuring running, shooting and sneaking. The game is made for Windows. The source code and much of the media assets were set free when the game development company Cat Mother closed offices.
Return of Dr. Destructo		2015-04-13	Action	Return of Dr. Destructo Return of Dr. Destructo Genre Action Latest release 1.0  (Announcement) Release date April 13th, 2015 Developer Max Savenkov (ZX Studio) Code license MIT Media license CC-BY-SA P. language C++ Library Allegro Contribute Return of Dr. Destructo is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Return of Dr. Destructo is an action game where you have to shoot down planes and make them crash into a boat to destroy the boat. It is based on the game "Island of Dr. Destructo" that is a ZX Spectrum game from 1987.
OpenClonk		2018-03-17	Action	OpenClonk OpenClonk Genre Action Latest release 8.1  (Announcement) Release date March 17th, 2018 Code license ISC Media license CC-BY-SA Contribute OpenClonk is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Available as a package in:   Slackware: openclonk  Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found Arch AUR: openclonk  Debian: openclonk  Fedora: openclonk   Ubuntu: openclonk  OpenSUSE: openclonk  Mageia: openclonk  Flatpak: org.openclonk.OpenClonk OpenClonk is a multiplayer game invented by Matthes Bender. There are elements of resource management, tactics, and puzzle solving.
Hexoshi		2018-02-26	Side-scrolling Action-Adventure	Hexoshi Hexoshi Genre Side-scrolling Action-Adventure Latest release 0.2  (Announcement) Release date February 26th, 2018 Developer The Diligent Circle Code license GPL Media license various (all libre) P. language Python Library Seclusion Game Engine Contribute Hexoshi is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Hexoshi is an action-adventure maze game similar in style to the original Metroid series. The game consists of exploring the world and gathering "artifacts" scattered around, fighting enemies along the way.
FRaBs		2000-12-10	Side-scrolling Action-Adventure	fRaBs fRaBs Genre Side-scrolling Action-Adventure Latest release 2.1  (Announcement) Release date December 10th, 2000 Code license public domain Media license public domain Contribute fRaBs is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker fRaBs, short for Free Abuse, is a liberated version of a 1995 shareware game Abuse. Abuse was mostly released into public domain, with the exception of music, sounds effects and data exclusive to the commercial (registered) version, which included all levels above 4. To fill in the missing pieces, fRaBs project was started.
XEvil		2000-7-26	Side-scrolling game	XEvil XEvil Genre Side-scrolling game Latest release 2.02 Release date July 26, 2000 Developer Steve Hardt (Unix), Michael Judge (Windows) Code license GNU General Public License v2 or later Media license GNU General Public License v2 or later P. language C++ Library X11 (Unix), DirectX (Windows) Contribute XEvil is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker XEvil is a free software platform arena game first released by Steve Hardt at M.I.T on July 26, 1994 over the Project Athena network. Structured as a free-for-all deathmatch between a wide variety of characters with differing traits and abilities, players are pitted against each other or computer controlled bots. Described as "one of the most graphically violent games ever made", the game's website features a tongue-in-cheek disclaimer over its potential offensiveness; the premise has players compete for their rank in hell. Originally developed for Unix systems using the X Windows System, it was later ported to Microsoft Windows systems using DirectX featuring sounds and music. Both versions were released under the GNU General Public License version 2 or later on January 18, 2000. Version 1.5.5 was included on the 100 Great Linux Games and version 1.0.0 on the Linux Cubed Series 8 LINUX Games shovelware collections. Versions were also included on Linux Games++ and the Red Hat Powertools.
Opensara		2022-11-13	Platform	opensara opensara Genre Platform Latest release rolling Release date November 13th, 2022 Platforms Web Developer devnewton Code license MIT Media license CC-BY, CC0. P. language JavaScript Contribute opensara is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code opensara is a platformer/shmup browser game starring the Open Game Art mascot Sara.
Open Saucer		2024-01-12	Action Sports	Open Saucer Mutiny on the Mothership Genre Action Sports Latest release 20240112  (Announcement) Release date January 12th, 2024 Developer LucKey Productions Code license GPL Media license CC-BY-SA Engine Dry P. language C++ Contribute Open Saucer is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Chat Forum Open Saucer is a vehicular soccer game created by LucKey Productions using Dry and other open source software. Binaries and source code are available through GitLab. The game can be played with multiple players on a split screen, over network or using a combination of the two. The ball has Magnus effect.
Tux!		2024-01-29	Action Platform	Tux! Genre Action Platform Latest release 20240129 Release date January 29th, 2024 Developer LucKey Productions Code license GPL Media license CC-BY-SA Engine Dry P. language C++ Contribute Tux! is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Homepage Source Code Chat Forum Tux! is a 3D platform game featuring Tux made by LucKey Productions using Dry and other open source software. Binaries and source code are available through GitLab. Levels are made using Edddy.
0verkill		2001-12-16	Side-scrolling game	0verkill 0verkill Genre Side-scrolling game Latest release 0.16  (Announcement) Release date December 16, 2001 Code license GNU General Public License v2 or later Media license GNU General Public License v2 or later P. language C Contribute 0verkill is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well. Development Project Source Code Bug/Feature Tracker Available as a package in:   Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found Arch AUR: 0verkill-git   Gentoo: games-action/0verkill  FreeBSD: 0verkill 0verkill is a terminal-based client-server deathmatch game featuring ASCII graphics.

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