OpenRA
Hacker ApprovedRanked 9 of 24 real-time strategy games by recommenders
Free open-source engine recreating Red Alert 2 with multiplayer; people say it plays better than the original. Common caveats: slow loading, recent bugs and online toxicity.
Free open-source engine recreating Red Alert 2 with multiplayer; people say it plays better than the original. Common caveats: slow loading, recent bugs and online toxicity.
30 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 87%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun to play with friends and family
“Just perfect for a quick free RTS game with a friend.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA” “I love OpenRA! Play it every weekend with my dad.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA” Free, with donations instead of charges
“OpenMW and OpenRA don't charge players for access/extra context, they only accept donations.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction” “smooth free online implementation of red alert 2 with multiplayer”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Half-Life 2 in a Browser” Better and faster than the original
“OpenRA is great, it feels like a better version of Red Alert 2.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA” “engine is 10x faster and pathfinding mostly works properly”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “It's OK to Use Agentic to Revive the Projects You Never Were Going to Finish” “it was considerably better that the 1995 release”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA” Well balanced and thought through
“Incredibly well-balanced and thought through.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA” “how well OpenRA is balanced”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Unfinished Tiberian Sun and RA2 support
“Instead of working on finishing it though they just add more tedious features to RA1”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “Red Alert 2 in web browser” “Would be nice if they finished Tiberian Sun/Red Alert 2 support.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “OpenRA”
Other real-time strategy games people recommend
The four most recommended other real-time strategy games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond All Reason | 76 | 17 | 82% | 10 | 1 yr6 owners | Approved |
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness | 51 | 2 | 96% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Total Annihilation | 48 | 7 | 87% | 7 | — | Approved |
| StarCraft | 36 | 22 | 62% | 10 | — | — |
| OpenRAThis page | 26 | 4 | 87% | 4 | — | Approved |
What people said
30 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's probably much easier via OpenRA”
“Great project, great game.”
“OpenRA is great in my books.”
“I love OpenRA! Play it every weekend with my dad.”
“playing it online, for me felt highly toxic”
“works on Mac, Linux & Windows!”
“Would be nice if they finished Tiberian Sun/Red Alert 2 support.”
“Why are we promoting ideologies that fight against human dignity and rights?”
“It does make me happy that someone loves red alert as much as me and has made OpenRA.”
“Editing the .ini files was a delight”
“OpenRA is great, it feels like a better version of Red Alert 2.”
“It's super impressive this works at all.”
“It's the same backend, so it's a bit like a fun theme difference.”
“having to wait 2 hours for a game to load, fans blaring on my laptop, makes it less playable”
“it was considerably better that the 1995 release”
“I find the balance for player vs AI to be actually pretty horrible.”
“Very entertaining campaign”
“Incredibly well-balanced and thought through.”
“Every time I've tried to install this previously, this was my wall”
“Just perfect for a quick free RTS game with a friend.”
“how well OpenRA is balanced”
“smooth free online implementation of red alert 2 with multiplayer”
“engine is 10x faster and pathfinding mostly works properly”
“OpenMW and OpenRA don't charge players for access/extra context, they only accept donations.”
“they were heavily biased towards their gameplay and focused on odd features over making the basics (pathfinding) work”
“a couple of newly introduced bugs this year or late last year totally killed it for me”
“Instead of working on finishing it though they just add more tedious features to RA1”
“OpenRA simply downloads a copy that it loads for the purpose of assets, but the engine is completely new”
“OpenRA does play a few games without original game assets”
“are the examples I have spent the most time playing”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.