# S&box

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/s-box/

10 people recommended S&box in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

7 of the 10 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “S&box is now an open source game engine”.

**Verdict:** Free, open source game engine from Facepunch, Garry's Mod's successor, praised for making games easy to make and publish. Main caveat: Linux support draws criticism.

Summary written by Claude from 23 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 22 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Third alternative to Unity and UE (2 comments in the sample): "If someone builds an export pathway to console/mobile then I think it could really become a powerful third choice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46068245)) "Finally there's another serious competitor to UE and Unity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062940))
- Active development with new content (2 comments in the sample): "I believe in this project and am very hopeful as new game modes and models are added" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062915)) "we'll see some more creativity with S&box soon as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47830776))

## What people warn about

- Name is confusing or awkward (2 comments in the sample): "I really feel like that name is going to cause them issues with the other game builder with the same name" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46063333)) "What an awful name, "s&box", it reads like a text rendering error." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47996974))

## Other game engines people recommend

- [Godot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/godot/): 156 recommend, 36 mixed, 40 criticize
- [Unreal Engine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unreal-engine/): 71 recommend, 26 mixed, 82 criticize
- [Unity](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unity/): 52 recommend, 43 mixed, 143 criticize
- [Bevy game engine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bevy/): 32 recommend, 13 mixed, 14 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "S&box", https://hackerapproved.com/p/s-box/ (10 recommend, 4 mixed, 9 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.