S&box
Shares rank 7 of 20 game engines by recommenders
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.
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.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Third alternative to Unity and UE
“If someone builds an export pathway to console/mobile then I think it could really become a powerful third choice”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “S&box is now an open source game engine” “Finally there's another serious competitor to UE and Unity.”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “S&box is now an open source game engine” Active development with new content
“I believe in this project and am very hopeful as new game modes and models are added”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “S&box is now an open source game engine” “we'll see some more creativity with S&box soon as well”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Turtle WoW classic server announces shutdown after Blizzard wins injunction”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Name is confusing or awkward
“I really feel like that name is going to cause them issues with the other game builder with the same name”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “S&box is now an open source game engine” “What an awful name, "s&box", it reads like a text rendering error.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Facepunch launches s&box, the highly anticipated successor to Garry's Mod”
Other game engines people recommend
The four most recommended other game engines, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godot | 213 | 57 | 79% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Unity | 110 | 165 | 40% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | — |
| Unreal Engine | 104 | 89 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| Bevy game engine | 50 | 18 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| S&boxThis page | 14 | 10 | 58% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
23 of the 25 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the point of s&box was to make a very profitable micro transaction marketplace”
“loudly ripped out the Source 2 physics engine”
“They made games easy to make and publish”
“What an awful name, "s&box", it reads like a text rendering error.”
“I love that realtime finance dashboard.”
“less than 50% rating on Steam”
“we'll see some more creativity with S&box soon as well”
“S&box, Hytale, Luanti are all fun but they're all installs, which kills the sharing loop”
“Their software (game maker and client) are really well-developed and excellent.”
“on s&box i made call of duty zombies gamemode and was perma banned”
“You can export your game, but you shouldn't distribute your exported game just yet.”
“If someone builds an export pathway to console/mobile then I think it could really become a powerful third choice”
“I really like the evidence for the bug fix for "VR not rendering" in the "Fixed" section”
“This seems pretty weak on that front.”
“Good, great even. The more the better.”
“why is it still attached to a giant legacy codebase”
“I really feel like that name is going to cause them issues with the other game builder with the same name”
“All look like they just want be clone of UE”
“I'm reluctant to give praise when they have been so weird with Linux support on their games.”
“Finally there's another serious competitor to UE and Unity.”
“I believe in this project and am very hopeful as new game modes and models are added”
“S&box (and Garry's Mod and Rust) is pure game developers making things they want to make.”
“These boxes provide access to premium TV channels and live sports, not just public broadcasting.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.