OpenDungeons is a free and open source real-time strategy game inspired by the Dungeon Keeper series (and, to a lesser degree, Evil Genius). Instead of commanding an army from above, you carve out an underground dungeon, fill it with rooms, and lure creatures to live in it. You never control them directly: you set them to work by giving them jobs and rooms, you cast spells into the middle of a fight, and you build devious traps to deal with whatever your rival sends down the tunnels.

Each match is a fight for control of the underground. Rooks, workshops, training rooms, treasuries, libraries and lairs all need floor space and workers, so every layout is a trade-off between expansion, defence and keeping your creatures fed and happy. Creatures have moods and needs — a hungry or angry minion fights badly or refuses to work at all — and a research tree unlocks stronger creatures, new rooms and more powerful spells as the game goes on. Play is against the computer in skirmish scenarios or against other players in multiplayer, and the game ships with a map editor for building your own levels.

The project has been developed in the open for well over a decade and reached its last release, 0.7.1, in September 2016. Development has since wound down: the developers describe it as “mostly considered archived”, with only occasional build fixes, and a former contributor maintains a more active fork called OpenDungeonsPlus. The 0.7.1 release is still fully playable and downloadable, and the whole codebase is available to build or fork.

Key Features

• Dungeon Keeper-style play — build an underground dungeon, attract creatures to it, and fight rival keepers for control of the map.
• Indirect creature control — you do not micromanage units; you assign them to rooms and jobs, manage their mood and needs, and let them get on with it.
• Direct spellcasting — drop into combat yourself with offensive, defensive and utility spells cast straight onto the battlefield.
• Traps and room design — lure enemies into sinister traps and lay out rooms, corridors and doors to control how a fight unfolds.
• Creature mood and needs simulation — minions get hungry, angry and sleepy, and their mood affects how well they work and fight.
• Research tree — unlock new creatures, rooms and spells through an interactive research tree as a match progresses.
• Skirmish, multiplayer and a map editor — play single-player scenarios, host or join multiplayer games, and build your own levels.
• Free with no strings — no account, no store, no telemetry; download the binaries or build the source under the GPL.

Why Use OpenDungeons?

Very few free games attempt the Dungeon Keeper formula, and OpenDungeons is one of the few that gets the core of it right: the indirect control, the room economy, the moody creatures and the traps are all present and playable. It costs nothing, needs no launcher or account, runs comfortably on modest hardware, and is completely open source, so it doubles as a readable example of a C++ game engine built on OGRE, CEGUI, SFML and OIS. If you grew up with Dungeon Keeper and want something in the same spirit that you can actually open up and tinker with, it is a solid pick.

Use Cases

• Scratch a Dungeon Keeper itch on Linux or Windows without buying or emulating the original.
• Play short skirmish matches or longer multiplayer games with friends on a local network.
• Build and share your own levels with the bundled map editor.
• Study or fork a mature open source RTS engine written in C++ as a learning or contribution project.
• Run it on a low-spec desktop or laptop — it needs no dedicated GPU and no online connection.

Platforms

Linux · Windows. The official download page offers a Windows 32-bit installer and a Linux 64-bit binary for version 0.7.1, plus the full source. Community packages exist as well, including a Snap and an Arch User Repository package. Source builds are documented for Linux and Windows, and require an OGRE SDK, Boost, CEGUI, SFML and OIS.

Licence

Free and open source: the source code is released under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or any later version (GPL-3.0-or-later). Art assets and GUI resources are covered by their own licences, listed in the repository’s CREDITS file.

Website

opendungeons.github.io · source code (GitHub) · OpenDungeonsPlus fork

Similar in the directory

• Widelands — another free real-time strategy game with a deep economy, built in the spirit of The Settlers rather than Dungeon Keeper.
• MegaGlest — open source 3D RTS with a fantasy theme and both single-player and multiplayer matches.
• Warzone 2100 — free 3D real-time strategy with a full campaign and a strong emphasis on unit design.