FreeOrion 0.4.9

4X games are a fairly niche genre, but they have an incredibly loyal fanbase that constantly interacts with the developers. Because of this, the oldest 4X games are still updated to this day and are considered some of the finest in the genre due to their constant improvements. Two of these such games are Galactic Civilization and Master of Orion. FreeOrion is an open-source remake of the classic Master of Orion, coupled with all the features it used to have and much more.

Installing FreeOrion is easy and straightforward, just run the installer. The first thing you'll notice is that the game looks old - which is only natural, as it is one of the oldest 4X games out there. There are a ton of things you can customize to suit your gameplay style, like the size of the galaxy, the density, shape, and size of stars, planets, and more.

Another core pillar of the game is research, which is vital to your empire. You must carefully select which upgrades to get, because it takes most of them a ton of time to be finished and you won't be able to change your mind later on. Even so, you can probably make a difference no matter which direction you end up going. Unfortunately, there are clear winners and losers when it comes to the research at times.

And of course, that's not even getting into diplomacy or combat. FreeOrion is a delightfully complex game that still holds up extremely well today.