Xonotic

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Xonotic is an addictive, arena-style first person shooter with crisp movement and a wide array of weapons. It combines intuitive mechanics with in-your-face action to elevate your heart rate. Xonotic is and will always be free-to-play. It is available under the copyleft-style GPLv3+ license.

Released: 8 September 2011
Platforms: Linux Windows macOS
Genres: First-person shooter Shooter
Developers: Team Xonotic
Publishers: Team Xonotic
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player deathmatch
Perspective: First person Third person
Themes: Action Science fiction
Engine: DarkPlaces
Country: Germany

About

Xonotic () is a free and open-source first-person shooter video game. It was developed as a fork of Nexuiz, following controversy surrounding the game's development. The game runs on a heavily modified version of the Quake engine known as the DarkPlaces engine. Its gameplay is similar to the Quake series of games, but with various unique elements.

Keywords

fast paced
freeware
quake
arena shooter

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

There are sixteen different game modes in Xonotic, including classic modes like deathmatch and capture the flag. In order to unlock more game modes, players must complete different levels of gameplay. To score points, players must kill enemies using futuristic weapons while completing objectives. The gameplay is very fast-paced, due to players being able to move at high speed and jump erratically.

While the basic concept is inspired by other games of the same genre, there are several unique elements. Emphasis is placed on movement and player physics, with a focus on gaining speed, jumping great distances, and conquering the level geometry. This is done with classic techniques including strafe jumping, bunny hopping, and rocket jumping. Weapons have special abilities such as multiple fire modes, which increase the tactical options available to the players.

Development

In March 2010, controversy arose over the original Nexuiz being licensed to IllFonic to create a commercial version. The original creator, Lee Vermeulen, secretly made a deal with IllFonic which gave them hold over the Nexuiz trademark. Since this turn of events was unexpected by the community and most Nexuiz developers, they promised to create a fork controlled by a community in an open manner. Approximately seven months later the source code was published via Git. A preview version was released on 23 December 2010.

Version 0.5 was released on 8 September 2011. It featured multi-language support, seven new maps, vehicle support, and enhancements to weapons and player movement, among other changes. Since the release of this version, Team Xonotic's stated aim has been to "create the best possible fast-paced open-source FPS game".

Reception

Phoronix praised Xonotic's gameplay and graphics, and declared the game "one of the most visually-impressive open-source games available for [multiple platforms]". Larabel said, "For being a community-backed open-source game without the support of any major game studio, Xonotic is doing great." Xonotic was also deemed "the Best Free Multiplayer FPS Linux Can Muster" by Softpedia. Commenting on the game's community of both players and developers, About.com noted, "entering it makes you really feel like you've become a part of something bigger than just a video game."

In 2024, Xonotic was included on TheGamer's list of the ten best open-source video games.