These days there’s nothing I love more than finding a free fan made remake, sequel or spin off of one of my favourite 90s games. Especially the ones that retain the original graphics but allow for modern HD resolutions while adding gameplay improvements we wished the original had. Most of these projects are alive and well but could really use our support! Here are some of my favourites..
OpenRA
An amazing open source multiplayer remake of the 90s Command & Conquer and Red Alert engine. Supports C&C1, Red Alert 1, Dune 2000, C&C2 Tiberian Sun along with Red Alert 2 and Dune 2 Classic via 3rd party addons. Requirements: Fully playable. Only needs original C&C CDs if you want videos & some special addon content Home Page
FreeCiv
A brilliant open source spin off of the Civilization series. Most similar to Civ2 but also has a nice top down Civ1 mode too. Can support up to 126 AI or human players and has a huge range of user generated content such as maps, mods and graphics. Requirements: None! Home Page
Master of Magic IME
Implodes Multiplayer Edition is the classic Master of Magic remake we’ve all been waiting for. HD resolutions, multiplayer (single player is still there too!), ginormous mirror worlds and up to 13 wizard players (AI or human) in one game await you! Requirements: None! Sourceforge Page
OpenIG
An utterly incredible open source remake of the classic 4X space strategy game Imperium Galactica. The original games creators were so impressed they gave them a contract allowing them to legally work on the remake. HD resolutions, better unit controls, sandbox galaxy mode with playable aliens, multiplayer, building upgrades, and a video upscaler are just some of the amazing improvements. Requirements: None! GitHub Page Continue reading →
Last year when I was building my Imperium Galactica & Similar Games Website I noticed after all these years that the long abandoned Legends of Pegasus still didn’t have any fan patches, walkthroughs or full let’s play series on Youtube. I was rather stunned that there was not a single lets play series that went past mission 2 right back near the start of the game (even in Germany where the game came from) so I started thinking about making my own as my retro gaming channel covers a lot of rare and unseen cool retro gaming content but I’m yet to do a full let’s play of a game. It seemed from most of the talk in various forums that LoP was unfinishable which put me off even trying but when Wolfbane posted the ‘unlock all missions’ cheat on steam (which I’ve since submitted to GameFAQs) I knew I’d have a safe backup option if I hit a game ending bug that I couldn’t find a way around so I decided to go for it! And if I really failed then at least I’d be able to take viewers far further then anyone else has.
Well sure enough I hit some pretty bad bugs lol! However I’m pleased to say that I found a away around all but 1 of them and was able to finish the game! There’s a black screen game ending bug right at the end of the Xor campaign instead of the victory message that I could find no way around and was forced to use Wolfbane’s cheat to unlock the next mission. Thankfully because it happened literally right at the end when the victory message was meant to come up we missed out on no story or mission elements (I checked the games mission xml, audio & video files to be sure). I suspect someone more talented than me could modify the mission xml to avoid the bug anyway.
The final Arthrox campaign was even more untested and unpolished but was actually quite fun to play as their organic living worlds and ships are beautiful. The game’s ending is fascinating and shows that they obviously planned a addon pack or sequel story we’ll never get.
It’s a real shame Kalypso cut funding to Novacore when they did as I suspect with another 3-6mths of patching the game would have actually been pretty good! Yeah sure it never would have been a great game but it would have been good enough to keep on steam. Maybe not so much to RTS fans but for 4X TBS space fans like myself it definitely would have been worthy enough to buy in a steam sale haha.
So yeah in the end I actually enjoyed the game despite all of its endless problems. But I’m not gonna lie, there were so many hair pulling frustrating moments (eg the endless battle crashes) where I wanted to scream and throw the keyboard out the window lol.
So if you’re someone who’s always been curious about the game for all these years, or you played it and didn’t have the patience to see it to the end past all the bugs, or you’re one of the angry mob who got a refund but are still curious to see what the game’s story was and how it ends then look no further. I have done all the work and suffering for you haha!!
I actually completed the game in late 2017 but it took me FOREVER to cut the footage up and get it onto youtube. I recorded about 50hrs of footage and most of that is endless micromanaging and grinding of colonies which would put people to sleep in no time lol! So I heavily edited each mission recording and fast forwarded through as much of the boring stuff as I can so that viewers can just ‘enjoy the show’ and get the story stuff, the big battles, a few playing tips, and advice on avoiding mega bugs.
For those that don’t want to watch the whole series I give a quick 10min review/preview of the game in the very first video of the series that shows a lot of late game Xor & Arthrox footage if you’re just curious to see what they look like.
And finally I plan to do a written walkthrough at some point which I’ll post here too.
Okay here’s my Let’s Play Legends of Pegasus – Complete Playthrough series:
OpenRA
FreeCiv
Master of Magic IME
OpenIG
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