Libregamewiki:Rejected games list

Rejected games list is a list of games which were rejected to have articles in the Libregamewiki for not complying with the article policy, but for which it is likely that somebody will try to add them or do time-consuming research about their freeness (or there is a significant hope of liberation, e.g. it is apparently non-free only because it has been derived from a then-non-free work).

Note that the licenses of a game can change, and that a game may be put here erroneously, so being on this list does not mean the game is rejected forever: if you think a listed game actually is free, you can start a discussion on the talk page.

In the meantime if you do find a game to be non-free in your research, be sure also to remove it from Libregamewiki:Suggested games when you add it here. Just in case.

Lists of games rejected by other projects:

• Debian
• Fedora

0-9

• 4Mlinux - 4MLinux is a mini Linux distribution - Not a game

A

• A Slower Speed of Light - It is based on an open source engine, but I cannot find the source code of the game (2013-09-25)

• A Tale In The Desert - Arx Fatalis - "While the engine of Arx Fatalis was open-sourced, this does not include the game data." (2013-08-08)

• Al Emmo and The Lost Dutchman's Mine - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

• Alex the Allegator - non-free content, the game used to be listed here but got removed because apparently the license only applied to code, not art (I confirmed this with the author himself over email --Drummyfish (talk) 17:32, 27 March 2022 (CEST))

• Alex the Allegator 4 - Game article was deleted on 2022-02-07 with comment “non-free media per talk page”

• Alien Arena - non-free content, non-commercial restriction

• Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs - commercial close source (2013-08-18)

• Angband - some distributions - Non-free windows port, sounds fall under CC-BY-SA-NC (as of 3.5.0, see copying.txt). Note: as of 2009-11-29, Debian squeeze/sid contains a DSFG-compliant package with no sounds.

• Angry Aliens - like Angry Birds; was used for a tutorial series for Godot 3.2 - Code is MIT, Assets various licenses, “Hanabi for the slingshot sprites” license is unclear, “splashzooka https://freesound.org/s/21789/ ” license is CC Sampling+ 1.0 (2023-12-26)

• Are we alone? - free game, but appears to use non-free font. Otherwise fine.

The repo only says MIT doesn't apply to fonts, but they look like could be free as in freedom fonts under OFL or similar. This would have to be checked. --Drummyfish (talk) 08:36, 22 January 2019 (CET)

• Arx Libertatis - "Do I need a copy of Arx Fatalis to play Arx Libertatis? Yes. While the engine of Arx Fatalis was open-sourced, this does not include the game data." (2013-10-19)

• AssaultCube Reloaded - Several data files are under non-commercial licenses, and there are even some that the developers don't even know the copyright status of. (2015-01-30)

B

• Be The Wumpus - contains sounds under CC Sampling+. Most of them are from Freesound; some are PD or CC0; but tens of sounds made by two people (including the author) are under CC Sampling+. (2013-03-16)

• Beyond All Reason - Like Zero-K this is a fork of "Balanced Annihilation". - License file states that some of the models are CC-BY-NC. (2021-12-15)

• Blood Frontier - Non-free content (2009-11-09)

• Bolzplatz 2006 / Slam Soccer 2006 / Coup de Foot 2006 - 3D comic-style soccer game - Website says the game »is freeware and is provided under the General Public License (program code) and the Creative Commons Public License (remaining data).« In source code is clarified that media is CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 (2023-12-15)

• Bombermaaan - Graphics appear to be lifted directly from the game it is cloning. There is no evidence that Bomberman was rereleased as a libre game, so this is most likely illegal and unfree. (2018-09-19)

• Brainblast - Non-free sounds from Freesound; uses the non-free FMOD library. (2009-03-16)

• Bub-n-Bros - The media is from mcsebi's bub-n-bros game, which is shareware, though the rest of the game is free. Attempt to contact mcsebi, who gave permission for use, as to whether the assets were open or not was ignored. Thus we must assume that the graphical assets of this game are not libre. The copyright file for the bubbros package in Debian lenny says the media are licensed under The Artistic License (NOT 2.0), which FSF considers too vague to be free.

C

• Cannons Lasers Rockets - CLR is a free-to-play cross-platform multiplayer PvP/Co-op arcade space game. - commercial close source (2013-08-18)

• CloneKeen - seems to require the original non-free data files

• Colorful - "You can use this code anyway you please, with the following exceptions: - making an improved version of the game - using some parts in a commercial product" (2013-10-11)

• CoreBreach - racing game - some code is “presumably liberally licensed”, some assets are “freeware” (2022-11-30)

• Cube - non-free content

D

• Dale Hardshovel HD - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Danger from the Deep - “most of the artwork/data is released under a Creative Commons license (Attribution/NonCommercial/Non-Derivative works).”

• Dark Oberon - "Dark oberon is a real-time strategy released under GPL" - unfree media (which license?)

• Demon Master Chris - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Destination Sol - arcade space shooter - License everything(?) Apache2.0 except soundtrack CC-NC 4.0 (2022-12-01)

• DIVO - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Double Rogue - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Dragon hunt - by evilmrhenry et al. - unfree media, sales and other restrictions. readme.txt in the tarball

E

• Ecksdee - sounds and music files are licensed for non-commercial usage

• Evilot - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Escape Goat - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge - Media files are fully copyrighted (email correspondence with Bill Catambay of EMR).

• ezquake - requires original proprietary media

F

• Fancy Skulls - close source, commercial (2013-08-18)

• Fish Folk: Jumpy (and all related games) - platformer (and others) - Code is MIT or Apache 2.0 but assets are CC BY-NC (2023-09-01)

• Fort of Chains - Sandbox management game with adult content - Fonts are Apache 2.0 and SIL OFL; images include many CC BY-NC 3.0 and CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, also »Artworks from various sources, mostly under CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0«; writing is at least in parts CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0; only »everything else (including documentations and source code)« is GPLv3 (2022-12-15)

• Fran Bow - close source (2013-08-06)

• Frogatto & Friends - platformer - several assets (levels, characters, tiles, sounds, music, story) are not under a free license and therefore stay proprietary (2023-11-15)

• Froggix - Frogger clone using Pygame - Sounds and music use unfree Creative Commons licenses (2010-03-18)

G

• Galcon - Not free.

• Game Dev Tycoon - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Gateways - by Smudged Cat Games - close source, commercial

• gjrand - The gjrand project is about pseudo-random number generation for the purpose of simulations, Monte-Carlo integration, computer games and the like. - not a game (2013-08-13)

• Glest - (some) media is unfree^{[Verification needed]}

(needs review, see Talk:Glest --AVRS 17:48, 29 November 2009 (UTC)) (2009-11-29)

• Gone Home - commercial close source, also not a game (2013-08-18)

• Goscurry - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

H

• Hairball - no source code, no license file (2013-08-06)

• Hammerwatch - close source and commerical (2013-08-06)

• Hatesnake3D - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Heroes of Might and Magic II - just the engine is open source, the game requires the original retail version. (2013-11-03)

• Hurrican - Run and Gun game based on the Turrican series - originally published as proprietary freeware; later made open source with restricted commercial use, only files added by the new maintainer are under MIT (2023-12-28)

I

• Imp City - similar to dungeon keeper - uses CC BY-NC 3.0 sound . (2023-12-18)

• Interstellar Armada: Galactic Ace - 3D space combat game for browser - some sounds are CC BY-NC-SA and modification of a font is prohibited (2024-01-14)

• Invention - uses CC By-NC and CC Sampling* licensed music and sounds.

J

• Jack Haunt: Old Haunting Grounds - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Jooleem - data is cc-nc

K

• King's Quest I - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

• King's Quest II - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

• King's Quest III - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

• Kite Story - by Midnight Sun - just “all rights reserved”

• Knytt - Proprietary software

• Knytt Stories - Proprietay software

• KQ - contains unlicensed music.

L

• Labyrinthus - Sokoban game in Minetest. - The game Labyrinthus features a "Nyancat" as the protagonist. This character has serious copyright baggage. (2022-01-13)

• Lifish (maybe aka BOOM: Remake) - a bomberman-style game - The self-made Lifish License does not allow commercial use and does not cover the assets. There doesn't seem to be license information about the assets that are used or are intended to be used in the future (look at the screenshot). However the repository does at the moment also include assets that are “borrowed” from the proprietary freeware/shareware game BOOM (2023-07-09)

• Little Spy - platformer - The info on itch.io that assets are CC0 is incorrect. Some are CC BY 3.0. Investigating the meta data of fonts: Great Lakes NF is »Copyright (c) 2003, 2006 Nick Curtis. All Rights Reserved. Distributed under non-exclusive license by 1001 Free Fonts. […] You may not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works based on the Nick's Fonts font data without Nick's Fonts's prior written consent.« The I pixel u font is »Copyright rodrigosrtz 2015« »FontStruct Non-Commercial License« which doesn't sound good too. (2023-12-23)

• Lunar Lander - by Nick Gasson - the sounds in version 0.6 are under a CC Sampling(+) license. The rest of the game is free. (2011-08-07)

M

• Magarena - Heavily based on Magic the gathering and seems to download Magic card images at runtime (e.g. screenshot, README: "thanks to http://magiccards.info for card images, neoedmund for the download images-on-demand implementation"). (2019-01-03)

• Mage's Initiation - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

• Marina Attack - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Megabyte Punch - Close source commercial game (2013-08-06)

• Melty Twist - for PyWeek 5 by DiamondGFX - the music by madbrain appears to be under CC BY-NC-SA; the original sources for music are not accessible, but some is at 8bitpeoples where that license is used.

• Meridian 59 - at least all media non-free (2016-03-25)

• Metal Dead - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Monster Quest Lite - no source code available, no repository, only an .exe file in the file section and no link on the website (2013-10-07)

• Monster RPG 2 - is supposedly free code and assets but apparently some of the media assets are "borrowed".

• My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant! - Listed as open source on the Linux Game Database, but SourceCode is available to paying customers only..

That does not make the game non-free. GNUbie (talk) 17:36, 18 August 2013 (CEST)

Section 1 of the Open Source definition says: "The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale." So, assume I bought a copy of the game with the source code. Since I am not allowed to give it to my neighbor, this is not free software.

If you're not allowed to give it to your neighbor, it's not free software, sure. But if they only give the source code to paying customers, that's ok. (The customer must be allowed to pass it along.) GNUbie (talk) 19:05, 18 August 2013 (CEST)

Selling code is okay with free SW, it doesn't violate anything, however at the same time the source code has to be available to anyone for free in order to respect freedom to study and modify. So the question here is whether the source code is available somewhere else for anyone. If the source is really freely licensed, anyone would be able to legally host (redistribute) it somewhere for free. If this is not allowed, the license is not free. --Drummyfish (talk) 08:34, 22 January 2019 (CET) (2013-08-18)

N

• Nelly's Rooftop Garden - no license specified, textures and font have copyright restrictions.

• Nihilumbra - commercial close source (2013-08-18)

• No Gravity - unfree media

• Nox Imperii - A fork of Naev - at least uses media from flickr under CC BY-NC-SA, e.g. coast_temperate, coast_rocky, desert_cold (2024-01-29)

• nquake - requires original proprietary media

O

• OpenAstroMenace (talk) - non-free 3D models (2011-02-11)

• OpenCombat - close combat inspired game - Licenses of media seems not well documented in general. »Explosion1 : Bleed (<http://remusprites.carbonmade.com/>)« no license shown on website, maybe proprietary ; »Clic1 : https://freesound.org/people/Horn/sounds/9744/ « is CC-By-NC 3.0 ; »Tree stump : https://www.kindpng.com/imgv/wThwhx_tree-wellness-alpharetta-ga-top-tree-stump-png/ « »Image License: Personal Use Only« (2023-11-15)

• Open General - Evolution of SSI Panzer General II - No source code. While there is Subversion repository, it contains only data files (2013-10-06)

• OpenLieroX - article was deleted on 2017-03-25 with info »Copyright violation: Removed from Gentoo, debian, &c, because of copyright violations: https://github.com/albertz/openlierox/issues/798 https://github.com/albertz/openlierox/issues/790« (2023-11-19)

• OpenPatrician - Trading simulation in the time of the Hanse; similar to The Patrician and The Patrician 2 - Graphic, Sound, Video is CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (2022-11-23)

• OpenRaider - nonfree content from the original game.

• OpenXcom - UFO: Enemy Unknown - "OpenXcom requires a vanilla version of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-COM: UFO Defense (any DOS / Windows version). It is not compatible with other games in the X-COM series. If you don’t own a copy, you can buy one" (2013-09-25)

• Operation Smash - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Other-Life - only the client source code is available (2013-08-19)

• Out of Order - Point and click adventure - The game is freeware but does not meet Debian's DFSG and is sorted into the Contrib-secion of the repository. (2024-09-23)

P

• Packet Garden - libre but not a game (it visualizes network traffic as a garden) (2024-08-14)

• Paintown - nonfree content. (conversation with jonrafkind in #paintown)

• Particulars - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Pinochle - "This game is released under the terms of shareware." (2014-01-04)

• Pitman - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Planet Umi - contains music from a non-free game.

• Planeshift - "All artwork, musics, dialogues, stories, names, 3d models, etc... are under a proprietary license. This means you cannot reuse those in any way without our explicit permission. If you plan to create another game based on our source code, remember you will have to redo all art,music,models,stories,etc... You cannot host another server where PlaneShift Clients connects to, because our license on assets forbits it.".

• Platinum Arts Sandbox - LICENSE.txt in version 2.2.4: “5. With the exception of content with an individual readme file, all content is copyright Platinum Arts LLC and permission is required for distribution. In other words if you want to use Platinum Arts Sandbox maps or other content in another software projects, please ask first.” Not all of the content has a readme file or a license in it.

• Planet M.U.L.E. - No source code available

• pyzelda2 - uses graphics from the original zelda game (2013-10-08)

Q

• Q3Rally - — non-free data.

• QbQbQb - commercial close source (2013-08-18)

• Quest for Glory II - "AGDI's games and add-on packs intended for use with our games may not be sold, rented or distributed under any circumstances. This includes but is not limited to, making our products available on other websites or on any type of compilation CD." (2013-08-06)

R

• Really Rather Good Battles In Space - non-free data.

• Red Eclipse - unclear licensing of Akashi-Font (as in rev. 4451; torley licensing was changed from unclear custom+cc-by to cc-by-sa). --AVRS (talk) 21:15, 24 March 2013 (CET); a later edit about Akashi-Font: http://redeclipse.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/redeclipse/doc/all-licenses.txt?r1=4762&r2=4778

• Remnants of the Precursors - 4X turn-based strategy in space, remake of Master of Orion - Code is GPL3 ect. but ARTWORK/SOUND/MUSIC/WRITING is CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (2022-12-09)

• Return to Zero - no information on copyright license anywhere in the downloadable archive

• Robot Underground - includes a non-free font.

• Royal Ordains - Side-scrolling action game made with pygame - LICENSE says GPLv3; From the readme:»Battle music 2 "War Drums Sound Effect - Realistic Performance - Royalty Free" by Free Audio Zone«  only non-commercial use; »Test menu music"The Britons" by kmacleod«  and »Warhorn "Battle horn 1" by kirmm«  is »Free for use under the Pixabay Content License« which allows only non-commercial use etc.; »Javelin, throwing axe, stone sound effect by freeSFX«  the EULA may be not libre; and probably more (2023-11-26)

• Ryzom - (The Saga of Ryzom) MMORPG - Article was deleted on 2022-02-07, see Talk:Ryzom (2023-02-26)

S

• Sandboxels - In-browser science experimentation sandbox - non-free “R74n Content License” e.g. »You may not use our content for any commercial purposes without our explicit permission…« (2024-02-01)

• Sauerbraten - Nonfree content

• Scid - "in the tablebase decoding code, all rights are reserved by its author Eugene Nalimov and you should ask for permission before using it. (2013-08-31)

• Scid vs. PC - "in the tablebase decoding code, all rights are reserved by its author Eugene Nalimov and you should ask for permission before using it. (2013-08-31)

• scribble.rs - drawing game similar to the proprietary(?) skribbl.io - at least: »Kicking Icon - Kicking Icon #309402« is from icon-library.com »All materials contained in this Website are the copyrighted property of their respective owners. All materials in this Website shall only be used for personal, non-commercial purposes.« ; »https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/808399/load_turn_turnaround_icon TODO« is »Free for personal use only« (2023-11-15)

• Sentinel - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Simutrans - Artistic License 1.0 is considered non-free by FSF. May have non-free media, too.

• Smokin' Guns - Nonfree content (discussion with ReD_NeCKersoN on freenode in #smokinguns)

• Sorry Mario Bros! - close source, original images (2013-08-06)

• Soulcaster - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Soulcaster II - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Space Station 14 - A multiplayer rpg about life on a space station, remake of SS13 - »Note that some assets are licensed under the non-commercial CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 or similar non-commercial licenses«  (2023-11-15)

• Spring: 1944 - Nonfree assets (CC-by-NC), GPL* code (2020-05-01)

• Starcatcher - Simple 2d puzzle game featuring controls with only one button - Apache License 2.0 code, but the tooltip reads "License for any source-code provided with the project's files. Note that any assets or other intellectual property included are 'All rights reserved' unless otherwise specified." (Also, Github link is broken) (2024-08-28)

• StarMade - "One general rule is that you are not permitted to distribute anything made by the creator of StarMade and his partners. You are not allowed to give copies away without permission," (2013-08-06)

• StarRuler 2 - "art assets are licensed as CC-BY-NC 2.0" (2022-04-22)

• Stone Kingdoms - modern remake of Firefly Studios' classic Stronghold (Apache2.0). - It's not super clear in the documentation, but it appears that the art is proprietary. The page on Gitlab reads "Stone Kingdoms uses image assets, property of Firefly Studios' Stronghold (2001)." Also, there's another issue that may be easier to fix: some of the packages in /libraries do not have license info. Specifically the files eventbus.lua, pathfinding_thread.lua, and queue.lua, and the folders linux, love, and yaml. (2024-08-28)

• Stunt rally - Partly nonfree media, based on vdrift. (discussion with cryham on freenode in #stuntrally)

• Sulis - Turn based tactical RPG - few proprietary assets (GameDevMarket Pro) (2023-06-21)

T

• Tales of Maj'Eyal - Rougelike - "All the tiles of the 'shockbolt' tileset, located in all the 'gfx/shockbolt' and 'gfx/lore' folders are granted to use with the Tales of Maj'Eyal game only." (2013-11-13)

• Tuer - Prototype of an FPS in Java - Features models from Quake II (2014-11-12)

• Teleglitch - Die More Edition - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• The Dark Mod - Media is non-commercial (under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0). The engine is free though (modified Doom 3) (2013-10-19)

• The Goblin and the Butterfly - MMORPG - Although I can't find the info directly in the code, the client seems to be free, even public domain. But there's no indication the server is free too. (2023-12-27)

• The Grave Digger - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• The Raven - Legacy of a Masterthief - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• The Sub Is Deadly - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• The Ur-Quan Masters - (UQM) - media is under a non-free license

• The Urgent Decision - Artistic License 1.0

• TomeNET - (Tales of Middle Earth Multiplayer) online multiplayer rogue-like role-playing game - Parts are under the Moria/Angband_license and an own license which don't allow commercial use (2023-01-01)

• trAInsported - programming game with trains - The Fonts are under Ubuntu Font Licence, short UFL. UFL is not approved by FSF and OSI. Debian considers it as non-free. The rest of the game is under WTFPL. (2023-07-29)

• TRI - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• Trigger Rally - Two images are licensed under the Pixabay License. (2024-08-10)

• Tumblox - close source, commercial (2013-08-06)

• TuxPusher - arcade - Code is GPL-2.0-only and assets GPL-2.0-only, CC BY 4.0 further investigation shows it uses fonts from fontspace.com that are under licenses that don't allow commercial use (2023-07-13)

• TVTower - the added clause of restricted zlib license is a restriction on commercial use

• Typus Pocus - at least some of the graphics is under CC by-nc-sa.

U

• Unciv - Open source remake of Civilization V - Code is MPL2 but info about media and its licenses is written down only generally without naming a license “Units for the Hexarealm tileset are made by @letstalkaboutdune” or not specifying what CC or CC 3.0 license is exactly. A spot check revealed sounds under CC BY-NC 3.0/4.0 license.</ref> (2022-12-09)

V

• Vacuum Magic - non-free third-party media

• Vendetta Online - Non-free Trialware (2013-08-18)

• Vertigo - close source (2013-08-06)

• Vdrift - nonfree content imported from other sources - Conversation with thelusiv on #vdrift

• Virus Killer - Debian version cleaned of the non-free sounds, but it still includes a Windows screenshot and some Microsoft icons

W

• Warsow - has non-free media

• World of Padman - non-free content

• Within a Deep Forest - homepage states that it is a freeware game

• Wizard of Wor HTML5 - No license information on the SF.net page, no license file in .zip download. No contact information nor bug tracker to raise this issue.

X

• xJigsaw - puzzle game - xJigsaw is freeware and is free for private non-commercial use. It is not open source. (2013-08-09)

Y

• You're the OS! - arcade game - Used assets from Pixabay and flaticon (Freepik Company) are not libre (2023-08-16)

Z

• Zero-K - Some assets such as music are CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND. (2021-12-15)

• Zorbash - Rougelike - At least assets from Oryx Design Lab are not libre »You are NOT permitted use the game artwork in part or in whole to create new game artwork for sale or free distribution.« (2023-03-01)

• Zyberflux - no information on copyright license anywhere in the downloadable archive