Rise of the Triad: 6 Open Source Clones Compared
The 'Rise of the Triad: Dark War' entry is the original 2002 GPL source-code release of the retail game itself, offered without any support from the original developers — a raw historical release rather than a maintained port. rottexpr is a separate, actively rewritten SDL2 source port, based on the earlier icculus Rise of the Triad port, that adds new gameplay modes like a respawning-enemy 'ZomROTT' mode and toggleable auto-aim. Taradino is another independent SDL2 rewrite, but focused on portability to 64-bit and big-endian systems rather than new gameplay features.
Comparison table
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- None
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Archived
- Last updated
- 8y ago
- Stars
- 111
- Contributors
- 1
- License
- —
- Engine
- —
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- NoSource code is released under GPL; no original assets are included in or required by the source release.
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 4y ago
- Stars
- 107
- Contributors
- 12
- License
- GPL-2.0
- Engine
- SDL2
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- YesRequires game files from Rise of the Triad (demo or full version) including demo files and WAD/RTC/RTL files.
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux, OSX, Dreamcast
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Sporadic
- Last updated
- 10mo ago
- Stars
- 82
- Contributors
- 30
- License
- —
- Engine
- id Tech
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
Availability
- Status
- Semi-playable
- Platforms
- Linux, OSX, Windows
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Sporadic
- Last updated
- 6mo ago
- Stars
- 57
- Contributors
- 15
- License
- GPL-2.0
- Engine
- SDL2
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- YesPort of Rise of the Triad (1994); requires original game data files to run.
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Android
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- Android
Project health
- Development status
- Active
- Last updated
- 2d ago
- Stars
- 39
- Contributors
- 3
- License
- GPL-2.0
- Engine
- —
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- YesRequires game files from a retail copy of Rise of the Triad to be placed in the correct directory.
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Not tracked
- Last updated
- Not tracked
- Stars
- Not tracked
- Contributors
- Not tracked
- License
- Not tracked
- Engine
- Not tracked
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
| Title | Rise of the Triad: Dark War | rottexpr | 3DGE | Taradino | Rott94 | Rise of the Triad for Linux |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Playable | Playable | Playable | Semi-playable | Playable | Playable |
| Platforms | None | Windows | Windows, Linux, OSX, Dreamcast | Linux, OSX, Windows | Android | Windows, Linux |
| Play in browser | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mobile | No | No | No | No | Android | No |
| Project health | ||||||
| Development status | Archived | Halted | Sporadic | Sporadic | Active | Not tracked |
| Last updated | 8y ago | 4y ago | 10mo ago | 6mo ago | 2d ago | Not tracked |
| Stars | 111 | 107 | 82 | 57 | 39 | Not tracked |
| Contributors | 1 | 12 | 30 | 15 | 3 | Not tracked |
| License | — | GPL-2.0 | — | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 | Not tracked |
| Engine | — | SDL2 | id Tech | SDL2 | — | Not tracked |
| Compatibility | ||||||
| Requires original assets | NoSource code is released under GPL; no original assets are included in or required by the source release. | YesRequires game files from Rise of the Triad (demo or full version) including demo files and WAD/RTC/RTL files. | — | YesPort of Rise of the Triad (1994); requires original game data files to run. | YesRequires game files from a retail copy of Rise of the Triad to be placed in the correct directory. | — |
| Preview | | | |
Known limitations
Frequently asked questions
Are the Rise of the Triad clones on this page open source?
Yes — every clone catalogued here is an open-source project. Availability, license, and development-status details for each one are listed in the comparison table above.
What license do these Rise of the Triad clones use?
rottexpr, Taradino, and Rott94 (GPL-2.0).
Do I need to own the original Rise of the Triad to play these clones?
Rise of the Triad: Dark War runs standalone, no original files needed; rottexpr, Taradino, and Rott94 require original game assets to play.
Which Rise of the Triad clone is the most actively maintained?
Rott94 is currently under active development, based on recent commit activity. See the "Development status" row above for every clone's current status.
See the full write-up for each clone, or go back to Rise of the Triad.