What Is Widelands.org?

Updated

Widelands.org is the official home of Widelands, a free, open source real-time strategy game for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The site serves two purposes: it is where you download the game, and it is the hub of the player and developer community. If you are looking for a Settlers-style building and economy game that costs nothing and runs on most desktop systems, this is the place to start.

What the game is

Widelands is a real-time strategy game with a singleplayer campaign mode and a multiplayer mode. It was inspired by Settlers II but, according to the site, has "significantly more variety and depth." New players are not dropped in cold — the game includes playable tutorials, so you can learn the economy and building mechanics by playing rather than reading.

The project is under continuous development and, in the site's words, "will always be" that way. A changelog is published so you can see what is currently being worked on.

What you can do on the site

Purpose Where to go
Get the game Download the latest release from the site
See what it looks like Screenshots and the full game description
Discuss and find opponents The forums
Track development The changelog
Contribute Forums, or start working on something directly

The forums are the community center: strategy discussion, finding partners for multiplayer games, translation help, and feedback on graphics and music all happen there.

Current release: 1.3.1

The site announces Widelands 1.3.1 as a stable point release. It fixes a severe multiplayer desync found in 1.3.

Downloads listed for this release:

  • Windows installer — Intel 64-bit, Intel 32-bit, ARM 64-bit
  • Mac packages (64-bit) — macOS ≥ 12 Intel, macOS ≥ 12 ARM
  • Linux (64-bit) — AppImage
  • Source code — .zip and .tar.gz
  • Checksums and signatures are provided for all downloads

One compatibility note matters if you play online: versions 1.3 and 1.3.1 cannot be combined in a network game. Everyone in a multiplayer session needs the same version.

Contributing

The project explicitly invites help at all skill levels. Roles the site names include 2D and 3D artists, sound effect creators, composers, map makers, translators, test players, web programmers, and C++ coders. The suggested entry point is to start working on something, or ask in the forums for pointers.

Practical notes

  • The site also hosts the metaserver used for online play and the add-on up- and download service, so an outage there affects multiplayer and add-ons, not just the website.
  • If the site looks odd after an update, a hard refresh (CTRL+F5) clears the browser cache.
  • The game is described as free and open source; the site does not present a paid tier or account requirement for downloading it.