Xonotic vs Unvanquished
Short answer
Xonotic and Unvanquished are both free, open-source first-person shooters but serve different needs. Xonotic is a fast classic arena shooter in the Quake III tradition with strong bot support and good solo drop-in play. Unvanquished is an asymmetric FPS/RTS hybrid where humans build bases and aliens evolve — more distinctive, but it requires a coordinated team and populated servers.
Two free open-source shooters that share almost nothing beyond a first-person camera. One is a pure arena shooter; the other is an FPS/RTS hybrid with no real commercial equivalent.
Xonotic vs Unvanquished at a glance
| Xonotic | Unvanquished | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Arena shooter (Quake III lineage) | FPS/RTS hybrid, asymmetric teams |
| Movement | Very fast, technical, strafe-jumping | Grounded, class-dependent |
| Team structure | Deathmatch and team modes | Humans build bases, aliens evolve |
| Coordination needed | None — drop in and play | High — a team that ignores building loses |
| Download size | ~1.0 GB | ~850 MB |
| Bot support | Strong — good offline practice | Limited |
| Solo viability | Good | Poor — needs populated servers |
Choose Xonotic if…
You want classic arena shooting with no loadouts or progression, you want to practise against bots, or you want to jump into a server alone and have fun immediately.
Choose Unvanquished if…
You want something genuinely unlike anything commercial — base building and tech progression inside a team shooter — and you are willing to coordinate.
Against the PlayBound Bar
Xonotic clears all five: free with no monetisation, complete and polished, still maintained, an excellent arena shooter judged on its own merits, and open-source so it cannot be shut down.
Unvanquished clears all five: free with no monetisation, complete and playable, actively developed, genuinely distinctive on its own merits, and open-source so it cannot be shut down.
Questions
Xonotic or Unvanquished — which should I play?
Xonotic and Unvanquished are both free, open-source first-person shooters but serve different needs. Xonotic is a fast classic arena shooter in the Quake III tradition with strong bot support and good solo drop-in play. Unvanquished is an asymmetric FPS/RTS hybrid where humans build bases and aliens evolve — more distinctive, but it requires a coordinated team and populated servers.
Who should choose Xonotic?
You want classic arena shooting with no loadouts or progression, you want to practise against bots, or you want to jump into a server alone and have fun immediately.
Who should choose Unvanquished?
You want something genuinely unlike anything commercial — base building and tech progression inside a team shooter — and you are willing to coordinate.
Are Xonotic and Unvanquished both free?
Yes. Xonotic is released under Open Source (GPL-2.0) and Unvanquished under Open Source (GPL-3.0). Both are entirely free with no trials, paid tiers or in-game purchases.