Open RA is the current home of the Red Alert community, a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise which was originally produced by Westwood Studios (Red Alert and Red Alert 2) and later by Electronic Arts’ EA Los Angeles studio (Red Alert 3). I’ve played all three games, so it saddens me that EA hasn’t graced us with another installment since Red Alert 3 was released in 2008. However, Open RA brings back the old-school feel of the first Red Alert game and has an active community with multiplayer support.

I’ll admit, I’ve not played all that much Open RA, but I think what the community is doing to develop the game and keep the dream alive is really cool. With the mods for Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn, and Dune 2000, Open RA has recaptured the essence of three classic Westwood Studios games. According the their website, the devlopers of Open RA are now working to recreate the second generation of Command and Conquer games, starting with Tiberian Sun. Even if EA drops the ball and never makes another Command and Conquer game or a Red Alert 4, Open RA will strive to make sure the franchise won’t die off entirely.

Open RA’s Red Alert mod, which is the only one I’ve played, offers the regular Soviet and Allied factions as well as a variety of maps, many of which are designed by the Open RA community. The Open RA community also hosts competitve multiplayer seasons and torunaments. Hopefully as more people become aware of the existance of Open RA, the multiplayer base will continue to grow alongside the community as a whole.

There’s not really much more to say since I’m sure most people reading this already know how the game works; if not, download it and try it out! Here’s the link to the download page for Open RA. The game is completely free, but make sure to voice your appreciation for the devlopers by spreading the good word if you enjoy the game! There is also a subreddit for the game as well as an active forum.

I’ll probably make some more posts about Open RA in the future, especially since I saw today they have a Dune 2000 mod (I’ve been reading Dune for a couple weeks now and it’s a fantastic book).

Edit: I just realized I typed the entire post with a space between Open and RA instead of typing OpenRA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyways, cheers!

AtlantanKnight