Red Eclipse
Released Dec 2019
Building on over 15 years of gameplay design, Red Eclipse continues to focus on fast paced, agile, easily accessible first person shooter gameplay. For creators, the full power of the Tesseract engine is at your fingertips in the included realtime multiplayer editor.
86% positive · 864 reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Where to get it
Free on Steam
Evaluation
Red Eclipse launched on Steam on December 19, 2019 as a free, open-source arena shooter. The store description explicitly states "Over 15 years of active development, and still going!" — a clear signal of ongoing development commitment.
The game has maintained a consistent and frequent update cadence since launch. In the 2024–2026 period alone, the team shipped updates in April 2024 (two feature patches), May 2024 (a feature patch with a developer note confirming continued development despite some team burnout), February 2025 (a beta update framed as preparation for the upcoming 2.1.0 release), July 2025 (two feature patches), August 2025 (a feature patch ahead of a community event), and March 2, 2026 (a bug fix patch).
The February 24, 2025 post explicitly states the team is preparing for a 2.1.0 release, confirming an unreleased milestone is still ahead. Updates have been arriving at roughly 1–3 month intervals, and as of October 8, 2026, roughly 7 months have passed since the last post on March 2, 2026. This is modestly beyond the established 1–3 month cadence, though not dramatically so given the project's open-source, volunteer-driven nature — the May 2024 post acknowledged that burnout can slow things down temporarily without stopping development.
The August 2025 update also noted "there's exciting things ahead, we'll have more to share as we get closer to release," reaffirming that a future milestone (the 2.1.0 release) remains in progress. While the 7-month gap since the last update pushes toward the outer edge of the historical pattern, there is no developer statement announcing the end of development, and the project's open-source structure and volunteer model make irregular cadence expected. The 2.1.0 milestone has not yet shipped, meaning outstanding development work remains.
Evidence
Feature patch post notes 'there's exciting things ahead, we'll have more to share as we get closer to release,' reaffirming the 2.1.0 release remains in progress.
Developer announces the 2.0.9 beta is live and explicitly frames it as preparation for the upcoming 2.1.0 release, confirming an unreleased milestone ahead.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Quinton Reeves
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, Linux
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op · PvP
About this game
An arena shooter for the modern era; released as free and open source software.
Red Eclipse builds on its own legacy of fast-paced unique, impactful gameplay and combines that with the visual capabilities of the superb and modern Tesseract engine to create a game that redefines what a first person shooter is.
There is absolutely no money whatsoever behind this project, and the entirety of the assets and source code are freely available to copy, modify, and redistribute. The entirety of the game is built on the contributions of volunteers, from the engine (which does not trace its heritage to any commercial studio) to the assets, levels, modes, user interfaces, and maps. We do not recieve lucrative income from selling skins or lootboxes or any microtransactions, and the servers and infrastructure is graciously run and maintained by volunteers.
This game is built on the Tesseract engine, written by one of our developers, Lee Salzman. Tesseract is a modern, deferred pipeline engine with realtime dynamic lighting, shadows, HDR, screenspace reflection, and dynamic organic model deformation. Tesseract and its predecessors, Cube and Cube 2, are all built from the ground up as open source engines with more permissive licensing than essentially every other 3D engine available.
In a "by the people, for the people" nature, we try to work closely with our community and invite everyone to have their say in order to provide a better overall experience, aiming to create a game environment that is fun and easy to play, while still having elements to master. If you think you might have something to contribute to the game or community, please feel free to talk to us. We maintain a standard of friendly behaviour in our community, so don't be afraid to speak up and have your say in building this game for us all!
- No fees, no microtransactions, no lootboxes.
- Fast paced, modern first person shooter action with seven unique main weapons.
- Built on the permissively licensed, open source Tesseract engine.
- Available for Windows and GNU/Linux.
- Parkour, impulse boosts, dashing, and other tricks.
- A huge amount of mutators and game altering variables.
- Create maps with other players in realtime co-op edit.
- Over 15 years of active development, and still going!
Red Eclipse builds on its own legacy of fast-paced unique, impactful gameplay and combines that with the visual capabilities of the superb and modern Tesseract engine to create a game that redefines what a first person shooter is.
There is absolutely no money whatsoever behind this project, and the entirety of the assets and source code are freely available to copy, modify, and redistribute. The entirety of the game is built on the contributions of volunteers, from the engine (which does not trace its heritage to any commercial studio) to the assets, levels, modes, user interfaces, and maps. We do not recieve lucrative income from selling skins or lootboxes or any microtransactions, and the servers and infrastructure is graciously run and maintained by volunteers.
This game is built on the Tesseract engine, written by one of our developers, Lee Salzman. Tesseract is a modern, deferred pipeline engine with realtime dynamic lighting, shadows, HDR, screenspace reflection, and dynamic organic model deformation. Tesseract and its predecessors, Cube and Cube 2, are all built from the ground up as open source engines with more permissive licensing than essentially every other 3D engine available.
In a "by the people, for the people" nature, we try to work closely with our community and invite everyone to have their say in order to provide a better overall experience, aiming to create a game environment that is fun and easy to play, while still having elements to master. If you think you might have something to contribute to the game or community, please feel free to talk to us. We maintain a standard of friendly behaviour in our community, so don't be afraid to speak up and have your say in building this game for us all!
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Oct 8, 2026
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