0 A.D. Released 0.28.0 with New Civilization & AppImage for Linux

0 A.D., the free open-source RTS game for Linux, Windows, and macOS, released new 0.28.0 version one day ago.

The new version of this ancient warfare game, code-name “Boiorix”, introduced a new civilization: the Germans.

The new civilization is announced as:

Terror Germanicus, the fear of the Germanic tribes migrating south, from the Jutland region, towards the Roman Republic, is coming to 0 A.D. in Release 28.
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In 0 A.D., we represent the nomadic coalition formed between the Cimbri, the Teutones, the Ambrones, and other Celto-German tribes simply as the “Germans”.

And, it features unique technologies “Wagon Trains” and “Migratory Resettlement”, and, an aggressive lineup of siege units, with a crush-dealing unit available in each phase.

Besides the new faction, this version also introduced genderred civilians. The previous “female citizen” now is called “civilian” and has male and female models. And, the ambiguity of the term “citizen” is removed. This only change their appearance and name, but NOT touch the balance of the game at all.

The new game version also features direct font rendering. Instead of using pre-render fonts and load them into memory, now use the Freetype library in the engine to render fonts on the fly when the game runs.

The change makes easier to modify fonts, and improves the text display with GUI scaling, especially for Hi-DPI screens.

The TLS encryption and certificate verification is now enabled by default when connecting to the multiplayer lobby. And, it will be mandatory in future release to reduce the risk of attacks.

Windows 7/8.1 and macOS below 10.15 are no longer supported due to updated SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine to version 128. For Linux, it’s now provides an official AppImage package, which is portable and runs in most Linux distributions.

Other changes include new game setup options to remove players entirely in Skirmish and Scenario games and set the population limit per team, as well as the changes below:

• Replace “Join Game” option to “Connect by IP”.
• New quotes and tips.
• Add 64-bit build for Windows.
• Various balance changes, and bug-fixes.

For more about 0 A.D. 0.28.0, see the official release note.

Get 0 A.D. 0.28.0

The source code, as well as official packages for Linux, Windows, and macOS are available to download via the link below:

Download 0 A.D.

For Linux, besides the new AppImage, there are also community maintained Flatpak package in flathub, and Snap package in Ubuntu Software (App Center).

For Ubuntu and Linux Mint users who prefer the native .deb package, there’s also an official PPA though not updated at the moment of writing.

source https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2026/02/0-a-d-released-0-28-0-appimage-linux/