Unity (a.k.a. Unity 3D
) is a cross-genre cross-platform Game Engine with built-in level and script editors that's been around in some form since 2005. While not as optimized for high-end CPUs and GPUs as the big engines (Unreal Engine, id Tech, CryEngine, etc.), it enjoys a lot of love in the Indie Game scene thanks to its ease of use, flexibility, and, most of all, its liberal licensing policies. The basic version is free for anyone, and the pro version with more nifty features costs just $1500 per license note (with additional add-on licenses needed for console and Mobile Phone Game development).
The engine has experienced a particular boom after the rise of Kickstarter as a game-funding platform in 2012, with the success of Unity-based KS heavyweights Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity paving the way, making it a Spiritual Successor of sorts to Adobe Flash in terms of lightweight game development, with Unity being free to use also helping in that regard. The boom lasted until ca. 2015, when Epic Games' drastic loosening of Unreal Engine 4's licensing policies made it just as attractive to indie devs. Unfortunately, the boom has also given Unity something of a stigma amongst gamers, associating Unity with poorly optimized games and low-quality Shovelware titles on Google Play and Steam, at least some of which were made with stolen assets and/or are developed more for ad revenue from impressionable children or unwitting users.note
The engine has a Moe Anthropomorphic Personification in Japan, named Kohaku Otori a.k.a. Unity-chan. Because of course it does.
Games running on the Unity engine that already have their own wiki page:
- 7 Days to Die (survival sandbox, 2013)
- AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity (simulation, 2009)
- AdVenture Capitalist (idle game, 2015)
- AI War: Fleet Command (real-time strategy, 2009)
- Alwa's Awakening (metroidvania, 2017)
- Among the Sleep (survival horror, 2014)
- Among Us (social deduction, 2018)
- Anatomy (psychological horror, 2016)
- Angry Birds 2 (strategy, 2015)
- Angry Birds Epic (RPG, 2014)
- ANNO: Mutationem (action-adventure, 2022)
- An/Other - A Game For Social Change
- Another Code: Recollection (adventure, 2024)
- Arknights (strategy RPG, 2019)
- Atom RPG and its sequel ATOM RPG: Trudograd (turn-based RPG, 2018)
- Bad North (roguelike/real-time strategy, 2018)
- Bad Piggies (puzzle, 2012)
- Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning (survival horror, 2018)
- BallisticNG (action racing, 2016)
- Barry Steakfries series:
- Monster Dash Back From The Dead (endless running, 2020, remaster of the original 2010 release)
- Age of Zombies (top-down shooter, 2023, ported from the original 2010 release)
- Bastard Bonds (tactical RPG, 2016)
- Battlestar Galactica Online (action MMO, 2011)
- BattleTech (2018) (turn-based tactics)
- Battletoads (2020) (beat 'em up, 2020)
- Beat Saber (rhythm game, 2018)
- Be Funny Now! (party game, 2021)
- Bendy and the Ink Machine (survival horror; 2017-2018)
- Boris and the Dark Survival (survival horror; 2020)
- Bendy and the Dark Revival (survival horror; 2022)
- Black Rose (survival horror, 2013)
- The Black Rose (horror, 2019)
- BLOODCRUSHER II (FPS, in Development Hell)
- Bloons Tower Defense 6 (real-time strategy, 2018)
- Blue Archive (tactical RPG, 2021)
- Bombergirl (MOBA/maze game, 2018; used for the PC version)
- Broforce (run-and-gun, 2015)
- Buried Stars (visual novel, 2020)
- Broforce (run-and-gun, 2015)
- The Burnable Garbage Day (sim idle, 2020)
- Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 (simulation, 2017)
- Celestian Tales: Old North (RPG, 2015)
- Celestian Tales: Realms Beyond (RPG, 2020)
- Chained Echoes (RPG, 2022)
- Chop Goblins (FPS, 2022)
- Cities: Skylines (city builder, 2015)
- Citizen Sleeper (adventure RPG, 2022)
- Clustertruck (platformer, 2016)
- Code 7 (adventure game, 2016)
- COGEN: Sword of Rewind (platformer, 2022) - a game about aforementioned Unity-chan
- Contra: Operation Galuga (run-and-gun, 2024)
- Contract Wars (first-person shooter, 2012)
- Cosmic Star Heroine (RPG, 2017)
- The Crackpet Show (roguelite shooter, 2022)
- Crimson Glaive Sigma (action-adventure, 2021)
- Crush Crush (idle game, 2016)
- Cryamore (action RPG, TBR)
- Cultist Simulator (card game/sim, 2018)
- Cuphead (run-and-gun, 2017)
- Dandara (action-adventure, 2018)
- Dead Effect (first-person shooter, 2013)
- Dead Frontier (MMORPG, uses Unity since 2010)
- Desktop Dungeons (browser version only)
- Disco Elysium (RPG, 2019)
- Doki Doki Literature Club! Plus! (visual novel, 2021; original uses Ren'Py)
- Doom:
- DOOM I Enhanced (first-person shooter, 2019; Unity serves as a shell for the underlying codebase of the original id Tech 1 engine for this port)
- DOOM II Enhanced (first-person shooter, 2019; Unity serves as a shell for the underlying codebase of the original id Tech 1 engine for this port)
- Dream Daddy (visual novel, 2017)
- Dreamfall Chapters (adventure, 2014-2016)
- Dungeonland (hack and slash, 2013)
- Dungeon of the Endless (multi-genre hybrid/mashup, early access 2013, full release 2014)
- Dungeons 2 and 3 (RTS, 2015 and 2017 respectively)
- DUSK (FPS, 2018)
- Eden's Last Sunrise (Tactical RPG, 2022)
- Edge of Eternity (Turn-based RPG, 2020 on PC, 2022 on consoles)
- Eldritch Lands: The Witch Queen's Eternal War (real-time strategy/RPG, 2021)
- Empire of Sin (strategy/RPG hybrid, 2020)
- Endless Dungeon (multi-genre hybrid/mashup, 2023)
- Endless Legend (4X, 2014)
- Endless Space (4X, 2012)
- Enter the Gungeon (roguelite shooter, 2016)
- Exit the Gungeon (roguelite shooter, 2016)
- Eroica (RPG, 2021)
- Eternal Radiance (action RPG-visual novel hybrid, 2020)
- Eversoul (RPG, 2023)
- ExZeus Arcade (rail shooter, 2010)
- ExZeus 2 (rail shooter, 2012)
- ExZeus: The Complete Collection (rail shooter, 2021, a compilation of the above two games)
- Executive Assault (FPS/RTS, 2015)
- Fall Guys (battle royale platformer, 2020)
- Fall of Light (action/adventure, 2018)
- Fallout Shelter (construction and management, life simulation, 2015)
- Fate/Grand Order (RPG, 2015)
- Final Fantasy series:
- Final Fantasy IX (RPG, 2016, ported from the original 2000 release)
- Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition (RPG, 2018, abridged version of base game)
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2021, ported from the original 1987 release)
- Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2021, ported from the original 1988 release)
- Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2021, ported from the original 1990 release)
- Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2021, ported from the original 1991 release)
- Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2021, ported from the original 1992 release)
- Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (RPG, 2022, ported from the original 1994 release)
- Final Vendetta (Beat 'em Up, 2022)
- Find the Cure! (text adventure, 2016)
- Fire Emblem Engage (strategy RPG, 2023)
- Firewatch (3D adventure, 2016)
- Fruit Ninja (action arcade, 2010, uses Unity since 2020)
- Garrison Archangel (mecha-fighting, 2017)
- Genshin Impact (action RPG, 2020)
- Get in the Car, Loser! (RPG, 2021)
- Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (platformer, 2017)
- Ghost of a Tale (action/adventure, 2018)
- Girls' Frontline (strategy RPG, 2016)
- Goddess of Victory: NIKKE (third-person shooter, 2022)
- Gone Home (adventure, 2013)
- A Good Husband (simulator, 2013)
- Granny (survival horror, 2017)
- GRIS (puzzle-platformer, 2018)
- Grow: Song of The Evertree (construction and management, 2021)
- Guardian Tales (action RPG, 2020)
- Guns of Icarus (turret defense, 2010)
- Guns of Icarus Online (MMO, 2012)
- Halloween Hide & Seek (adventure, 2021)
- Hand of Fate (RPG, 2015)
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker (Puzzle, 2020)
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (CCG, 2014)
- Hero-U (adventure/rpg, 2018)
- Hitman Go (puzzle, 2014)
- Hollowbody (survival horror; 2024)
- Hollow Knight (metroidvania, 2017)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong (metroidvania, TBA)
- HoloFunk (rhythm game, 2023; versions prior to 6.0.0 use the HaxeFlixel source code of Friday Night Funkin')
- Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (real-time strategy, 2016)
- Honkai: Star Rail (RPG, 2023)
- Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades (Virtual Reality, 2016, Early Access)
- House Flipper (simulation, 2018)
- Incubo (horror platformer, TBA)
- Inside (platformer, 2016)
- Intruder (FPS, TBR)
- In Other Waters (adventure, 2020)
- Iron Grip: Marauders (TBS, 2011)
- Iron Lung (psychological horror / adventure, 2022)
- Jack Move (Eastern RPG, 2022)
- Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (co-op puzzle, 2015)
- Kerbal Space Program (space sim, 2015)
- Kerbal Space Program 2 (space sim, 2022)
- Killer Frequency (mystery puzzle; 2023)
- Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (rhythm game, 2020)
- The Legend of el Lobodestroyo Vs. la Liga de los Villanos (platformer, 2014)
- Legends of Equestria (MMORPG, 2017)
- Lethal Omen (horror First-Person Shooter, 2020)
- The Letter (visual novel, 2017)
- Life Is Strange: Before the Storm (adventure game, 2017; the other games in the series use Unreal)
- Light Fairytale (RPG, 2019)
- Long Gone Days (RPG, 2018)
- Love Esquire (visual novel, 2019)
- Machina of the Planet Tree -Unity Unions- (third-person shooter and Action RPG, 2020)
- Magic Twins(co-op puzzle, 2021)
- Merge Dragons (puzzle)
- MADNESS: Project Nexus 2 (third-person shooter, 2017-2020)
- The Messenger (2018) (action-platformer, 2018)
- Mini Metro (simulation/puzzle/RTS, 2015)
- Mini Motorways (simulation/puzzle/RTS, 2019)
- Mirror Layers (horror, 2016)
- Monster Prom (visual novel, 2018)
- Mother Russia Bleeds (beat 'em up, 2016)
- The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (visual novel/point-and-click, 2023)
- My Child Lebensborn (simulation, 2018)
- My Friend Pedro (platform shooter, 2019)
- My Friendly Neighborhood (survival horror, 2023)
- My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure (3D platformer, 2022)
- My Time at Portia
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (platform-fighter, 2021)
- Nightmare Boy (platformer, 2017)
- Nighttime Visitor (survival horror, 2015)
- Noel The Mortal Fate (adventure, 2016, co-developed on RPG Maker)
- Of Love and Eternity (survival horror/adventure, demo released 2021)
- Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission (rail shooter, 2023)
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Overload (FPS, 2018)
- Oxenfree (adventure, 2016)
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker (RPG, 2018)
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (RPG, 2021)
- Pathologic 2 (Immersive Sim, 2019)
- PAW Patrol: On A Roll! (puzzle-platformer, 2018)
- PC Building Simulator (Simulation Game, 2019)
- Peggle (puzzle)
- People Playground (Sandbox, 2019)
- Perfect Gold (visual novel, 2021)
- Phantom Brigade (Turn-Based Tactics, 2020)
- Pharaoh a New era (City Builder, 2023)
- Pillars of Eternity (WRPG, 2015)
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (WRPG, 2018)
- Planet Explorers (sandbox, 2016)
- PlateUp! (time management, 2022)
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (RPG, 2021)
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (roguelike, 2020)
- Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (fighting game, 2019)
- Princess Connect! Re:Dive (RPG, 2018)
- Project Warlock (FPS, 2018)
- Race the Sun (Endless Running Game, 2012)
- Rebel Inc.
- Rides With Strangers (horror, TBA)
- Rise of the Third Power (RPG, 2022)
- Risk of Rain 2 (roguelike/third-person shooter, 2020)
- River City Girls (beat 'em up, 2019)
- River City Girls 2 (beat 'em up, 2022)
- Road Redemption (arcade racer, 2017)
- Rochard (platformer, 2011)
- Rubber Dinghy (adventure, 2017)
- Samurai Vandalism (RPG, 2023)
- Satellite Reign (RTS, 2015)
- Savior Of The Abyss (horror adventure, 2021)
- Scratchin' Melodii (rhythm, 2021)
- Secret Little Haven (visual novel, 2018)
- The Secret Monster Society (adventure game, 2016-2017)
- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remasternote (Eastern RPG, 2020).
- Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues (WRPG, 2018)
- The Signal From Tolva (FPS, 2017)
- SIGNALIS (survival horror; 2022)
- Slender (survival horror, 2012)
- Slender: The Arrival (survival horror, 2013)
- Slide in the Woods (horror, 2021)
- Slime Rancher (management and exploration, 2017)
- Smile for Me (point-and-click, 2019)
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister (RPG, 2021)
- Sonic Superstars (platformer, 2023)
- Sorry, We're Closed (survival horror; 2024)
- Sort the Court (management game, 2017)
- Soul Hackers 2 (Eastern RPG, 2022)
- Star Wars: Commander (strategy game, 2014)
- Strange Horticulture (adventure/puzzle, 2022)
- Superhot (FPS, 2016)
- Super Mario RPG Remake (RPG, 2023, remake of the original 1996 release)
- Super Neptunia RPG (RPG, 2018)
- Sword Coast Legends (RPG, 2015)
- Sword of Rapier (action RPG, 2015, remaster of the original game which previously used XNA)
- Syberia 3 (adventure, 2017)
- Tabi Kaeru (Idle, 2018)
- Tears 9, 10 (visual novel, 2011/2018, ported from the original 2002 release)
- Temple Run (endless running, 2011)
- Temtem (MMORPG, 2020)
- The Tenth Line (ERPG, 2017)
- Thea: The Awakening (TBS, 2015)
- Teslagrad (platformer, 2013)
- Thomas Was Alone (puzzle platformer, 2010)
- Tormented Souls (survival horror, 2021)
- Torment: Tides of Numenera (WRPG, 2017)
- Tunic (action-adventure with a bit of Souls-like RPG, 2022)
- The Twins (survival horror, 2020)
- Tyranny (WRPG, 2016)
- ULTRAKILL (FPS, 2020, Early Access)
- Underworld Ascendant (WRPG, 2018)
- Unexplored (roguelike, 2017)
- Universe Sandbox (Sandbox, 2015, Early Access)
- Valley (adventure game with a lot of platforming, 2016)
- A Valley Without Wind (action-adventure, 2012)
- A Valley Without Wind 2 (action-adventure, 2012)
- The Very Organized Thief (stealth, 2013)
- Void Crew (space simulation, 2023)
- Volume (stealth, 2015)
- War Brokers (FPS, 2017)
- War for the Overworld (RTS/god sim, 2015)
- Wasteland 2 (WRPG, 2014)
- Wasteland 3 (WRPG, 2020)
- Welcome to the Game (puzzle/horror, 2016)
- Welcome to the Game II (puzzle/horror, 2017)
- West of Loathing (RPG, 2017)
- WolfQuest (educational, 2007)
- Yandere Simulator (stealth horror game, TBR)
- YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG (RPG, 2019)
- Yooka-Laylee (platformer, 2017)
- Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (platformer, 2019)
- Your Boyfriend (18+ horror visual novel/dating sim, 2019)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (card battle game, 2022)
Other Unity games:
- Soul Saga (Eastern RPG, TBR)
- Eternights (action RPG, 2023)
- The Disappearance Of Gensokyo (action RPG, 2018)
- Red Crucible Firestorm (FPS, 2015)
- Might and Magic X: Legacy (WRPG, 2014)
