Best Retro Shooters You Can Still Host a Server For (2026)

The best retro shooters you can still host a server for are Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (through ET Legacy), Quake Live, Doom (through Zandronum), Counter-Strike: Source, Battlefield 3 (through Venice Unleashed), Urban Terror, Soldat, Sven Co-op and Insurgency. They all still have players, they all run on 1 to 4 GB of RAM, and in most cases a community server is now the only way to play them online at all. Several are completely free.

Old shooters do not die when the publisher stops caring, they die when the last good server goes offline. That is why so many of these games still have small, loyal scenes: someone kept a server running. If your group grew up on one of them, hosting a server is the easiest way to get a nostalgia night going again, and it might pull a few old regulars back too.

Retro shooters still worth hosting

1. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

V2 Rocket Facility, Omaha Beach, Stalingrad, Algiers. Allied Assault's multiplayer has four modes, from free for all to objective, and servers handle up to 32 players. The game is not even sold anymore, so community servers are all that is left. Ours run the community Reborn 1.12 patch, which closes old exploits and crash bugs while still letting players on the official 1.11 patch connect.

• RAM: 1 GB for clan scrims, 2 GB for a full 32 slot objective server.

2. ET Legacy (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory)

The free class based team shooter from 2003, kept alive by the open source ET Legacy project. Engineers plant on Oasis and Goldrush, medics revive, covert ops sneak in enemy uniforms. ET Legacy fixes old bugs, runs on modern systems and still plays with the original 2.60b game. Version 2.86 shipped in September 2026. An Omnibot switch fills empty slots with bots for quiet hours.

• RAM: 1 GB for a clan server, 2 GB for a public server with bots and custom maps.

3. Quake Live

id Software's online version of Quake III Arena, with duel, clan arena, CTF, freeze tag and more. The community left is small, skilled and loyal, and a well run server with a sensible map pool is worth a lot to it. Workshop maps load on the server.

• RAM: 1 GB for duel or practice, 2 GB for a 16 slot clan arena or CTF server.

4. Zandronum (Doom)

A multiplayer source port for Doom and Doom II that plays almost any WAD made since 1993. Co-op through megawads like Scythe 2 or Eviternity, deathmatch, capture the flag, and mods like Zombie Horde all run on it. Version 3.2 came out in April 2025. Each player needs the Doom data file.

• RAM: 1 GB for co-op or deathmatch with a few PWADs, 2 GB for big megawads or gameplay mods.

5. Counter-Strike: Source

The 2004 Source rebuild still has a large community server scene: surf, bhop, jailbreak, zombie escape, gun game. Plenty of players prefer its movement to anything newer. We make the Steam server token at setup, and Metamod:Source and SourceMod add the plugins that most communities run.

• RAM: 2 GB for a private 5v5, 4 GB for 24 to 32 slots with SourceMod.

6. Venice Unleashed (Battlefield 3)

Venice Unleashed brings custom servers and modding back to Battlefield 3. Conquest 64 on Caspian Border, Rush on Damavand Peak, jets over Firestorm, and fun-bots to fill empty slots so a few friends can still play full size maps. It runs on your own BF3 install with a free VU account.

• RAM: 4 GB for friends and bots, 8 GB for full 64 player Conquest with a few mods.

7. Urban Terror

Started as a Quake III realism mod and became a free standalone game: real world weapons with wall jumps, power slides and ledge climbs. Team survivor, CTF and bomb mode are the competitive staples, and cups and leagues still run.

• RAM: 1 GB for up to 32 players.

8. Soldat

A free side view 2D shooter from 2002. Jet boots, a dozen weapons and maps that fit on one screen. CTF is its competitive heart, and clans still run practice servers.

• RAM: 1 GB for a small match, 2 GB for a public server up to 20.

9. Sven Co-op

Half-Life co-op as a free standalone game, with Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and They Hunger campaigns plus twenty years of community maps. It is the retro shooter for groups who want to shoot monsters together instead of each other.

• RAM: 2 GB for the bundled campaigns, 4 GB with custom map packs.

10. Insurgency (2014)

The Source engine game before Sandstorm, with almost no HUD and fast, close range deaths. Fewer public servers remain than in its prime, which makes a group server the easiest way to get a good game. Co-op Checkpoint against bots is a favorite.

• RAM: 2 GB for co-op against bots, 3 GB for a full 32 slot PvP server.

More classic shooters we host

Black Mesa deathmatch for Half-Life nostalgia, OpenArena and Xonotic for free arena action, AssaultCube, Cube 2: Sauerbraten, World of PADMAN, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Fistful of Frags and CS2D.

Bringing an old server back

1. Pick the version people actually play. Patches and mods split old communities. Check what the remaining public servers run.
2. Fill the quiet hours. Bots in ET Legacy, Venice Unleashed and OpenArena keep a server alive until humans arrive.
3. Set a fixed night. Old games fill up when everyone knows when to come. A weekly slot posted in Discord works.
4. Keep configs backed up. Years of tweaked configs are the real value of an old server.

A home connection can host most of these, since they are light, but you then need port forwarding and your IP is visible to everyone who joins. How to port forward a game server covers the router side if you go that way.

Host a retro server for a few dollars

These are among the cheapest servers there are: 1 GB plans cost 2.99 USD a month on GamezServers. You get your own address, always on DDoS protection, a live console for RCON style commands and a file manager for maps and configs. It is live in about a minute, and new customers pay half for the first month. Start with ET Legacy or browse all games.

FAQ

Can you still play Medal of Honor: Allied Assault online?

Yes, on community servers. The game is no longer sold, so the remaining players gather on servers like these, many running the Reborn patch.

What old shooters are free to play online?

ET Legacy, Urban Terror, Soldat, Sven Co-op, OpenArena, Xonotic and AssaultCube are all free. Zandronum is free but needs the Doom data files.

Can you still play Battlefield 3 on custom servers?

Yes, through Venice Unleashed, a fan platform that runs custom BF3 servers. Players need BF3 and a free VU account.

How much does a retro shooter server cost?

Most run on 1 GB, which is 2.99 USD a month. Venice Unleashed needs 4 to 8 GB.