🏛️ Free & open source · a community alternative to Pax Historia

Rewrite history,
one decision at a time.

Open Historia is an AI-driven turn-based strategy game. Lead any nation on a living world map, act in plain language, and watch an AI simulate the consequences — wars, diplomacy, and borders that actually shift.

Play instantly in your browser — no install, nothing to download. Or get the desktop app for offline play.

Open Historia gameplay — a strategic world map with events and nations

Up and running in minutes

Three steps to play

No accounts, no store, no build tools to wrangle. Download the app for your system, open it, and play.

I

Download

Pick the download for your system: an installer on Windows, a zip on macOS, a single AppImage on Linux.

II

Open it

Run the installer on Windows, or drag the app to Applications on macOS. Nothing else to set up — the app brings everything it needs with it.

III

Play

Open Historia opens in its own window. The world map downloads once, with a progress bar, then you pick a scenario and start reshaping history.

Run Open-Historia-Setup.exe and follow the installer, then open Open Historia from the Start Menu. If Windows SmartScreen warns, choose More info → Run anyway — the installer isn't code-signed yet.
Unzip the download and drag Open Historia into your Applications folder. The first time, right-click it and choose Open — the app isn't code-signed yet, so macOS asks for confirmation once.
Make the AppImage executable (chmod +x Open-Historia-x86_64.AppImage) and run it. Nothing is installed system-wide and no packages are needed.

Downloads

Pick your platform

Desktop is the full experience. On Android, install the app and point it at a desktop or Termux server.

Recommended
🪟

Windows

Windows 10 & 11 · 124 MB

An ordinary installer. Run it and Open Historia lands in your Start Menu like any other app — no Node.js, no setup script, no terminal window. The world map downloads itself the first time you open it.

⬇ Download Installer
🍎

macOS

Apple Silicon or Intel · ~150 MB

Unzip and drag Open Historia to your Applications folder. First launch: right-click it and choose Open — the app isn't code-signed yet, so macOS asks once.

⬇ Apple Silicon ⬇ Intel
🐧

Linux

AppImage · x86_64 · 159 MB

One portable file that runs on essentially any distribution. Make it executable and launch it — nothing to install, no packages to add.

⬇ Download AppImage
📱

Android app

Thin client · ~6 MB

A lightweight client that connects to a game server (a desktop on your network, or Termux on the same phone).

⬇ Download APK

Already installed? Download the newest build and run it over the top — your saves and scenarios are kept. · All releases

What you can do

A whole world to run

🗺️

Living world map

Watch territory, borders, and nations shift turn by turn as history unfolds.

📜

AI-generated events

Dynamic events shaped by your decisions and the real state of the world.

🤝

Natural-language diplomacy

Click any country to negotiate, threaten, or ally through open-ended chat.

🎖️

Troops & warfare

Deploy and maneuver armies; the AI resolves fronts and moves the borders.

🖌️

Built-in map editor

Draw regions, paint owners, place cities — build a world and hit Apply & Play.

🌐

Scenario hub

Browse and import community scenarios in-game, or publish your own.

🦉

Strategy advisor

Consult an AI advisor for guidance, economic analysis, and situation briefings.

🔒

Runs on your machine

Self-hostable and local-first — it runs at localhost, with your own AI backend.

⚖️

Free & open source

MIT-licensed and community-built. Fork it, mod it, make it yours.

Grow the network

Host a server node

Run a small node on your own device to help players load the world map faster. It's deliberately safe: a node only ever serves read-only map data, verified byte-for-byte by checksum. It never touches anyone's games, accounts, or AI keys, and never runs their code — so it can't be turned against players.

I

Install in one click

Download the node and run install.bat (Windows) or install.sh (macOS/Linux). It sets everything up and downloads the verified map content for you.

II

Put it online

Expose it over HTTPS — a free Cloudflare Tunnel is easiest (no open ports, hides your IP). The README walks you through it step by step.

III

You're live

Your node registers itself and starts serving straight away — no waiting, no extra steps on your side. Players only ever use nodes listed in the project's signed directory, and an admin can pause or remove any node from it at any time.

Trust is in the checksum and the project's signature — never in the node itself.

Good to know

Questions & requirements

Do I need to install anything else?

Just Node.js, and the launcher offers to install it for you if it's missing (via winget on Windows, Homebrew on macOS, or your package manager on Linux). Everything else — including all map data — ships inside the download.

Is it really free?

Yes. Open Historia is free and open source under the MIT license. The AI features connect to an AI backend you configure — see the README or ask in Discord for setup help.

Where does it run — is my data uploaded?

The game runs locally on your own machine and opens in your browser at localhost:3000. Your saves and scenarios stay on your computer.

How do I update later?

Run the Update Open Historia script that comes with your install — it fetches the latest version while preserving your saves, scenarios, and map data. You can choose the Stable or Beta channel when updating.

What about mobile?

Download the Android APK — it's a thin client that connects to a game server. Run the desktop app on your PC (or a Termux server on the phone itself) and point the app at it.

Can I help by hosting a server?

Yes! Running a content node caches the game's map data and serves it to nearby players, so everyone loads faster. It's a one-click install and completely safe — a node only serves read-only, checksum-verified map files and never touches games, accounts, or API keys. See Host a server node.

Ready to change history?

Download once, run the launcher, and you're playing.