People say life is more fun when you play games, but I say life is more fun and thrilling when you develop games. So, folks are you ready to add some thrill in your life by developing games!

Before introducing you to the list of game engines, written in either C or C++ programming language, a game engine is a dedicated software or an architecture, or program that developers use for creating games. It provides developers with a way of adding physics, rendering, AI and other components, libraries and tools without programming them. They do require advanced programming experience and at the same time highly customizable. Game engines also provide limitless possibilities to develop the game.

Let me introduce you to some of the best gaming engines available out there. In order to produce best you need to choose the best. A suitable game engine leads your way to the success. So, before developing any game selection of gaming engine is the most crucial steps.

I have put my efforts for you to hunt the internet and to compile the comprehensive list of best game engines available out there.

Note that I tried to include only game engines written in C (mainly console games) or modern game engines written exclusively in the C++ programming language.

Which game engine use C++?

There are a numbers of game engines developed using C and C++. Here I have listed 100 game engines along with names of few games developed and target platform(s).

Game EngineFamous Games Platform(s)
4A EngineMetro 2033 Metro Redux Metro: Last Night Arktika.1Windows, PS3, PS4,Xbox 360, Xbox one, Linux and DirectX9/10/11
Adventure Game Studio Resonance Heroine’s Quest Mamma Mia The CastleWindows 7, 8, 10, Vista, XP and Windows 2000 (Linux, Mac and other ports also available for playing, not developing)
Aleph One Marathon Marathon 2 Marathon InfinityWindows, Linus, OS X
Antara Gaming Software Development KitN/AWindows, Linus, OS X
Antiryad Gx The Sacred Armour of Antiriad Windows, Linux, DOS, Mac OS, iOS, Android, MorphOS, NACL, AmigaOS, AROS
AnuraFrogatto & FriendsArgentum AgeCube TrainsWindows, Linux, iOS and Android
AnvilAppGameKit Assassin’s Creed II Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Windows, PS 3, PS Vita,  PS 4,  Xbox 360, Wii U, Xbox One
Anvil Next Assassin’s Creed III Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Assassin’s Creed Rogue Windows, PS 3, PS Vita,  PS 4, Xbox 360, Wii U, Xbox One.
Anvil Next 2.0Assassin’s Creed Unity
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Skull & Bones
Windows, PS 3, PS Vita,  PS 4, Xbox 360, Wii U, Xbox One.
Aurora toolset The Witcher  Neverwinter Nights  Neverwinter Nights 2 Windows, OS X, Linux.
Armory 3D Not production ready yet. Windows, Linux, macOS,  HTML5, Android, iOS,  PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Banshee 3D Engine Not production ready yet.  
Blend4Web Petigor’s Tale Experience Curiosity WebGL, Linux, Windows, OS X, Android, iOS
Blender Dead Cyborg Tomato Jones Yo Frankie! Sintel The Game Windows macOS Linux
Bork3D Game Engine Quoridor Windows, iOS, and Mac OS X
Buildbox Color switch Line Zen Bruce Lee Hyper Fruits Hexavoid 2 Neo Lights Windows 7, Windows 8, Mac OS X (10.8, 10.9 and 10.10)
C4 Game Engine Fat Princess Adventures for PlayStation 4 World of Subways City Bus Simulator 2010 PS 3, PS 4, Windows (XP onwards), Mac OS X (10.9 onwards), Linux, as well as iOS
Cafu Engine No major games developed yet. Windows, Linux, MacOS, Pocket PC, Palm, DOS
Chrome Engine Dying Light (2015) Dead Island Definitive Edition (2016) Xbox One, Mac OS X, Linux, PS 3, PS 4, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows
ClanLib Fireball Game MacOS, Microsoft Windows, and Linux
Clausewitz Imperator: RomeWindows, Mac OS 
Cocos2d Hill Climb Racing Don’t Tap the white Tile Geometry Dash Lite Windows, OS X and Linux
Cocos2d-X Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, Tizen, Windows and Mac OS X
Construct Bee Escape Space Shooter Windows, Wii U, OS X, HTML5
Creation Engine The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Fallout 4 Fallout 76  
CryEngine Aion: The Tower of Eternity Far Cry Far Cry Instincts Far Cry Instincts: Predator Evolution Far Cry Vengeance Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Wii U, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android, iOS.
CryEngine 2 Blue Mar Crysis Crisis warhead Drug Wars Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Wii U, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android, iOS.
CryEngine 3 ArcheAge ASTA: The War of Tears and Winds God Slayer King of Wushu Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Wii U, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android, iOS.
CryEngine 3.6 – 4 Heathen-The sons of the Law Miscreated Prey Investigator Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Wii U, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android, iOS.
CryEngine V Hunt: Showdown Reboant – Endless Dawn Deceit The Climb Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Wii U, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android, iOS.
Cube Cube AssaultCube Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, Linux, OS X, AROS, AmigaOS 4, iPhone, and Dell Axim x50v
Cube 2:Sauerbraten Cube 2 Red Eclipse Windows, Linux and MacOS X
Dark Engine Thief System Shock 2 Thief IIWindows
Delta Engine Heroes of Soul Craft SoulCraft DeltaNinja iOS, Android, W8, WP, and HTML5
Dim3 Beats of Rage Crystal SpaceWindows, Unix, MacOS X, iOS and Linux
Dunia Engine James Cameron’s Avatar Far Cry 5 PlayStation 3, 4, Xbox One, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox 360
DX Studio GazShock Ballistic Bonbon Windows
Esenthel Splendor Dominion Windows, Mac, Xbox, iOS, Android, Web and Linux
Exult Ultima VII: The Black Gate Windows, OS X, Linux and BSD
FrostbiteBattlefield/ Battlefront
Medal of Honor
Need For Speed
Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
G3D InnovationEngine   Windows 10, OS X, and Linux
GamebryoCivilization IV Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, Gamecube, PSX, Wii/WiiWare, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, Xbox, Xbox One and Xbox 360
GamePlay3D Rocket Clash 3D Archery World Tour Windows NT, iOS, Linux, macOS and Android
Godot Stereobreak Deep Sixed Pusoy dos Windows, UWP, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Web Assembly and HTML
Gold Box Eye of the Beholder Pool of Radiance Amiga, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NEC PC-9800, NES and Sega Genesis.
GoldSrc Half Life 2 Windows OS X Linux Dreamcast PlayStation 2 Xbox
HeroEngine Visions of Zosimos Farmer3d Windows
Horde3D Offroad Legends Redline Rush Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
HPL Engine Penumbra: Requiem Soma Windows, OS X, Linux
HPL Engine 2 Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs Amnesia: The Dark Descent Windows, OS X, Linux
HPL Engine 3 Penumbra: Black Plague Penumbra: Requiem Windows, OS X, Linux
id Tech 1Doom, DoomIIDOS, Microsoft Windows, MacOS
id Tech 2Quake, KingPin: ReloadedDOS, Microsoft Windows, MacOS
id Tech 3Quake III, Call of Duty: ClassicDOS, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux
id Tech 4Doom 3,Quake 4 Windows, OS X and Linux
id Tech 5 Rage The Evil Within Windows, PS 3, PS 4, Xbox 360, OS X and Xbox One
id Tech 6 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Doom VFR Windows, PS 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
id Tech 7 Doom Eternal Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
IrrLicht Sokoban Challenge MacOS, Windows, Linux and Windows CE
IW engine Call of Duty: Black Ops II 007: Quantum of Solace Windows, PS 4, PS 3, Xbox One, OS X, Xbox 360, Wii and Wii U
Jade Beyond Good & Evil Rayman Raving Rabbids Xbox, Gamecube, PS2 and PC
Leadwerks Hoodwink Linux and Linux, with support for OS X in process
Limon Engine   PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One
Lumberyard Star Citizen Deadhaus Sonata Windows, Xbox One, PS 4
LumixEngine On the Hunt (in development) Windows
MarmaladeMONOPOLY, Game of Life   OS, Mac OS X, Android, Windows Phone, Tizen and Roku
Moai SDK Crimson: Steam Pirates Broken Age with iOS, Mac, Android, Windows, Chrome NaCl, Linux and HTML5
MT FrameworkMega Man 11Monster Hunter: World
Resident Evil 6
PlayStation 3, Windows, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U and PlayStation Vita
OGRE Zombie Driver Roblox Windows, Xbox, OSX, PocketPC, Linux and PS3
OpenClonk OpenClonk Linux, Microsoft Windows and OS X
ORX Hazardous Attack Breaktris Windows, Linux, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Mac OS X and Android
Panda3D Toontown Online Web
PhyreEngine Below Unravel PS 4, PS 3, PS VR, PS Vita, PS Portable, Windows, iOS and Android
PLIB TuxKart – A racing game Stormbaan Coureur – A physic simulator game Portable Libraries
Pyrogenesis 0 A.D Windows, Linux, OS X, and OSes
Qfusion Warsow Linux, macOS, Windows and Android (in development)
Real Virtuality ARMA 2 DayZ Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
REDengine The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Windows, Xbox 360, OS X, PS 4 and Xbox One
Shark 3DDreamfall: The Longest Journey, WindchaserLinux, Windows, Xbox and Xbox 360
ShiVa Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, Web browsers supporting Flash, HTML5, Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and Nintendo Wii
Snowdrop Tom Clancy’s The Division South Park: The Fractured but WholeWindows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox.
Source Half-Life 2 Portal Windows, OS X, PS 3, Xbox, Linux, Xbox 360 and Android
Source 2 Artifact Dota Underlords Windows, Android, OS X, Linux and iOS
Spring Balanced Annihilation Windows, Linux and OS X
StepMania In the Groove Windows, macOS, and Linux
StockfishStockfish Chess
DroidFish for Android
SmallFish for iOS
Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android
Stratagus Bos Wars Battle for Mandicor Battle of Survival AmigaOS 4, BSD, Linux, Mac OS X, MorphOS, AROS, Windows
Truevision 3D Battle of the Coral Sea Recreation of a simple 3D space-combat sim Windows
Tombstone Engine   PS 4 and Windows
Torque3DTribe 2, Visitors: First Contact and Dreamlords Windows, macOS, Linux, as well as Web platforms
Toy Engine In development Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, HTML5
UbiArt Framework Rayman Origins Child of Light Rayman Adventures PS3, PSVita, PS4, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Windows, X360, XONE, IOS, Android, OS X, tvOS
UDK (UnrealDevelopment Kit) Sonic Incursion, Renegrade X Windows, iOS, iPad, X360, PS3
Unigine Oil Rush Sumoman Windows, Linux
Unity Hearthstone Escape from Tarkov Monument Valley 2Windows and OSX , Linux, Unity Webplayer plugin, Android, iOS, Windows Phone,Blackberry, XBox One, XBox 360, PS4, PS3, PSP Vita, Playstation Mobile, WiiU and Wii.
Unreal Engine 1Unreal Tournament, Unreal Mac OS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Unix, PS 2 and Dreamcast
Unreal Engine 2Splinter Cell, killing floor Windows, Mac OS, Xbox, PlayStation and Wii U
Unreal Engine 3Mortal Kombat 11, Batman Arkham OriginsWindows, Mac OS, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS platforms
Unreal Engine 4Fortnite, Star Wars – Jedi Fallen Order, Biomutant MacOS, Microsoft Windows, SteamOS, Linux, HTML, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PS-4, OSVR
Urho3D Clinically Dead War Priest made it out alive Edge of Time Episode 1: Rise of the Aeus Bolderline Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, tvOSnew, Android, Raspberry Piv1.3 including other generic ARM boardsv1.6, and Webv1.4 with Emscripten toolchain.
Vengeance Engine SWAT 4: Gold Edition Tribes: Vengeance Windows
Visual Pinball Visual Pinball Windows
V-Play Game Engine (Felgo) Game Network iOS, Windows Phone, Android, Linux, MacOS X, Raspberry Pi and i.MX: i.MX 6 series
Wintermute Engine J.U.L.I.A among the stars Reversion: A Sci-Fi Adventure Game   Windows
WorldForge Acorn Linux, MacOSX and Window
List of Game Engines Developed using C++