An awesome space RPG series from the 90s and early 00s. Top down Asteroids style action with spaceship customization. Older games (EV and EVO) can be played on emulators or on Nova's engine (which you can run under WINE). The registration server is long gone, so these downloads include a cracked Nova binary.
A classic in its own right, EVN is the gold standard for EV games with tons of glowing prose and graphics that still hold up. Six storylines (though with a few shared elements between them) and many new additions to the engine such as inertialess ships.
Enthusiasts have been tweaking nova to try and keep it compatible with modern systems.
Escape Velocity Nova (with modern windows goodies)
WineNova (for macs)
Matt C Burch's original from 1996. Launched the series and a vibrant online community. Partially inspired by (believe it or not) the manual to Elite.
Nova Port (Windows)
Peter Cartwright's larger sequel (which, like Nova, started as a TC mod) featuring numerous factions.
Nova Port (Windows)
In addition to the official games, I've taken the liberty of packaging up a few of the biggest fan-made mods which weren't picked up for official distributions.
A new TC for 2023: a fan sequel to Nova
White Dwarf
Perhaps the most successful TC effort, Polycon is a rich, detailed, and alien universe presented as a Nova plugin. Further details in the archive.
EV Polycon Stand Alone
One of the more celebrated big plugins for Nova, ARPIA II has graphics from members of the original ATMOS team, and ended up with a spinoff novel.
A total revamp of nova including rebalanced combat, new missions, and Sharky's Supernova Shipyard.
Brave New Void (Requires Nova, see installation instructions)
Originally a TC for Classic, ported to Nova. Makes good use of Grand Novice and (I think?) Canarveron Sation graphics.
Star Fleet Adventures is a Star Trek TOS-themed TC. It's got its own TvTropes page. It's got klingons.
Star Fleet Adventures Standalone
A combat focused TC pretty well documented at the evn wiki
A focused TC that goes for depth over breadth.
A TC that doubles down on the "fighting a race of aliens" trope, and makes good use of Meowx's graphics.
A consolidation of some of the 'Empire' series of Plugins for Classic.
A well regarded plugin for Override which includes a novel on which it is based.
Much of the leg work done by: This reddit poster. Bonus shout out to this poster who recovered Frozen Heart.