Ew, not like Fortnite, I mean like indie launchers
SRB2K, or Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart, is a mod of SRB2, itself a doom mod, that is an absolute love letter to the classic days of Mario Kart (I’m thinking super mario kart or 64). Full of small QoL changes, and with a forum full of mods for any character you can think of, it’s an easy pitch if you’ve ever wanted to play a kart styled game thats better than the original, with online play
Worth noting the devs have since released a sequel, Robotniks Ring Racers, but it does it’s own thing in a way that does less for me personally in terms of nostalgia, and is also generally more complicated, and thus harder to pull random friends into. That’s not to say it’s worse or bad, it’s just got very different appeal
Japanese visual novels that never get translated are a big one. A huge chunk of them live on novelgame, DLSite, and DMM. In fact, there are some full fledged Japanese games that are DLSite exclusive. I’ve tried a few, and some can be quite good.
The Star Trek games on GOG (like Elite Force I and II, and Armada) are worth your attention.
Full Metal Daemon Muramasa is also typically bought on JAST.
There are also a bunch of gacha games that never released on Steam, though the bigger ones are working to change that.
Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret from GOG.
All of Project Echo’s visual novels (Ad Astra, Echo, The Smoking Room, Khemia, Glory Hounds, etc).
OSU. There’s a open source client don’t know anymore which ones good.
Lazer client works native on Linux, and is perfectly suitable to play with. Lower audio latency on both Windows (WASAPI) and Linux (runs native and not via Wine) is a pretty solid reason why most people prefer it, but the interface isn’t as skinnable as Stable is currently and slider head accuracy is confusing for some old players, but other than that there isn’t any reason not to use Lazer.
If you are brave enough there is big list of open source clone games.
Most of them are not on any play store.
This is gold
YARG - Yet Another Rhythm Game. Like Guitar Hero/Rock Band (way better than Clone Hero) - open source. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keys, Vocals.
I think it’s still being worked on, but some Devs have been hired for the next big rhythm game - if I understood correctly - so the development has slowed some.
You can get quite a lot of songs for free with it, there are some real bangers and it’s tons of fun (or go sail the high seas and get what feels like infinite songs, including those from the popular plastic instrument games). Also runs really well on my potato laptop…
I recently got into a Toontown rougelike ( rougelite? ) fan game called Toontown Grindworks. It’s available for free on Itch. Ypu run from floor to floor climbing the corporate tower, fighting cogs ( basically businesspeople robots ), avoiding traps, and collecting gear and new gag tracks ( weapons/upgrades ). All to get to the final boss of the tower. I’ve only had a single run where I got to the final boss, but failed there because I got really unlucky.
There is also the current demo of Plants vs Zombies Universe, which jas a fair bit of content that can last a while if you don’t speed through it. The game is basically devs wanting to create a PvZ fan game where it’s basically content from all the games rolled into a single PvZ title. Meaning you get the exclusive PvZ Online plants/worlds/zombies, exclusive PvZ2/2C plants/worlds/zombies, etcetera. All while being a bit more balanced as of now to create a genuinely challenging game.
I was gonna say development is on indefinite hiatus, but it seems a 1.2 update was released about a week ago! Sadly, unless you already have the link, you need to access their discord for the download, from either google drive or mega, if that would sway anyone away from it. That, or I’m sure they have a QQ group set up, but I ain’t creating an account just for this game.
Other than those, the only other games I could recommend are pokemon fangames or well known open source games like Mindustry ( has a steam version, but that’s only for supporting the devs and getting steam workshop content, if you even care ) or SuperTuxKart. That, and a few furry visual novels on Itch that aren’t completed yet that I like.
Battle for Wesnoth, very good high fantasy strategy game. Lots of player created campaigns, and tons of mods
Edit: looking at their website, it is available through steam, but it is also available in a variety of other places.
Yeah, it’s available on Steam (for free) but I think it still fits this thread nicely.
It’s impressive that they’re still actively developing it after 20 years. For anyone else like me who used to play Wesnoth a lot but hasn’t touched it in a couple of years, I just noticed that they have added a new mainline campaign fairly recently.
I love that it continues to be worked on too. I remember playing it well over a decade ago.
Phantasy Star Online, especially with private servers
For Linux: https://github.com/zeroz41/pso_wine/tree/master/pso/pc#readme
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, a really good traditional roguelike, often considered one of the four pillars of the genre along with NetHack, ADOM, and TOME. (Those are on Steam, however; Crawl is not.)
Artix Entertainment has their own game launcher. Not all of the games are exclusive to it though, as Adventure Quest 3D links to the steam version. Surprisingly, the original Adventure Quest (and by extension WarpForce) still receives updates.
Starsector is one of my favorites from the last decade.
Sauerbraten is always worth a mention for me. It’s a quake style open source shooter with built-in mapping tools. Definitely a little dated but the game still feels more responsive and fun than a lot of other games today. I think I would really enjoy tinkering with it if I was still a teenager.
I’ve probably played a few hundred hours of SuperTuxKart. It’s a mario kart clone except i like it way better than the mario karts I’ve played.
Mindustry is fun, it’s like a space factory builder thing.
I was going to say the powder toy but it turns out its on steam now
It’s a way for the devs to get some revenue. Doesn’t mean that you have to buy it. Same with Shattered Pixel Dungeon. Super Tux is also on Steam but not paid.
And yet I’ve already found multiple reviews stating that they bought it on Steam before knowing the game was free elsewhere. So it seems to me that by not mentioning anywhere on the Steam page that this is a donation to the dev, that’s a little shady.
Steam’s terms of service mean devs/publishers can’t promote a game as being free elsewhere. It’s likely directed at preventing redirecting people to Epic or a sale at another store, but also by effect includes games like this. Either they put it for free on Steam or they sell it on Steam and can’t mention free downloads from their website, and it’s up to users to “shop around”.
I get what you’re saying, but I think if spending $10 on a game is something that would give someone pause, then the onus really is on them to search around first to see what the best deal is? People act like steam is a monopoly, but there is a lot of choice out there.
If you have it on steam then you can use the workshop for schematics and maps too
It’s worth giving the guy ten bucks imo.
Oh what, that’s very weird
Vintage Story, a Minecraft-like game that focuses on a tough, realistic survival experience. There are climate zones and seasons. Things like smelting ores or growing food are much more involved than they are in Minecraft, which makes for a strong sense of progression when you’ve finally managed to make iron or build a windmill.
I will add that it’s Minecraft-like only graphically. Anyone going into Vintage Story expecting their Minecraft knowledge to carry over is going to have a very bad time because the actual overlap is minimal.
I second vintage story, such a cool game
Hytale too, completely different direction than VS but another fun minecraft-ish game
