I’m usually a fan of open source games but rarely do they manage to be actually great. People like giving recommendations like Super Tux Kart that haven’t aged well and don’t play well. What are some open source games that are legitimately good that I’ve missed?

My favorites are:

  • Mindustry

  • Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart

  • Powder Toy

  • GZDoom (and all the amazing mods for it)

  • Veloren (even though it’s still in alpha)

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      261 year ago

      Adding to this:

      • Veloren
      • Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
      • Mindustry
      • The Dark Mod
      • Oolite
      • Flare: Empyrean Campaign
      • Xonotic
      • Unvanquished
      • Frozen Bubble
    • ShaunaTheDead
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      Tales of Maj’Eyal is a great little game if you’re an rogue-like fan! I played so many hours of that game a few years back, it’s seriously great!

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    38
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Battle for Wesnoth

    This one never gets the love it deserves. It’s a fantastic turn based strategy game with multiple campaigns and storylines, multiplayer, and campaign design tools. It’s an old project (started in 2003, IIRC), but it’s still fantastic

    Hedgewars

    Basically, this is Worms but with adorable little hedgehogs instead of, well, worms. Single player is okay, and it has online multiplayer I guess, but the real fun (just like in Worms) is local multiplayer. Also, it has Portal Guns. There’s really no downside to this one.

    Re-volt io and RVGL

    This one’s a little iffy. Re-volt was a fantastic R / C racing game with bright graphics, fun tracks, excellent controls, and a killer soundtrack. For good or ill, it was put out by Acclaim, which self destructed in 2004. The Re-volt fan community, however, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “quit.”

    Nowadays, you can join a lively community with regular online tournaments of the game. There’s a new cross platform engine called RVGL (that’s Re Volt Game Launcher), and metric tonnes of mods and fan content. You still need the original game’s assets, though, which is where it’s dicey; they’re technically abandonware not open source, unless I’m mistaken.

    Anyway, links!

    Unciv

    This project’s aim is to be Civilization V, but with more abstract visuals, and, or course, free. In short, it’s FreeCiv, but Civ V instead of II and a UI from the 2020s rather than the 80s. (Not throwing shade here; FreeCiv is an amazing project that is exactly what it wants to be!)

    If that’s not enough to keep ya’ happy, I know a few more, but they’ve mostly been covered by other folks here.

    Edit: formatting

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      8
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I just discovered Unciv on the fdroid store very recently and it blew me away. It is such a well done little Civ 5 clone.

      I am definitely going to try Hedgewars. Worms was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.

      Thanks so much for the suggestions!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      I never even knew about Hedgewars’ existence, but Warmux on the other hand… Now that’s my childhood right there

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        31 year ago

        I feel you. Warmux was really neat. Sadly, it never got as much development as Hedgewars, even though the mascot theme was really cool. AFAIK, Warmux has been inactive (or at least extremely slow) for years, while Hedgewars has been thriving.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    361 year ago

    Endless Sky.

    It’s an open world 2D spacefaring game, with a good core story and more being added by the surprisingly-active dev community.

    Not without its flaws, but anyway I think it’s a fantastic game in its own right. And it’s both “finishable” and under continued development & expansion.

    • @SmoothLiquidation
      link
      English
      71 year ago

      Endless Sky is great. It was inspired by the old Escape Velocity games by Ambrosia Software.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    34
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    My favorites:

    • OpenTTD: Old transport tycoon game, but really fun especially in multiplayer
    • Minetest: Minecraft-like voxel game engine, which means there a many different game modes
    • Beyond All Reason: Great RTS, also great in online multiplayer or with some friends. (Disclaimer: Possible unfree licenses for artwork)
    • Dwarf Fortress (free but not open source, thanks for telling me that one): not everyone’s cup of tea, but sometimes you just get stuck in it for hours on end
    • JackbyDev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      231 year ago

      Dwarf Fortress is not open source. It is freeware. Parts of the game (some graphics stuff) has the code available but you have no license to distribute it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      101 year ago

      Possible unfree licenses for artwork

      I’d still consider the game open source, even if the art is copyrighted.

      Dwarf Fortress

      Is there an open source version? It’s a great game (also try the steam edition if you check it out), but I thought it was closed-source.

      • JackbyDev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        111 year ago

        Dwarf Fortress is not open source. You are correct.

  • The Giant Korean
    link
    English
    321 year ago

    Shattered Pixel Dungeon and other forks of Pixel Dungeon (but SPD is my fave).

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 year ago

      Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a great game if you are into rogue-like games. Expect to die waaaay more than you win. There is a lot of depth and quite a few ways to solve the the puzzles and enemy encounters.

      The developer has done an amazing job picking up where the original developer of Pixel Dungeon left off. Very consistent and solid updates and has plenty of plans for future updates which look interesting.

      There are plenty of forks ranging from adjusting difficulty to overhauling the art or expanding the gameplay significantly. If you ever get bored, you can just try something new.

      I’ve enjoyed the growth of this game over the years after the development of the original game stopped.

      • The Giant Korean
        link
        English
        41 year ago

        Yes, I love that the dev is so engaged. He also started up a community here for Pixel Dungeon as well.

        I’m glad Shattered csme along. I didn’t care for item degradation that the original dev of PD built in towards the end. Shattered forked at just the right time.

        Sprouted PD is fun if you enjoy grinding.

    • AnyOldName3
      link
      31 year ago

      We only reimplemented the engine, not the game. You still need to own a copy of Morrowind so there’s something for the new engine to actually run. That said, it is possible for it to run other potentially-open-source games, such as OpenMW’s example suite (which isn’t finished enough to even call a game yet) or the Robowind demo (which I can’t remember the licencing details of) .

    • @owatnext
      link
      01 year ago

      I have wasted almost as many hours in OpenMW as I have with the official engine. It is just that good.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    24
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    OpenTTD. IMO mindustry, for example, is better but it’s still worth to try OpenTTD

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      21 year ago

      I’ve played this game so much as a kid. It’s nice to see that this game is still maintained (as OSS) and still being mentioned. :)

    • TheThirdAccount
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      Not only is Endlessly open source, it has been crowd developed for years and years. It’s still actively adding user content (stories, outfits, ships, races, etc) and has the only actually functional launcher I’ve ever seen (like if you want to play a stable release, or play in your own sandbox development area, etc). It’s really great community of folks.

  • @[email protected]M
    link
    fedilink
    131 year ago

    MineClone2 is addictive. All that Minecraft style fun, but free and open source. It’s pretty comprehensive and solid for the most part.

      • poVoq
        link
        fedilink
        121 year ago

        Minetest is the engine and Mineclone2 is a game/mod for it.

      • @[email protected]M
        link
        fedilink
        7
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Minetest is the engine, MineClone2 is the game. Minetest has a default game (Minetest game), which has no mobs or anything. It’s dull without mods. MineClone2 is recreation of Minecraft on Minetest, but with some differences. For example, you can use a burger to lure villagers. It’s great fun and worth a try.

  • @MutatedBass
    link
    111 year ago

    CDDA and Shatered Pixel Dungeon arey favorites.

  • Chaotic Entropy
    link
    fedilink
    101 year ago

    Warzone 2100, from the community project website and not Steam. Some douche just took the code and uploaded it to Steam themself and does a poor job maintaining it.

    • EamonnMR
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      Warzone 2100 was my jam! They hadn’t actually got cutscenes working in the Linux port I was using so I was.very confused about the story.

      • Chaotic Entropy
        link
        fedilink
        2
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Around the year 2000, I had to make a choice between Battlezone 1 and Warzone 2100. I chose Warzone and have never regretted it.

        It’s always nice just to run through the campaign every couple of years.