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:
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Mindustry
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Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart
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Powder Toy
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GZDoom (and all the amazing mods for it)
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Veloren (even though it’s still in alpha)
- 0 AD
- Battle for Wesnoth
- Tales of Maj’Eyal
Adding to this:
- Veloren
- Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
- Mindustry
- The Dark Mod
- Oolite
- Flare: Empyrean Campaign
- Xonotic
- Unvanquished
- Frozen Bubble
- Nethack
Yes the interface is a mess. But it’s ridiculously deep once you get into it.
Oh my goodness, yes! I spent hundreds of hours playing this as a kid. Angband too.
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.
- https://www.hedgewars.org/
- Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2223810/Hedgewars/
- Itch: https://hedgewars.itch.io/hedgewars
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
I never even knew about Hedgewars’ existence, but Warmux on the other hand… Now that’s my childhood right there
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.
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
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.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon and other forks of Pixel Dungeon (but SPD is my fave).
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.
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.
