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)

  • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
    ·
    10 months 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.

  • s20@lemmy.ml
    ·
    10 months 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

    • http://www.wesnoth.org/
    • Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/599390/Battle_for_Wesnoth/

    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!

    • https://re-volt.io/
    • https://rvgl.org/

    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!)

    • Github: https://github.com/yairm210/Unciv
    • Itch: https://yairm210.itch.io/unciv

    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

    • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
      ·
      10 months ago

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

      • s20@lemmy.ml
        ·
        10 months 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.

  • Quik@infosec.pub
    ·
    9 months 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@programming.dev
      ·
      10 months 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.

    • Jummit@lemmy.one
      ·
      10 months 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.

  • Jummit@lemmy.one
    ·
    10 months ago

    osu! is an amazing rhythm game. Try osu!lazer, it's the new client: https://osu.ppy.sh/home/download

    I also like Pioneers and Endless Sky, both space sims.

    This might not count, but both Lichess, a chess website, and OGS, a Go website are open source.

    There is also Mindustry, but I haven't played it.

    • booty [he/him]
      ·
      10 months ago

      I play chess on lichess and go on OGS and I had no idea before opening this thread that they were open source.

      Open source software is just better I guess edgeworth-shrug

  • CrypticCoffee@lemmy.mlM
    ·
    10 months ago

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

  • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
    ·
    10 months 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@lemmy.sdf.org
      ·
      10 months 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@feddit.uk
        ·
        10 months 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.

  • karlexceed@midwest.social
    ·
    10 months ago

    Minetest and several others that I play regularly have already been mentioned, so I wanted to shout out a game I've been following and playing for years, waiting for their 1.0 release: FreeOrion

    https://www.freeorion.org/

    It's essentially a clone of the Master of Orion series, which are classics in the 4X world.

    • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      10 months ago

      In (0-100%) how similar is minetest to minecraft in terms of content? I installed it a couple of hours ago and tested it a couple of minutes and it looks identical lol but what about the content?

  • tegimaster@lemm.ee
    ·
    10 months ago

    My PC always has 3 games installed, and depending on the distro I'm currently on they may have come directly from the default repos:

    • Battle for Wesnoth
    • Warzone 2100
    • OpenRCT2

    I have lost count of how hours I have in all 3.

  • Die4Ever@programming.dev
    ·
    10 months ago

    ScummVM supports many many games. Some people might think it's an emulator, but it's actually a collection of reverse engineered game engines.

    eDuke32 and other Build Engine source ports