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)

  • ArtikBanana@beehaw.org
    5·
    1 year ago

    Thrive

    tl;dr: a better Spore

    From the site:

    Thrive is a free, open-source game about the evolution of life.

    From the lowly tidepools of your home planet, you will rise to cosmic dominance. At every step, powerful creation tools and deep simulation mechanics will aid your species’ development. Revolutionary Games is the open-source team of dedicated volunteers aiming to make Thrive a reality.

    Our team seeks to accomplish two major goals: create engaging, compelling gameplay that respects our players’ intelligence, and remain as accurate as possible in our depiction of known scientific theory without compromising the former.

      • Muffi@programming.dev
        2·
        1 year ago

        If you like that kind of stuff, check out The Sapling, which is being developed and devlogged by this cool nerdy dude who I think is dutch.

        The game is like an “eco dwarf-fortress” evolution simulator, and it’s been amazing to follow the development of.

  • s20@lemmy.ml
    3·
    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

    • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

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

    • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      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!

  • Quik@infosec.pubEnglish
    3·
    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@programming.devEnglish
      3·
      1 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.

    • Jummit@lemmy.one
      0·
      1 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.

  • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 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.

  • Die4Ever@programming.dev
    2·
    1 year 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

  • gibson@sopuli.xyz
    2·
    1 year ago

    One Hour One Life is open source, it is a 2D hand drawn survival game where you have 1 real life houre to live from a baby to an elder and contribute to the player-made society in your life as best you can.

    You have to pay for an account on the official servers, but i recommend you do to support the development.

    Not sure if the dev accepts community patches or not, but the game is public domain license.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hour_One_Life

  • karlexceed@midwest.socialEnglish
    1·
    1 year 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.

  • citytree@lemmy.ml
    1·
    1 year ago

    People like giving recommendations like Super Tux Kart that haven’t aged well and don’t play well.

    What’s the issue with SuperTuxKart? I thought that it was great fun when I played it.

    • popcar2@programming.devOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      It’s just not very good compared to any other kart game. Aside from the fact that it’s very dated, the driving is slow, the levels are wide and uninspired, the racing itself is very simple. SRB2Kart is another open source karting game and it’s sooooo much better.

  • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
    1·
    1 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@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 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@feddit.uk
        1·
        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.

  • idontpeoplegood@lemmygrad.ml
    1·
    1 year ago

    I haven’t played Warsow in years, so I don’t know what state the game or community is in. It’s a fast paced FPS multiplayer that turned the old bunnyhopping exploit into a central feature iirc.