Hey there,
I enjoy Linux gaming via WINE/Proton, but I often wonder about Linux-native FOSS games. You often see brilliant titles like 0AD and Mindustry mentioned, but there are also some unspoken gems in the “genre” like Minetest and it makes me wonder what other FOSS games are out there, that people just don’t talk about much? I’m looking to discover and play more of these titles.
Does Katawa Shoujo count? It’s not quite FOSS, but it’s a renpy game under CC BY-NC-ND.
Adding to what others have said If you are looking for or interested in game engine clones https://osgameclones.com/
I haven’t played it yet, but a game called Veloren looks really good, and I’ve heard great things about it.
Endless Sky is an amazing one. I’ve put tons of hours into it. It’s a top down 2d space trading/fighting game, very similar to Escape Velocity if you’ve ever played that game.
Here are some less mentioned FLOSS games, that are excellent quality:
Fillets-ng (2D fish sokoban)
The Dark Mod (3D stealth game, bow and sword)
Crrcsim (3D model glider flightsim, slope soaring)
Open transport Tycoon deluxe. Been going for years and it’s still great.
Simutrans, surely.
Simultrans is good but it’s a bit barebones for my liking.
its pretty complex and can be hard to learn, but flightgear is super fun once you get the hang of piloting.
Supertuxkart and supertux
also check out libregamewiki its got lots of free games
Every couple of years I throw 40-80 hours into (eg) https://crawl.akrasiac.org:8443/#lobby
I’m a fan of Freedroid Classic, a FOSS remake of a commodore 64 game called “Paradroid”. You’re a robot on a deserted space ship full of other malfunctioning robots, and you have to hack / shoot all of them. You start out as the worst robot, but if you encounter a better one, you can hack it to take over its body – if it doesn’t kill you first.
Takes a few runs to get the hang of it, but it’s a lot of fun.
ssh nethack@alt.orgI spent several years on OpenBSD playing mostly foss games (no WINE support) before I got my steam deck, so I feel fairly qualified with recommending Cataclysm DDA, Xmoto, and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Say goodbye to the next several months of your life. Other cool FOSS games that grabbed me, but not to the same level: Ur Quan Masters (Star Control 2), and endless-sky.
