I’m moving away from proprietary apps and want to find open-source games on Android that are genuinely good, not just time-killers or kids’ titles.
My criteria:
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Truly open source (repository available, ideally on F-Droid)
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No ads, no trackers, no in-app purchases
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Modern feel and polished experience — something that feels like a real game, not a tech demo
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Made for adults: deep gameplay, challenge, real progression (any genre welcome — strategy, roguelike, RPG, racing, puzzle…)
I trust actual players over AI-generated lists, so: what open-source game on Android gave you the best experience, and why?
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Yeah, this is probably what I’d call the strongest open-source Android game (though I do like roguelikes, so gotta take personal preference into account).
Also, !pixeldungeon@lemmy.world is moderated by the Shattered Pixel dev, who came over to the Fediverse, so that’s cool.
It isn’t as deep as some other roguelikes, but roguelikes in general are deep, and it’s well-adapted to the Android environment — touchscreen, easier to play in bursts, where you don’t have to remember a lot to get back into a run if you play a bit, then pick it up later. It’s got a reasonably gentle learning curve, as roguelikes go.
I like Breakout 71 by Renan LE CARO
Unciv and mindustry are two of my favorites. https://github.com/yairm210/Unciv https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry
Chess on Lichess ticks all your boxes except maybe “modern” (though it has a modern UI).
I like to play chess puzzles on the shitter at work, while traveling or at home when I’m bored with other games.
Endless Sky is available from F-Droid. I personally found the UI to be a tad clunky, but that might simply be because I’m used to playing it on desktop. You might find that worth your time.
I played it the first time on my phone but the desktop version is way less of a pain in the ass and I don’t think I can go back to the android one.
I saw a mod to make the android UI more useable, not sure how it works as I play endless sky on pc
I’m sorry I don’t have a list to add to the conversation but one of your points made me curious:
What do you mean by “Made for adults: deep gameplay, challenge, real progression (any genre welcome — strategy, roguelike, RPG, racing, puzzle…)”?
As far as I’m concerned, real adult “games” don’t have progression: Basketball, football, baseball (do you count muscle growth?), chess (ELO is progression? one value?), backgammon (ELO I guess?).
What do you see as “real (adult) progression”?
edited (to make my misunderstanding bold)
Balatro.
One of the best games to play on mobile. It fits basically all of your criteria and you can just Google search a copy of it, you don’t have to pay for it from the play store.
Didn’t know Balatro became open-source.
Requiring the game to be open source is going to limit you a lot I think. Also, balatro is fuckin awesome - get it, play it, love it.
It isn’t. Which is why it said it fits almost all of its criteria and it is one of the best games on mobile that you can get right now.
It’s a full and complete game with no advertisements. No loot boxes, no engagement and you can just unlock the whole game from the game and play it to your heart’s content.
We’re not diagnosing schizophrenia here. We’re talking about mobile games.
