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submitted 4 days ago by Osm@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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:

  • Modern feel and polished experience โ€” something that feels like a real game, not a tech demo

  • Made for adults: deep gameplay, challenge, real progression (any genre welcome โ€” 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?

all 49 comments
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[-] Pozitigor@lemmy.ml 49 points 4 days ago

Mindustry, its open source, free, has campaign and multiplayer mode, also available on pc. You can even support devs by buying steam version of the game

[-] SirIglooi@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 days ago

+1 to that, mindustry is tons of fun and has builds for most devices. I have personally sunk way too much time into it

[-] BaraCoded@literature.cafe 13 points 3 days ago

Shattered Pixel Dungeon is your friend, then

[-] alexcleac@szmer.info 2 points 12 hours ago

Best one ever! I spent so much time in it :)

[-] cybervegan@lemmy.world 42 points 4 days ago

Shattered Pixel Dungeon is pretty great if you like graphical top-down turn-based games with procedurally generated maps.

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Fuck dwarven monks and crabs as huntress lol.

[-] BruisedMoose@piefed.social 3 points 4 days ago

SPD is great. Easy to pick up for a quick run, easy to get engrossed in. Looks great and controls are intuitive.

Idle Fantasy is fun but the gameplay isn't that deep. It's basically passive Runescape.

[-] robber@lemmy.ml 35 points 4 days ago

Mindustry really had me hooked for some time. The devs call it an "automation tower defense RTS". GPL-3.

[-] Courantdair@jlai.lu 8 points 4 days ago

I had to uninstall it to protect myself from losing my job after I realized I played for 8 hours in two days. This shit is addictive as hell

[-] ace_garp@lemmy.world 21 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Battle for Wesnoth

Hex, turn-based, fantasy game.

Tons of campaigns.

https://f-droid.org/packages/org.wesnoth.Wesnoth/


Luanti (previously named minetest)

Block-builder engine, with 100s of game modes.

https://f-droid.org/packages/net.minetest.minetest/

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 2 points 3 days ago

Unfortunately battle for wesnoth was not made for phone and plays pretty badly.

[-] Darkenfolk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Honestly the latest 1.19 build is decent. Fatfingering is a bit of an issue though

[-] ace_garp@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Tablet mode.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 19 points 4 days ago

Unciv is basically Civilization 5 with pixel graphics.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago

There's a part of my brain that actually prefers Unciv. There's something very satisfying about mixing complex gameplay and simpler graphics (to me)

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah, same actually. The simpler graphics make it easier to understand what's going on, I find.

And it just uses less system resources, which is good for battery life and being able to keep it running in the background.

[-] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 4 days ago
[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

Fyi, looks like you're best off installing via Obtainium if you want auto-updates. The FDroid version is from 2022, so it's pretty outdated

[-] NathanDerWeise@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

I came here to suggest this one. Great graphics, and the karting feels good too. So many settings.

[-] ArborNode@lemmy.shutes.org 1 points 4 days ago

Tried this out on your recommendation and it's a lot of fun! Thanks!

[-] fdagpigj@lemmy.ml 15 points 4 days ago

Simon Tatham's Puzzles is my long-time favourite and recently I got really hooked on Water Sort (though that one is a bit lackluster in custom game generation). I don't know if these meet the progression or even deep gameplay requirements, but at least they are challenging and more or less polished.

[-] alt_xa_23@midwest.social 3 points 4 days ago

Seconding Simon Tatham's Puzzles, I've had a lot of fun with it

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I really like Endless Sky!

It's an open source PC game, but there's an open source mod for phones on F-Droid.

Edit: i almost forgot the best part! Because the game play relies on text files in a certain format, the PC story mods work with the phone game!

[-] IanTwenty@piefed.social 13 points 4 days ago
[-] pebbles@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 days ago

Yeah I've been playing a lot of that one lately. Sorta Vampire Survivors plus Asteroids.

[-] DeathByDenim@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

Andor's Trail is a pretty good roguelike. It goes very deep. Actually, maybe a bit too deep, I have trouble keeping track of everything that is going on! But it is certainly entertaining.

[-] cybervegan@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago
[-] ace_garp@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Has excellent quirky humour, from being community built.

Also, make sure to equip some gear. Otherwise, zero combat skills.

[-] BruisedMoose@piefed.social 3 points 4 days ago

I just tried it. While I respect the art and the dialog was entertaining, I don't think it fits the "modern feel and polished experience" OP is looking for. I almost completely gave up on it until I found the d-pad option and it really requires 2 handed play.

[-] Hal@piefed.nz 3 points 4 days ago

I agree a half finished game isn't what OP is looking for, and a lot of the gameplay (especially later) revolves around finding your way through what are effectively mazes.

I play it one handed though. It's turn based combat and when out of combat you just put your finger on the screen and it walks towards it? I didn't even know a d-pad option existed ๐Ÿ˜…

[-] BruisedMoose@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

The Fight button (I think?) was on the far upper left. So I had to move my lazy left hand AAAALL the way to my phone!

[-] Hal@piefed.nz 2 points 3 days ago

I just had to go back and check we were talking about the same game. There's no fight button in the default control scheme, you just bump into the thing you want to fight, then a popup shows in the middle of the screen to start the fight.

[-] BruisedMoose@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

Ah, I didn't realize I could just keep bumping into them. I was looking at this Attack button thinking I had to tap that.

[-] Hal@piefed.nz 1 points 3 days ago

Oh that button! That shows after a battle has started. You can tap anywhere! Just tap tap tap on the screen and and long as it's not a button you're tapping on then it will attack.

[-] BruisedMoose@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah. I am idiot.

[-] DeathByDenim@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Yeah, fair, The controls are a bit clumsy. I would argue that the story is quite polished though. Having a story-driven game like this is rather rare for open-source games.

[-] morto@piefed.social 1 points 4 days ago

I tried that one, but the grinding was enormous. Is the game like that, or did I do something wrong?

[-] DeathByDenim@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

No, it's pretty grindy. Well, unless I am doing it wrong too!

[-] sculptor0725@sh.itjust.works 11 points 4 days ago

Breakout 71

[-] Crywiamu@pawb.social 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I wonder if mobile version of Cataclysm-DDA is open-sourced, like the desktop one. It is probably the most mechanically complex zombie-survival roguelike you can find

[-] NathanDerWeise@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago
[-] GreyCat@piefed.social 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

That repo says that it Is no longer maintained and to check this repo instead:
https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA
(There are official Android releases now apparently)

[-] zergtoshi@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

I find Feudal Tactics to be a lot of fun.

[-] OliMoli2137@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago
this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2026
129 points (97.1% liked)

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