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 — something that feels like a real game, not a tech demo

  • 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?

all 29 comments

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[–] 22 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

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

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    [–] 18 points 9 hours ago (1 child)

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

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  • [–] 14 points 10 hours ago (1 child)
  • [–] 10 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours 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!

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  • [–] 8 points 11 hours ago (6 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 hours ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours 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 😅

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  • [–] 8 points 4 hours ago (1 child)

    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

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  • [–] 7 points 11 hours ago

    Breakout 71

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  • [–] 7 points 7 hours ago

    Unciv is basically Civilization 5 with pixel graphics.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 hours ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 6 hours ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 hours ago

    I find Feudal Tactics to be a lot of fun.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 hours 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/

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  • [–] 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours 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

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  • [–] 1 point 3 hours ago