This list is a little old, so some of the links may not work anymore, but overall it’s still a pretty solid compendium for any budget concious Linux (or Windows) gamer!
Know of a game that should be added to the list? Leave a comment below! ^_^
Also check out:
- The LibreGameWiki
- GamingOnLinux’s Free Game List
- Itch.io’s Free Linux Game Section
- This collection of 500+ games packaged in the portable AppImage format
- The Open-Source Game Clones Repository
- Lee Reilly’s Github Games List
- The Linux Games Book
FPS
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| CS:GO | Counter Strike: Global Offensive, the premier online FPS [Free-to-Play] | No |
| Warfork | Fork of Warsaw to continue development, Cel-shaded Quake-like online FPS | CC-SA |
| Cube 2 | Online Quake-like Arena FPS with multiple game modes & level editor | zlib |
| Assault Cube | Counterstrike-like FPS in the Cube engine | Freeware |
| Xonotic | Quake-like arena online FPS | GPL |
| FreeDoom | Open-source implemantation of Doom, best used with Chocolate Doom | Yes |
| Dystopia | Cyberpunk online class-based FPS | ??? |
| Urban Terror | Fast paced online FPS reminiscent of CS | ??? |
| OpenArena | Online arena FPS using the id tech engine | ??? |
| Fistful of Frags | Online Western FPS - Not as good as it used to be | ??? |
| Ravenfield | Singleplayer Battlefield type game | No |
| Alien Arena | Retro Sci-Fi Online FPS | ??? |
| Red Eclipse | Online FPS with parkour | SRC Available |
| ET Legacy | Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for modern PCs | SRC Available |
| Team Fortress 2 | Class-based online FPS with many game-modes to choose from (Not suitable for weak PC) | No |
| Team Fortress 2 Classic | Sick of hats, nerfs, and other changes to TF2? Than Classic is for you! TF2 Classic is a resurrection of what the game was like in 2013, with restored gamemodes, guns, and classes | No |
| Open Fortress | A total conversion of TF2 with unique characters, weapons, gamemodes, and maps! | No |
| Aleph One | Open Source implementation for Bungie’s Marathon series | GPL |
| Double Action Boogaloo | Online 3rd-person shooter with slow motion | No |
| Ultrakill Prelude | Demo for an ultra violent oldschool FPS | No |
| OpenSpades | Clone of Ace of Spades 0.75, featuring fully destructible terrain and plenty of game modes | GPL |
| Blade of Agony | Story-driven FPS inspired by WWII shooters from the 90’s and early 2000’s - Extremely polished and fun | SRC Available |
RPG
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Daggerfall Unity | TES: Daggerfall recreated in the Unity engine with tons of improvements (Download the base game from here) | ??? |
| Solarus Games | Game engine for making Zelda-like games w/ many completed games available on their website | SRC Available |
| Flare | Isometric Diablo-like action-RPG | Creative Commons |
| Dungeon Master CSB | Modern Engine for the 1987 First-person dungeon crawler | ??? |
Adventure
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Beneath a Steel Sky | Classic point’n’click with great art and voice talent - Available in most distro’s repos | Source Available |
| ScummVM’s Freeware Games | Fantastic point’n’click games here, my favorite being Dreamweb | ??? |
| Aye Fair Lady | Point’n’click combined with a musical | No |
| Heroine’s Quest | Excellent Point’n’Click/RPG hybrid inspired by the Quest for Glory series from Sierra | No |
| Black Sect 2 | 1st-person dungeon mystery game where you play as a monk investigating a crypt | No |
| Space Quest II Remake | Excellent VGA remake of SQ2 with voice acting, now available for Linux! | No |
Strategy
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| FreeCiv | Sid Meier’s Civilization II Clone | GPL |
| FreeCol | Sid Meier’s Colonization Clone | GPL |
| UnCiv | Civlilization 5 style empire buillder | MPL 2.0 |
| FreeOrion | Master of Orion Clone | GPL |
| OpenRA | Modern engine for C&C: Red Alert, Tiberian Sun, and Dune 2000 | GPL |
| Tanks of Freedom | Turn-based strategy, similar to Advance Wars on the GBA | MIT |
| The Battle For Wesnoth | Turn-based fantasy RPG/Strategy hybrid | GPL |
| Hedgewars | Worms Clone | GPL |
| Argentum Age | Fantasy collectable card game | GPL |
| Wyrmsun | Warcraft II-like RTS | GPL |
| 0 A.D. | Superb 3D RTS, professional grade (Not suitable for weak PC) | GPL |
| Total Annihilation Prime | Fan-made prequel to the 1999 RTS Total Annihilation | GPL |
| Zero-K | Polished RTS with multiplayer support, available on Steam | GPL |
| Warzone 2100 | RTS that has campaign, multiplayer & singleplayer skirmish modes | GPL |
| Thrive | Game about the evolution of life | GPL |
| Scorched 3D | Turn-based & real-time artillery strategy game | GPL |
| UFO2000 | X-Com-like with Multiplayer functionality | SRC Available |
| UFO: Alien Invasion | Turn-based tactical combat inspired by X-Com | SRC Available |
| OpenApoc | Open-source implementation of X-Com 3: Apocalypse | GPLv3 |
| The Fertile Crescent | RTS set during the Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East. Manage a delicate balance between food surplus and the maintenance of your army - Multiplayer mode available | No |
| TripleA | Turn-based strategy and board game engine inspired by Axis & Allies or Risk | GPL |
| Star Ruler 2 | Turn-based 4X/RTS Strategy space colonization game - This is a commercial game that was open-sourced, you must compile the game from source code to obtain it for free. Consider buying it on Steam or GOG to support the devs | MIT & CC-BY-NC |
| Beyond All Reason | Open-source remake of Total Annihilation, a Sci-fi RTS | GPL & CC-BY-SA |
Side Scroller
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Sealed Bite | Game-Jam platformer with nice pixel art | CC-BY-NC-ND |
| Mr. Rescue | Rescuing people from burning buildings while putting out fires | CC-BY-SA |
| Sienna | Fun runner/platformer | CC-BY-SA |
| Super Tux | Super Mario Clone - currently in need of help | GPL |
| Hurrican | 2D Platformer Shooter Inspired by Turrican - Mostly forgotten | SRC Available |
| Abuse | Commercial 2D shooter turned Public Domain | SRC Available |
| Frogatto & Friends | Platformer with great music and graphics. Available in Debian/Ubuntu repos | No |
| Commander Keen 4 | New engine for classic DOS-era platformer | GPL |
| OpenClonk | Commercial 2D Mining game turned freeware, very unique, multiplayer | ISC |
| Mari0 | Mario, but with Portals! | SRC Available |
| Cave Story | Charming platformer, one of the first big indie hits | No |
| VVVVVV | retro platformer w/ level editor | SRC Available |
| Spelunky Classic | Roguelite platformer | No |
| OpenSurge | Sonic the Hedgehog clone with Level editor | GPL |
| Lost Constellation | Travel into the frozen woods in a folktale from the world of Night In The Woods | No |
| Himno | Peaceful 2D platformer game with an infinite number of beautiful procedurally generated maps | No |
City Builder/Tycoon
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| OpenTTD | Clone of Transport Tycoon Deluxe | GPL |
| Unknown Horizons | Village builder inspired by the Anno series | GPL |
| Widelands | Settlers clone | GPL |
| Simutrans | Transportation simulator clone with multiplayer ability | SRC Available |
| Mindustry | Factory builder / Tower Defense hybrid | GPL |
| Terra Nil | Relaxing city builder about ecosystem reconstruction | No |
| Arcane Fortune | Inspired by Civilization, SimCity and Dwarf Fortress, Arcane Fortune is a game of empire building, diplomacy, conquest, construction, and deconstruction. Whether or not you build a utopia, or a hell on earth is entirely up to you | AGPL |
MMO
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzom | Open-source MMO with a unique world [Free-to-Play] | Affero GPL |
| Isleward | Browser-based MMO Roguelike that’s moddable & open-source! | LGPL |
Roguelikes
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Dwarf Fortress | Famous RL that has both a City-builder/management sim mode, as well as a more traditional RL experience in adventurer mode (you can even visit the ruins of fortresses you’ve built in the sim mode) | No |
| Roguebox Adventures | Graphical RL with focus on survival | GPL |
| Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead | Unique zombie survival RL that’s quite thrilling to play | CC BY-SA |
| UnReal World | Crazy In-depth survival-sim RL based in iron age Finland | No |
| Dungeon Crawl Soup | Fairly standard RL to find the Orb of Zot | No |
| NetHack | Dungeon crawler RL continually updated since 1987 | N-GPL |
| Brogue | RL distilled to fundamentals, terminal-like UI | No? |
| Tales of Maj’Eyal (ToME) | Very polished graphical-heavy RL/RPG | GPL |
| ASCII Sector | Excellent RL Demake of Wing Commander Privateer | No |
| ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery) | Extremely polished graphical RL with multiplayer | No |
| DoomRL | DOOM, but as a Roguelike! | No |
| Sil & Angband | Tolkien Roguelikes | SRC Available |
| Pixel Dungeon | RL with a nice pixel-art | GPL |
| HyperRogue | RL built on a mathematically rigorous hyperbolic surface, with an infinite and space-bending world | GPL |
| Basingstoke | Uniquely free to Linux users only. A tense roguelike that mixes stealth and arcade action. Explore the smouldering ruins of apocalyptic Basingstoke, UK, a world of extreme peril where reanimated undead and ferocious alien monsters roam! | No? |
Space Sim/Trader
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Ur-Quan Masters | Updated version of Star Control II. Be sure to get the Voice Pack! (Alternative HD version available here) | SRC Available |
| Endless Sky | 2D space trading/combat game similar to Escape Velocity | GPL |
| Oolite | Elite remake, huge mod support | SRC Available |
| Pioneer | Frontier: Elite II Remake | GPL & CC BY-SA |
| Naev | Space exploration, trade and combat | ??? |
| Race Into Space | Re-implementation of 1989’s Liftoff! | GPL |
Puzzle
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| FloboPuyo | PuyoPuyo Clone | SRC Available |
| Frozen Bubble | Puzzle Bobble Clone with level editor & multiplayer | GPL |
| Duck Marines | Chu Chu Rocket Clone | Multi-License |
| Pingus | Lemmings Clone | SRC Available |
| Portable Puzzle Collection | 39 Old-school puzzle games | MIT |
| Blockout2 | 3D Tetris-like Game | GPL |
| Enigma | Inspired by Oxyd on the Atari ST and Rock’n’Roll on the Amiga - The object of the game is to find uncover pairs of identically colored Oxyd stones | GPL |
| Lix | Action-puzzle game inspired by Lemmings with over 700 levels, multiplayer, and a level editor | CC0 Public Domain |
Arcade / 2D
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| AstroMenace | Hardcore 3D space scroll-shooter with spaceship upgrade possibilities | GPL |
| Leapoundary | Arcade-y Puzzle Shooter | SRC Available |
| SSVOpenHexagon | Super Hexagon Clone | AFL |
| LBreakout2 | Breakout Clone | Source Available |
| Witch Blast | Binding of Isaac Clone | GPL |
| TeeWorlds | Online 2D shooter | CC BY-SA |
| OpenTyrian | Polished Shmup with excellent visuals and music | SRC Available |
| Kobo Deluxe | 8-Way space shooter | SRC Available |
| Altitude | 2D online plane combat | No |
| Liero | Real-time Worms | SRC Available |
| Frets on Fire | Guitar Hero clone | GPL |
| Eat the Whistle | Sensible Soccer Clone | GPL |
| NeverBall | Super Monkey Ball Clone | GPL |
| NeverPutt | Mini-Golf with hot-seat multiplayer | GPL |
| Shootout Inc | If Hotline Miami and SuperHot had a baby, this would be the result. Also check out Super Hotline | No |
| Hammer Dongers | 4-Player top-down party game | No |
| C-Dogs SDL | a classic overhead run-and-gun from the DOS era updated for modern systems, supports up to 4 players in co-op and deathmatch modes - Installer Downloads | GPL |
Racing
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| SuperTuxKart | 3D Kart Racer, similar to e.g. Mario Kart | Multi-License |
| Yorg | Top-down racer in the Micro Machine’s style | No |
| Speed Dreams | Realistic racing sim | SRC Available |
| Max Downforce | F1 style arcade racing game inspired by Pole Position | SRC Available |
| Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart | Mario Kart style racer with characters from Sonic the Hedgehog | GPL |
| Pixel Wheels | Top-down 2D Racer similar to Micro Machines | CC BY-SA |
Stealth
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| The Dark Mod | Incredible Fan-made spin-off of the Thief series using the Doom 3 Engine (Not suitable for weak PC) | GPL, BSD & CC BY-NC-SA |
Sandbox
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Minetest | Minecraft clone written in C++ instead of Java for better performance. Base game is purposefully lacking in features, instead relying on mods from the community to flesh out the experience | CC BY-SA |
| TrueCraft | Clean-room implementation of Minecraft 1.7.3 | MIT |
| PyCraft | 2D Terraria-like ASCII game played in the terminal | GPLv2 |
| The Powder Toy | Complete physics and material simulaton sandbox in a 2D environment | GPLv3 |
Surreal
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Orchids to Dust | Wandering alone on strange worlds | No |
| Off-Peak | Searching for a ticket in a head-trippy world | No |
| Emily is Away | Branching narrative in an online chat | No |
| CHYRZA | First-person flash-fiction horror story, explore a surreal desert while collecting fragments of a memoir | No |
| Dagdrom | Weird and colorful platformer thing | No |
| Naut | Explore mars in a convertible - Short little exploring game | No |
| Leive-Oma | Walk through the woods with your grandma | No |
| No Players Online | Short psychological horror | No |
| Out of The Game | The self claimed ‘Inception’ of video games | No |
| Sacramento | Explore a watercolor world | No |
| David Lynch Teaches Typing | It’s exactly what it sounds like | No |
| A Museum of Dubious Splendors | Explore a storybook from the world of Somewhere. A visual feast for the eyes | No |
Vehicle Combat
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Warthunder | WWII to Cold War Multiplayer Dogfighter/Tanker/Warship Sim (Not suitable for weak PC) [Free-to-Play] | No |
MOBA
| Name | Description | Open Source? |
|---|---|---|
| Dota 2 | Valve’s entry into the MOBA genre, with native Linux support [Free-to-Play] | No |
MS-DOS
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Archive.org | Archive.org has uploaded over 6000 MS-DOS games to their library for future preservation, all fully playable for free right in your browser! |
Let us know when the ultimate list is ready.
@PoorPocketsMcNewHold @str82L
Thank you very much 🤗️Did you mean to include a link to this website?, If so, I added it to the top of the list in the other references.
That’s an incredible feat of cataloging, and blows my efforts out of the water. Hats off to them!
Lol yeah I don’t think OP knows what penultimate means.
It may have been the ultimate list 4 years ago, but I haven’t updated it in so long I would’ve been embarrassed to call it the ultimate now :p
Well, if you only plan to do one more, this could actually be the penultimate list. But if this is the last one, then the previous one would have been penultimate.
Mind you, I’m 100% okay with using penultimate to mean second best, instead of the actual definition as next to last. It makes sense as a non standard/slang usage, since the last is often the best (depending on the list, of course, but most save the best for last). It’s a good play on the way we use ultimate as both final/last as well as best.
One of these days, the dictionaries will catch up to this usage and it’ll become a standard usage, so you’re getting in on the penultimate use of penultimate as slang, in a way :)
Mind you, I’m 100% okay with using penultimate to mean second best,
That was my intended use of the word, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I fully misread the little info blurb in my search engine, which led me to believe I was using it appropriately 😅
I thought it said: a formal or literary way of saying it is not a superlative or beyond ultimate, as many people think.
…I didn’t notice the period after ‘it’ (or the double ‘it’). But the sentence right after that one is really the pièce de résistance! 🤌
But I very much appreciate your charitable view on my fumble.
Well hell, that’s just as cool as using a word in a fun way. You looked it up and just got steered wrong by difficult typesetting. My dyslexic ass would have gotten the same impression as you if I had to scan that on my own and come out with a definition.
I like where you went with your take. We collectively could probably stand to be more flexible like that
I feel that :)
A living language is going to shift. It’s inevitable. It’s necessary to hold a formal version of a language for important things for sure, but for every day conversation, pedantry is just silly. Not only can we never expect everyone to know every word and every usage of every word, mistakes happen. It’s a very human thing to pick up a word and never run across a formal definition for it, and that’s okay.
It’s easy enough to offer a formal definition if there’s a misunderstanding, to get everyone on the same wavelength. But if everyone gets the intended gist, why get all het up? Communication should be fun and engaging, not a battle over semantics and usage.
Good list. Covering many different categories. Have found every game I thought of. I like that the roguelikes listed are the actual, “classic” roguelikes. What I don’t like: inclusion of the games that cost money to play (via in-game purchases). These should be at least marked as such, pretending they are free is not OK.
Back when I created this list, I had the mindset that if I did include a game with the a Free to Play monetary model, it would only be eligible if it was absolutely not Pay to Win, and if it was possible to have a lot of fun without and be on a fully equal playing field spending a dime.
Looking over the list again, I think you’re right in that a couple titles (runescape, eledivin, and argueably EVE online) really don’t meet that criteria.
However, I think others such as CS:GO, TF2, and War Thunder still deserve a spot on the list, as you’re still experiencing the full game with no disadvantage without spending anything.
But I will remove those titles and put Free To Play in the description of the others.
Since you have Team Fortress 2 Classic im going to share Open Fortress
Awesome suggestion! Added! :D
The space sim lidt seems to be missing Vega Strike.
Dang, I remember playing that when I was 14 or so. Surprised to see it’s still being developed. Looking at gameplay of the latest release… It still looks awfully janky still. Does it play well nowadays?
Been a long time since I played it myself, but it was my first introduction to space sims.
Development of the game picked up again just a year or so ago, after a long time of hiatus.
Yeah, the game looked nice over 15 years ago, but the graphics haven’t updated at all, so the visuals are incredibly dated. Gameplay is still quite solid, though, and the background simulation aspect of the game is still on-par with Elite Dangerous, so I’d say it’s a pretty good choice if someone is looking for a FOSS space sim.
Though I mention the monetary aspect, it doesn’t mean I’m not fully aware of and advocate for the FOSS philosophy. I would’ve thought going to the extra effort of finding out what software license each and every title used, along with a direct link to the source code (which in some cases was not trivial to find) would’ve made that much obvious.
I would’ve thought … would’ve made that much obvious.
Using the word “free” to refer to proprietary games in a GNU/Linux context is a huge indicator of a lack of awareness. I wouldn’t look further.
finding out what software licence each and every title used, along with a direct link to the source code
FYI, the page you linked to isn’t publicly accessible. When I try to look, Reddit demands that I log in and doesn’t present the page content.
Using the word “free” to refer to proprietary games in a GNU/Linux context is a huge indicator of a lack of awareness.
If I’d intended to create a FOSS only list, I would’ve just said FOSS instead of free. I think it’s a little much to expect people to always qualify ‘Free as in beer’ anytime they ever use the word free in a monetary sense in a Linux community. The information needed to determine if a game is FOSS was provided next to each title, it’s not like you’ve been deceived. This was just a little list I put together in hopes to give people who are struggling financially (as many of us are these days) to have more options for fun games they can play with their friends or by themselves, I’m sorry it didn’t meet your standards. 🫤
FYI, the page you linked to isn’t publicly accessible.
I was able to add the list in the body of the lemmy post, the link is no longer required, but unfortunately it’s not federating my action of having removed the post link.
I think it’s a little much to expect people to always qualify ‘Free as in beer’ anytime they ever use the word free in a monetary sense in a Linux community.
That seems really odd to me. I don’t expect people to qualify use of the word free in a montery sense in a Linux community, I expect people to avoid using the word free in a monetary sense entirely. And it doesn’t seem a little much, it seems blindingly obvious if one’s goal is to communicate effectively.
Gross, reddit.
Actually, now that you mention it, I should be able to post it here entirely. I’ll see if I have enough space.
A few personal recommendations here: Xonotic is the most engrossing quake clone I’ve ever played. The gameplay is fabulous and it would run on a potato. Definitely check it out if you like arena shooters.
Also people who bounced off FreeCiv for its somewhat dated mechanics (I believe it’s most similar to Civ 2 in terms of gameplay), might enjoy Unciv. It’s a FOSS porr of Civilization 5 and the last time I played it a few years back it appeared to be almost feature complete in terms of parity with its inspiration.
Lastly nethack is hard as nails and I’ve never been able to finish it. Good game though!
Added UnCiv to the list, thanks for the suggestion! Plays really well on my phone, surprisingly.
Yeah it’s very good. Written in java so Android is a first class citizen but it runs well on desktop too.
They did a really good job with the GUI too.
