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Some open-source games for Linux

In this age we forget where we started. A long time ago most Linux users knew these games, since we didn't have much commercial games. Nowadays you just go to Steam or GOG and you can browse the hundreds of games on Linux.

Here are some nice Linux games, these are totally playable, might be a little bit old for someone's taste, but also worth checking out. These are based mostly what can you found in the Manjaro repository.

For older users this list is probably looks familiar, but there are always new people and this collection is mostly for them. :)

Shoot at the head!

Every since Wolfenstein and Doom, FPS games is the defining genre of video games. Here are some selection of action games (not everything is first person though):

  • Abuse: one of my favorite action-platformer. First few levels more about shooting than jumping, and I like the sci-fi theme and Alien style monsters.
  • Astromenace: old school space shooter, inspired by the arcade, but with much better graphics. It has a story mode where you can customize your ship and upgrade stuff. I remember 10 years ago it was amazing, but now it is probably a little bit dated.
  • Warsow: an arena style multiplayer FPS game, similar to Quake 3, except with a unique graphics style, like in the comics.
  • Xonotic: when Nexuiz become console, proprietary shit (Bad times), Xonotic was born, and become a fun game on its own. And since Unreal Tournament is half dead, Xonotic still the best option for some multiplayer fun!
  • Teeworlds: another multiplayer game, but in 2D and with grappling hook!

Gnome, KDE and other logic games

There are tons of games that comes with some of the main desktop environments, like Gnome, KDE, etc. These are all fun, and most of them are puzzle and logic games, that are suitable for every age. Palapeli is one my favorite, since it tries to emulate real life jigsaw puzzles. You can create your own puzzle from images.

We have many card games, solitaire and its variations, too. And the classics, like chess and go.

Running in the 90s

Sometimes we just want to race. On Linux the oldest and still actively developed racing game is SuperTuxKart, where you can race against famous open source mascots. It has a good enough graphics and it has good gameplay, which matters more, imo.

Strategy games

We have the bigger ones here, like 0 A.D., and Battle for Wesnoth, or Megaglest. But here is also OpenTTD or FreeCiv. All of them are in your distro's repository.

With Open source engines

There are some really big names here, with open source engines, which although needs the original games' artwork and data, most of them are free now, like Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn and Dune 2000. They are perfectly legal to play. Spring is an adaptation of the Total Annihilation engine.

The Dark Mod uses the open source Doom 3 engine to create a Thief-like game.

These are just a few of the best open-source games that you can play on Linux. I urge everyone to check out the repositories. There can be many hidden gems for us.

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