I thought this game was well known but I haven’t seen almost any mentions of it recently. It’s very weird for a FOSS enthusiast not to advertise one of the best open-source games of all time so here I am trying to make it spoken about again.
Disclaimer: this game may be addictive for some individuals. Player discretion is advised. If you notice any symptoms of addiction while and/or after playing the game, stop playing immediately and consult with your doctor. Untreated gaming addiction may result in severe consequences such as digestive disorders, social behavioral disorders, loss of job, and depression.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead! I don’t recommend it on mobile unless you have no other choice (I’m largely not a fan of mobile games anyway though) but it’s amazing on desktop. If you can get past the simple graphics (like dwarf fortress it hss ASCII graphics, but you can easily get different tile sets to add graphics for everything), it’s an amazing game with a ton of content.
It’s a zombie survival rogue-like game, you don’t gain skills or anything between runs (you can unlock different scenarios and professions though, or just unlock them all from the settings), but you do gain your own experience. You can have a character for hours, then die and make a new one that dies in 5 minutes, etc. Save scum if you want, but the whole point is to let your characters die and try something new (I save scum on longer-running characters when I run into new mechanics or monsters but that’s it). When I say there is a ton to do, I mean it. People have added (and continue to add) a ton of content, and mostly with a focus on making interaction as realistic as possible.
Want to kill zombies with traps? They can start with a basic tripwire to trip zombies to slow them down and alert you, and go up to mechanized blade traps that cut them in half quickly.
Want to do a stealthy run? For melee, the Ninjutsu martial art has silent attacks and makes you walk quieter. For ranged, bows and crossbows are quiet (and can be made quieter with mods that reduce bow-string noise), but you’ll want to make your own arrows eventually - and you can!
Want some transportation? Cars! Plenty of broken ones scattered in cities and towns - decent amount that still work too. There’s gas, diesel, electric, hybrid, and several other kinds of vehicles. You can train up your mechanics skill (or start with a high mech skill, if you want) for replacing/repairing parts, adding onto to existing cars, or even assembling them from scratch. Got something you don’t know how to kill? A random car you find driving 40+ mph works wonders for turning problems into smears.
Want to eat just candy and junk food? Your character will eventually get to varying levels of overweight which reduces your stamina and speed. Don’t eat enough calories? Become skinny, decreasing your strength and health. It’s not hard to eat balanced, but it is something to keep in mind.
Find too many things you’re trying to bring back to your car or base? Find a shopping cart (or my preferred item mover - industrial trash cans) and load items up, much easier to move more and heavier things in a single trip can even mount your shopping carts and trash cans to a car with bike racks so you can bring them with. Can also weld baskets or install trash cans in/on cars to increase your storage area.
Want to do colony survival? You can recruit NPCs you find in the world and make a compound.
Farming? Yep. Brewing/distilling? Yep. Magic? There’s a mod for that. Loony-toons esque killing a big scary zombie with an anvil (or other heavy object)? Just put one on the roof and push it over the edge. Guns? Whole stores of them. Fire? I like lighting 2 story houses on fire, they make a ton of noise and draw in all the nearby zombies, then the falling debris and fire kill them.