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@PerfectDark@lemmy.world

Some of Android's Most Interesting Games Aren't on the Play Store

2026-06-20 11:03 UTC

I just thought it might be fun to write up a very little article recommending three of the free and open-source games I tried and loved from F-droid! Not only do I spend a ton of time on Android systems because I review retro handhelds, but I also enjoy exploring the more unusual corners of the platform, especially when they involve open-source software and games. I’m a daily user of F-droid (and have convinced my whole family to do the same), and turning my attention to the gaming side of things seemed a fun idea for an article. In this one I try and show off three games: Breakout 71 Shattered Pixel Dungeon AAAAXY Read on if you’re looking for fun F-droid games you can control easily (which itself is a damn miracle) with the on-screen touch controls. gardinerbryant.com/some-of-androids-most-interest… And if you’ve got any recommendations, I’d love to hear them!

Replies (15)

  • Author’s note: I’ve had plenty of people let me know that these games are in fact available on Google’s own Play Store. Oh the irony. Rather than edit the whole angle of this article, I’ll just say that this is quite funny. Since Google’s Play Store is such a little part of my life (I never use it outside of emulation/retro handheld reviews), that totally passed me by. All my apologies for not checking things better before posting this one! That is 100% on me. Instead try to read over it with an angle of “…you’re better to play these from F-droid than Play Store”…! Oh, okay. So basically this was just something they shit out and published without due diligence. Why share this, then?

    Open ##3444753

  • [@PerfectDark](https://lemmy.world/u/PerfectDark) Here are some that I've found on F-Droid. I don't know if they're on the Play Store, though. \* Vector Pinball: an oldy, but a goody. \* PipePanic: a Pipe Dreams clone. \* FlowIt!: color in all the squares. It's harder than it sound. \* Ball2Box: get the ball through the obstacles, and into the box. \* IED: Minesweeper, but in 3D. Made with the Godot Engine. \* Gurgle: a Wordle clone. \* Roboyard: Move the robots around a maze to where they need to go.

    Open ##3687425

  • Shattered Pixel Dungeon is SO good. It's horrendously difficult early on because you don't know what you're doing, but once you got a grasp it's so fun.

    Open ##3687432

  • @bryndos@fedia.io 2026-06-21 09:09

    unciv and mindustry maybe the most polished i've played on f-droid. they're probably on play store too idk. pixel wheels is ok, but controls finicky - there's one lap record that i just cant get, but i'm sure on a keyboard i could.

    Open ##3687439

  • @thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 2026-06-20 18:48

    The title of this post on Lemmy is wrong! The "Just" part is missing. Original blog post title is "Some of Android's Most Interesting Games Aren't **Just** on the Play Store". My guess is, it was edited after posting here? That's why some people pointed out the games are available on Play Store as well.

    Open ##3687440

  • @Hiro8811@lemmy.world 2026-06-21 08:02

    Mindustry is really cool

    Open ##3687445

  • @warmaster@lemmy.world 2026-06-20 13:56

    What a wonderful, original and well written post, a truly great read, thanks a lot for writing and sharing it. I use Lemuroid, it's freaking great. I'll try Mindustry, which seems to be also available for Linux on Flathub (very convenient). Which begs the question... would you consider writing a post about FOSS games on PC? Flathub is chock-full of great games that would greatly benefit from a little exposure, and it's so vast and diverse that there's a guaranteed varied selection for any genre. It could even span 2 posts: the most popular ones & hidden gems. If they do well, there's also game tools & launchers for games that nobody knows that are playable on the Steam Deck / Steam Machine / Linux. With the imminent release of the Machine, I think these kind of posts would do well. After all, we're talking about free games, 1 click away.

    Open ##3687446

  • @tynansdtm@lemmy.ml 2026-06-20 12:50

    Hoped to find some cool new suggestions, instead I learned about three games I've already got installed. Breakout 71 is absolutely incredible, and at 492 kB(!!) you should install it to your phone, tablet, and floppy disk right now. It's also on the Play store, so you can recommend it to people less concerned with privacy. I think I've played another variant on the open source Pixel Dungeon but after not playing it for many years I uninstalled it because Shattered Pixel Dungeon was actively being developed and it wasn't. I continued to not play it. And I've never opened AAAXY so no opinions there.

    Open ##3687447

  • @Noja@sopuli.xyz 2026-06-21 09:32

    They are on [itch.io](https://itch.io/)

    Open ##3687448

  • I love AAAAXY! Favorite game available on Android.

    Open ##3687450

  • Not sure if exclusive, but Andor's Trail is on F-Droid and really good.

    Open ##3687451

  • @mesamunefire@piefed.social 2026-06-20 15:22

    Space trader is pretty fun. It was origionally for the plam pilot but got ported to andriod. Egyption mouse pounce is a fun card game based on real rules from when i was a kid.

    Open ##3687452

  • @Bazoogle@lemmy.world 2026-06-20 13:35

    I wish there was more, honestly. Not exclusive to FDroid, but Mindustry is probably the best open source game I've played. I enjoyed Breakout71, but once you are just trying to unlock jew apps it gets repetitive and too luck based with getting the upgrades you need

    Open ##3687454

  • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2026-06-20 12:01

    Ahh nice, could do with some decent games. CDDA is a fun one, small screen isn't ideal but its playable on mobile. A keyboard helps.

    Open ##3687455

  • @pasdechance@jlai.lu 2026-06-20 14:41

    Breakout 71 and Shattered Pixel Dungeon are super addictive

    Open ##3687462