Another week down, plenty of new games have released or been updated and we're about to begin another cycle. Let's have a chat.
With the recent huge Stellaris 2.7 update, we were going to be diving into a fresh multiplayer game with excitement to look at all the new visuals. Sadly though, it appears the latest update has numerous problems that caused all sorts of lag and sync issues. Thankfully, Paradox keep around older versions on Steam you can opt into with the 2.6.x series still working well. Issues aside, Stellaris is such a fantastic RTS overall to sink a great many hours into.
Into the Breach has also been sucking up more time lately, as a small and focused strategy game it's pretty close to perfection. I'm really not surprised it has reviewed so well. Subset Games also continue to tweak the Linux build to ensure it's running smoothly.
Across today though I've been quite sick, so thanks to Stadia I've been able to just sit back and relax with a flawless Assassin's Creed Odyssey experience to just zone-out with. It's nice to have another option if your net is good enough. The developer of firefighting game Embr also sent over a pre-release Stadia key to us, and it's quite amusing. Something to look forward to when it arrives in Early Access next week (no Linux desktop release for now).
I'm also highly jealous of everyone who has a VR kit now that Half-Life: Alyx is available on Linux. Hopefully it's working well, it looks pretty incredible and sounds like Valve did a really fantastic job on it. Half-Life: Alyx has now passed twenty-five thousand user reviews on Steam too!
Additionally, while I've not played it myself, it appears DOOM Eternal became the first game to get the brand new Denuvo Anti-Cheat (different to the DRM). This made it instantly unplayable on Linux under Steam Play Proton. Another thorn in our side. However, according to TechRaptor who spoke to Michail Greshishchev, Product Owner at Denuvo Anti-Cheat they said:
We've been tracking the Proton issue immediately after launch and are committed to delivering a fix soon. This isn't a request coming to us from a publisher or anything like that - we genuinely respect such an enthusiast community and regret introducing this incompatibility on day 1
So at least there's some sort of hope on the horizon about DOOM Eternal single-player working again on Linux under Proton.
Quick tip for parents: currently on Steam the LEGO NINJAGO game is 100% off making it free to keep, seems to work well in Steam Play proton. That deal will last until May 22.
Over to you in the comments: what have you been gaming on Linux lately?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I just installed Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition that Epic Games Store is giving for freeWait... what? I heard the rumours, but didn't believe they'd actually do it.
...aaaand I don't have enough space to install it. 96Gb. :O That's comfortably bigger than anything else I own: almost three TW3s (plus DLC). Still, it's on my Epic account now (still all free games :D ), and it's not like I haven't played through it before, although the XBox360 version was pretty cut-down compared to PC.
EDIT: In more good news, it turns out Epic has throttled download speeds in the UK. I'm averaging about 300Kbps here. It's going to take about a week to install. I suppose I shouldn't complain when they're giving it away for free, but... :'(
*Heavily influenced by watching the OutsideXbox livestream that afternoon. I'd bought the thing, installed it, and started playing before it had finished.
Last edited by Dunc on 18 May 2020 at 8:44 pm UTC
After saying I'd never played it in the Star Wars Day thread a couple of weeks ago, I gave in* and bought Knights of the Old Republic (and its sequel). I can see why it's considered a classic. It's certainly looking a bit long-in-the-tooth, but the basic gameplay and storytelling still hold up pretty well, 17 years later.
Great games indeed!
Last edited by barab4 on 18 May 2020 at 8:59 am UTC
YourPalMark May 18, 2020
Schattenspiegel May 18, 2020
And for solitary entertainment The Longing and Hob are very interesting titles.
Last edited by Schattenspiegel on 18 May 2020 at 1:21 am UTC
Comandante Ñoñardo May 18, 2020
The game works out of the box, but is veeery bad optimized. I needed an RTX 2060 SUPER for to have more or less 60 FPS at 1080p.
I guess that a DLC is coming based on how the game ended.
I also played with the EPIC client running via Lutris:
--Beyond Two Souls DEMO (Good performance with a GTX 970. But cracked sound, I needed to install XACT),
--Heavy Rain DEMO (with poor performance with a GTX 970)
--Detroit Become Human DEMO that (that crashed with a GTX 970, but worked fine with an RTX 2060 SUPER).
And purchased METRO EXODUS GOLD EDITION on EPIC STORE for 5U$D... And it works out of the box, but I am unable to run the benchmark
If someday Deepsilver release the Linux port, I will buy it again on Steam.
I had my first Remote Play Together session last week, a friend and I played Mother Russia Bleeds. That game is way more fun with a friend. Remote Play Together seems a little flakey. I added some port forwards to my router. No idea if they helped, before my friend failed to connect 100% of the time, now he failed to connect 50% of the time. I guess that's progress.
I've also been playing Thronebreaker on the Switch.
Get well soon Liam.
Ended up playing "Kerbal Space Program" non-stop. :D
SystemShock May 18, 2020
Tried Dead Cells again and found out I no longer suck at it, picked up my character at Black Bridge and finished the game without dying once. This gave me the confidence boost I needed, so I got all the runes and proceeded to unlock and finish all levels, including the free DLC. I even got "What's wrong with these?" achievement by completing the game with the starting shield. Will take a break and then buy a Bad Seed DLC and hunt for more achievements, because I like the game so much.
Now playing System Shock 2 and I am surprised it's so addictive, I think I will finish the game in 4 days straight. It's interesting that the Linux release (wine wrapped) no longer starts for me, and Andrew Eikum from Code Weavers (who packaged this release) recommends Proton these days, which works flawless.
Never played the first game, but read the plot. Waiting for a remaster.
Taking a break from the original Unreal (Proton), which I have fond memories of as a child, and still kinda like it. My progress is about 30% now.
Overall, I am using that 4K display I have to it's maximum, as you can see :D
Last edited by omicron-b on 18 May 2020 at 5:17 am UTC
Video about RvR Roaming
I also tried to continue my Mortal Kombat X story mode playthrough and now after a couple of fights the game repeatedly crashes on a keypress during a cutscene.
So the only thing I have been able to play this weekend is Xenosaga Episode III on the PS2. Splendid game.
After two Razers and a SteelSeries Rival 300, plus a fair amount of non-gaming mice (including Apple mice from my Mac-era), I've got got tell you it's the best mouse ever. The worst I had is the SteelSeries, felt cheap and ended up having the two click buttons rubbing each other which made it uncomfortable to play with. I loved my Razors but let's be honest, they don't look serious enough on a workstation, and they are not tank-built like the MX518. Also each had its own flaw, like the Abyssus' lift distance which was... well... abysmal. The Copperhead from my Quake clanarena days was also not very comfortable, I mainly played claw-grip at the time. On those two I had the same issue with the wheel, which is really tough in the beginning and breaks after a year or two. Their wheels are not meant to be used for everyday computing and that's irritating.
The MX518's Hero sensor is just amazing, best tracking I ever had, and that's coming from a Pixart 3360. I'm impressed.
The Witcher 3 (still! been trying to finish it for weeks)
Feel free to share your experience in the dedicated thread (but beware of spoilers if you are deep in the middle of the game).
Last edited by Shmerl on 18 May 2020 at 6:51 am UTC
appetrosyan May 18, 2020
Sprinkle in some Starcraft ii and Dungeons. I really prefer dungeons, but Starcraft is not a bad either.
rustybroomhandle May 18, 2020
I don't have Doom Eternal m'self, but if anyone's interested, here's a script to downgrade it to the pre-Denuvo-anticheat version.
https://github.com/lpww/doomgrader
Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 18 May 2020 at 7:41 am UTC
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