Time to brew a cup of your favourite and chat in the comments, let's see what GOL readers have been enjoying on their Linux boxes recently.
This week we saw Children of Morta gain official Linux support and wow—what absolutely stunning artwork it has. I'm constantly finding myself just appreciating the detail that went into it. Children of Morta could quite easily be my biggest surprise of this year. Not only that, the introduction with the narration is simply incredible.
Pictured: actual in-game Children of Morta shot on Linux.
I will no doubt have more to say about it in the coming days/weeks. We're also going to have our livestreamer take a look too, so be sure to follow us on Twitch.
We've also been doing a little extra of Drink More Glurp, because it's honestly just hilarious. You control a funny little character, with each stick on a gamepad being an arm and you need to progress through randomized events. Playing it with others is pure joy, as you're all laughing away at how ridiculous it is, which is aplified by it being a hot-seat game so you're all watching or being watched. Do check it out, brilliant game.
I've also done the great distro-hop of 2020, moving over from Manjaro to EndeavourOS. Not only that, I've also moved from the KDE Plasma desktop environment to MATE, so it's been quite a disruptive day. Sometimes, change is just needed. This brings me that little bit closer to a standard Arch Linux install, although I do like my easy install options so EndeavorOS made that quite simple. A little NVIDIA headache aside (nomodeset in GRUB was needed), it's running smoothly now.
Thanks to the Ventoy app, doing it was super simple too since I could just download the ISO and dump it right onto the USB and reboot without any fuss.
MATE is far less flashy than KDE Plasma, but also runs a lot smoother, especially on NVIDIA where Plasma has a lot of rough edges and random slow downs and occasional momentary freezes. As a side effect of the move, it seems my keyboard is also no longer randomly disconnecting so that's a bonus.
Anyway, that's enough Linux distribution talk…
Stuck for something this weekend? There's plenty of deals going on:
- Humble Stores's End of Summer Sale
- GOG's Harvest Sale
- Two Point Hospital free to try for 1 more day, big discount
Over to you in the comments: what have you been gaming on Linux lately? Give over your suggestions on what's hot.
I followed the comments here, to improve BR's performance.
New to the collection in Control, which I've heard good things about and am about to fire up.
This morning I tried Dorfromantik, which is in development on Itch. It's not due for a full release until next year, but what's there is pretty interesting. It's basically a strategy game where you have a deck of land tiles that you place one at a time, and satisfying the requirements given to you adds more tiles to your stack. The object of course is to get as far as you can before you run out of tiles. There's still work to be done on it, but what's there is quite good.
Earlier in the week I finished Spiritfarer. Great game, enjoyable in every aspect except for the windmill. But aside from that one blemish and the fact that I didn't find the ending very satisfying, it was a worthwhile experience. Not a lot of replay value, but that's fine. Not everything needs to be a repeat experience.
(How would this style be called, "chip tunes"?)
Also started playing Beautiful Desolation. That must be the prettiest isometric game I've seen so far. Although it does indeed feel a bit desolate, with some of these large environments having little more to offer than an item or two. So apparently the name says it all.
Gameplay wise it's not quite a true P&C adventure, with actual puzzles being few and far between. Instead it's more a series of fetch or delivery quests, which will open up new locations with new characters that will want another favor before showing the way forward. And while it's got quite the interesting background, there's actually little incentive to go through all that hassle. No big mystery, nothing really at stake, so not sure if I'll make it to the end. Especially with so many games I'm eagerly awaiting right around the corner.
I started into Hitman 1 & 2 after that with the Hitman 2 version in proton. Plays and performs very nicely and tickles all my immersive sim buttons rather well.
I'm hoping also to get some VR going this weekend again, but that will depend on some other chores getting done... So, maybe.
Last edited by yokem55 on 29 August 2020 at 8:46 pm UTC
So I started a game of Children of Morta, and so far it seems really good, though I've barely gotten started with it. I have other things I'd like to tackle from my back catalogue also, and I'm still dabbling with A Short Hike. I have to clear one of them before I start in on something else.
Of course, I also have to get more regular with my ocarina practice if I don't want to get really rusty again, so there's that too.
Dishonored 2 - This time I'm not murdering anyone! I stopped dual-booting not long after purchasing this and am finally getting back to it after a replay of the first one. Runs like a charm once the shader cache is loaded. Can't recall who, but someone helpfully let me know that pre-loading the shader cache would fix the stuttering I was complaining about.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - It's a joyless slog compared to the other two, but I'm going to get through it...because I paid for it, I guess? The action parts are a lot more fun than puzzles. They've gotten lazier and more nonsensical with each sequel.
GTA V - Going to give it another go. The characters are just so damn unlikable and a lot are terrible stereotypes/caricatures that I grimace at every god awful bit of dialog.
Warhammer Online - wine - https://www.returnofreckoning.com - Just had a massive patch. My go to PvP MMORPG fix.
DiRT Rally 2.0 - proton - Doing my regular daily/weekly events and advancing in the career mode. Really nice rally game. Sad that its ruined a bit by so many DLC's.
Last edited by Xpander on 30 August 2020 at 12:05 am UTC
Everspace 2 - (proton): It runs great and the controls and combat feel really good. This could end up a real gem. The studio has said they will have a Linux client on release (there is a GoL article with details). Unless something changes this will be an EA purchase for me.
Mutropolis - (native): A point and click sci-fi adventure. It runs well and has an interesting setting and plot. This one is on my wishlist now for whenever I decide to do a P&C adventure.
Solasta Crown of the Magister - (proton): Solasta is a party based RPG with turn-based combat. It is set in the D&D universe. I absolutely love character design, building, and combat. The writing and story plot are interesting but the dialog is rather cheesy. Unless something changes (like it breaks through proton), I'll be buying this after release and I know it runs well.
Far: Lone Sails - (proton): Far is a side-scrolling realtime management game set in a post apocalyptic world with distinctive stylized art. You operate a large vehicle with multiple compartments. The purpose is to keep the vehicle moving forward which is a lot more challenging at points that it seems. You need to add fuel, release steam pressure, raise and lower wind sails, and similar tasks. Along the way you'll stop to pick up fuel or be stopped by impediments. The impediments are little mini-puzzles that become progressively more difficult. This isn't really my sort of game, but I also spent a lot more time trying it out than I had planned as I just wanted to "get a little farther" before saving and quitting.
Other than that I've been swimming in the insane grind that is Boundless.
Fortunately, thanks to modern roguelike like Pixel Dungeon and Tangledeep I feel ready to take on the more classic one. With that said I've been playing Tales of Maj'eyal for several hours. It's quite fun, not as beautiful as Tangledeep but still intuitive with deeper mechanic.
Been doing a lot of the co-op towers with my brother. Johnny Cage (me) and Scorpion (bro) racking up and getting some great loot. We also took part in some small tournies that the discord setup. I came in 5th place, bro came in 3rd. My wife is learning Sonia Blade now that she finished the story mode on her own. She was a huge fan of MK from 1 to UMK3 and use to run with Kitana and Noob. Great to see her get off of MK2 (her fave) and try something new.
Mable And The Wood - GOG
Exploring more metroidvania games since I had great experience with Sundered after some ppl recommended it to me. So far I'm digging it and I got my 3rd form.
Tekken Dark Resurrection - PPSSPP
Taking a long break from Tekken 7. I reached Tekken God Prime. Still love Tekken so this one is a perfect fit for some online matches with a good small group of ppl. I got a few friends get it up and working and almost no lag with the exception of some ppl very far away. Main Nina now but in the arcade I rocked Heihachi.
Last edited by Mezron on 30 August 2020 at 7:03 am UTC
Anyway, in the past week I started playing Nier: Automata that works very well and seems a good game.
Children of Morta - Didn't play that much but like it so far and friends love it so will certainly continue..
Spiritfarer - Also only a little further from last week but I love it. Will be me once or twice a week relaxation game for the next time.
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