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Primordia, a popular point and click adventure created by Wormwood Studios and originally released in 2012 has officially been released natively for Linux. The developer also previously released their newest title Strangeland for Linux recently.

"Set in a post-apocalyptic world strewn with cast-off machines, Primordia tells the story of Horatio Nullbuilt, a stoic robot who values his solitude and independence. Horatio spends his days studying the Book of Man, sparring with his droid companion Crispin, and tinkering with the airship they call home — a peaceful existence that becomes threatened when a rogue robot steals the energy source that the pair needs to survive."

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Features:

  • An epic storyline about the extinction of the human race
  • Voiceover work starring fan favorite Logan Cunningham
  • Gorgeous post-apocalyptic setting
  • Optional puzzles - learn more about the world the more you play

In the release announcement they said:

After many years, we are very pleased to finally release a native MacOS and Linux versions of Primordia. The Windows version has had nine years for us to squash bugs, while the Mac and Linux releases are fresh out of the oven, so if you hit any snags, please let us know as a comment to this post or on the message board, and we will work quickly to address them. In the meanwhile, we hope new players will enjoy playing the game natively!

You can buy it on GOG and Steam. Although at time of writing GOG do not yet have the Linux build.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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19 comments

Eike Aug 30, 2021
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YES!
Heard very good things about it!
And the developers are the kind of people that want to offer their games to as many people as possible and are porting for this reason.


Last edited by Eike on 30 August 2021 at 8:20 am UTC
Gamewitch Aug 30, 2021
Oh man I played most the way through Primordia on a friends machine years ago. So glad to see it get a official native release.

You could get it to run on Linux by pulling out the AGS scripts and the game assets and get it to work on Linux with the normal AGS Studio builds but it was known to have bugs when doing that.
Cyril Aug 30, 2021
Wonderful, can't wait to try the native version as I already have the Windows version from GOG.
But I'm wondering, what is the difference between this new Linux release and the old one?


Last edited by Cyril on 30 August 2021 at 9:15 am UTC
Eike Aug 30, 2021
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Quoting: CyrilWonderful, can't wait to try the native version as I already have the Windows version from GOG.
But I'm wondering, what is the difference between this new Linux release and the old one?

As far as I know, they just couldn't upload it to Steam until now.
Cyril Aug 30, 2021
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: CyrilWonderful, can't wait to try the native version as I already have the Windows version from GOG.
But I'm wondering, what is the difference between this new Linux release and the old one?

As far as I know, they just couldn't upload it to Steam until now.

OK but the old ones Linux/macOS are available on GOG but the store only say Windows support...
PublicNuisance Aug 30, 2021
GOG may not have this newest build but it does have a Linux build. According to my system it's been sitting on my game drive since 2019 and it's a GOG installer. Hopefully it gets the new build soon.
flesk Aug 30, 2021
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According to one of the developers (writer and designer), the old Linux version on GOG used "GOG's proprietary wrapper":

https://steamcommunity.com/app/227000/discussions/0/864969320489551561/?ctp=5#c530646080848689947

... whatever that means. Possibly just a Linux native AGS binary, or maybe an AppImage with Wine?
hatniX Aug 30, 2021
Quoting: fleskAccording to one of the developers (writer and designer), the old Linux version on GOG used "GOG's proprietary wrapper":

https://steamcommunity.com/app/227000/discussions/0/864969320489551561/?ctp=5#c530646080848689947

... whatever that means. Possibly just a Linux native AGS binary, or maybe an AppImage with Wine?

It's a native AGS build on GOG, actually.

I know that GOG made their own native builds for WadjetEye's Blackwell 4 und 5 (Dave Gilbert, aka. Mr. WadjetEye Games, confirmed that during a livestream). So my guess is that they did it for Primordia, too.
no_information_here Aug 30, 2021
Great game.

I also have the old Linux build from GOG. Glad to see it getting updated and put on Steam. Worth playing for any retro point-and-click fan.
Nezchan Aug 30, 2021
This was one of the last games I played before ditching Windows 7 to come back to Linux again. It's a true gem in the point and click genre, with puzzles that make sense, quality story and voice acting, and -- most amazing of all -- a smart-mouthed companion that doesn't make you want to beat it to death with a sledgehammer.

Highly recommended.
crabel Aug 30, 2021
Fantastic game and really the nicest, helpful and humble developers out there.

The story of the game is pretty awesome and really well thought out. Even the names of the robots are well thought out, I mean, Nullbuilt really means something. If you like point&click adventures, I can really recommend it. If you don't, but like a good story, then grab a walkthrough and enjoy the writing.
Eike Aug 30, 2021
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I grabbed the game and it seems the port is not quite there. Got problems with mouse movement and stuff. But I'll happily wait for fixes (like they did for Strangeland for Linux problems), and/or, as an exception to my rules, play with Proton (whichever comes first ;) ).
damarrin Aug 30, 2021
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I don't think the native version is up on Steam yet, as I launch it always says it's going to run through Steam Play, even though I have Steam Linux Runtime selected in compatibility.
whizse Aug 30, 2021
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Quoting: damarrinI don't think the native version is up on Steam yet, as I launch it always says it's going to run through Steam Play, even though I have Steam Linux Runtime selected in compatibility.
That's odd. It does download the native version here.

Annoyingly, it also downloads the Windows .exe. All 978 MB of it... - Oh, so that file doubles as the data file for the game. Sneaky!


Last edited by whizse on 30 August 2021 at 8:54 pm UTC
flesk Aug 30, 2021
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I'm playing the Linux native version on Steam now, so it's definitely there. Might be that it's necessary to force downloading of the Linux version by choosing to play with a specific version of the Linux runtime or something, as mentioned in other articles here on GOL (I don't remember the details). Choosing "Windowed mode" on launch seems to give me the best experience, after pressing Alt+Enter to run in a fullscreen window. There are occasional issues with dialogue showing both on the top and bottom of the screen though.
damarrin Aug 31, 2021
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It certainly needs work. The little steam window says "Play Primordia" and "Play Windowed". If I choose the former, there's no sound and the game crashes to the desktop when I click start game. The latter option works ok, but the game runs in a window. Alt-Enter fixes that.

I'm still not sure if I'm running the native version or not.


Last edited by damarrin on 31 August 2021 at 5:44 am UTC
Eike Aug 31, 2021
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This needs to be quoted:
QuoteI can include Mark Yohalem (our writer) and Victor Pflug (our artist) and Nathaniel Chambers (music) and everyone at Wadjet Eye Games and everyone that is a part of this game, that we're doing this because you guys support us back.
Eike Aug 31, 2021
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Quoting: damarrinIt certainly needs work. The little steam window says "Play Primordia" and "Play Windowed". If I choose the former, there's no sound and the game crashes to the desktop when I click start game. The latter option works ok, but the game runs in a window. Alt-Enter fixes that.

I'm still not sure if I'm running the native version or not.

They had the "problem" that the game was among the Proton white listed games. They made Valve fix this now. The other problems also seem to be gone for me.
kokoko3k Aug 31, 2021
https://steamcommunity.com/app/227000/eventcomments/3032599335595986422/?ctp=4
QuoteI can include Mark Yohalem (our writer) and Victor Pflug (our artist) and Nathaniel Chambers (music) and everyone at Wadjet Eye Games and everyone that is a part of this game, that we're doing this because you guys support us back.
...sooo nice.
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