Psychonauts 2 from Double Fine Productions and Xbox Game Studios is out now for Windows but the native Linux support has been delayed with no current ETA.
Originally crowdfunded on the Fig website, where Double Fine pulled in close to four million dollars from Fig directly and backers, Linux has been a confirmed platform since day-1. Sadly though, shortly after our last article in an update on Fig they mentioned that Linux (and macOS) would arrive after release which was confirmed again in their Steam FAQ post. Here's what they're currently saying:
We are still working on the Mac and Linux versions of the game. The release date is TBD but we hope to release these versions of the game later in 2021. There is no additional purchase necessary and anyone who purchases the PC version of the game on Steam, GOG, or Humble will also receive Mac and Linux versions.
If you wish to try it with Wine or Steam Play Proton, it won't work out of the box due to reliance on Media Foundation. For users of plain Wine, you'll need to use something like mf-install. However, Steam users can try Proton GE - the community built version of Proton which should work with it. From what we've been told you might need to set it into DirectX 11 mode as a launch option to get around some minor issues by setting -force -dx11. As a reminder though, running it like this is unsupported.
Check out the release trailer:
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- Experience an imaginative, cinematic story that mixes humor and intrigue, brought to you by legendary game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend, Broken Age).
- Explore unique environments using Raz’s ability to dive into people’s brains to battle their inner demons, unlock hidden memories, and resolve their emotional baggage.
- Leap acrobatically through the air, traversing tightropes and trapezes in a varied, challenging, and joyful platforming experience.
- Wield a powerful array of psychic powers to blast, burn and levitate things, or even slow down time itself to solve environmental puzzles and battle strange enemies.
You can buy Psychonauts 2 from Humble Store, GOG and Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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This is exactly why you don't pre-order a game that promises Linux support. There is no guarantee that it will ever be released and you end up paying for something you can't use.
10 Likes, Who?
Arehandoro Aug 25, 2021
I'm looking forward to play the game, but will wait until Linux support is released to buy it in GOG.
3 Likes, Who?
Glad I was sitting down when I read this. MS buy DoubleFine, promise, promise, promise... delayed. I guarantee this will be We Happy Few all over again.
I hate being so cynical, but MS will never change.
I hate being so cynical, but MS will never change.
6 Likes, Who?
Like I said before, this is why I will not crowdfund or preorder. Another game promising Linux support turned eventually/maybe/probably quietly never.
2 Likes, Who?
This is exactly why you don't pre-order a game that promises Linux support. There is no guarantee that it will ever be released and you end up paying for something you can't use.I just don't pre-order digital goods at all. For something physical, like a collector's edition that has very limited quantities, pre-ordering makes sense, but for digital goods it makes no sense. Pre-ordering is taking an unnecessary risk.
4 Likes, Who?
This is exactly why you don't pre-order a game that promises Linux support. There is no guarantee that it will ever be released and you end up paying for something you can't use.
Doublefine, historically, has released linux games before; In fact, I installed the linux version of Psychonauts (the first one) just yesterday. Granted, they weren't owned by Microsoft until recently. But that said, I have no reason not to believe them at this juncture.
3 Likes, Who?
This is exactly why you don't pre-order a gamecorrected that for you there ;)that promises Linux support.
There is never a reason beyond the publisher being anti-consumer to pre-order any digital good
2 Likes, Who?
and Xbox Game Studios
the native Linux support has been delayed with no current ETA.Hmmm . . . now what relationship could these two things possibly have?
5 Likes, Who?
I guess two parties can play this game too. My plan of buying of Psychonauts 2 has been delayed 
If it never actually gets ported I can always pretend that they never made any sequels (https://xkcd.com/566/
If it never actually gets ported I can always pretend that they never made any sequels (https://xkcd.com/566/
3 Likes, Who?
I guess two parties can play this game too. My plan of buying of Psychonauts 2 has been delayed
If it never actually gets ported I can always pretend that they never made any sequels (https://xkcd.com/566/
Loved Alien, and its sequel was AMAZING. Too bad they didn't make any more after that epic film. Game over man. Game over.
2 Likes, Who?
IMHO the absolutely most annoying thing here is not that they didn't deliver on their promise to have Linux and Mac support on launch day but that they've gone and used Media Foundation, which is widely known as one of the last remaining huge issues for Proton, all the more among game developers that have supposedly done at least some preliminary work/research on the Linux and Mac versions of their game and thus should know better.
Which means that they've intentionally used tech that they know is neither portable to Linux and Mac (i.e. they'll need to replace all the WMF stuff in their code before they even think of porting) nor possible to be used with Proton in the meantime, which of course means no playing this on the Steam Deck. If this isn't a deliberate act of sabotaging a competitor, I don't know what it is.
Way to go Tim; and you used to be one of my favorites in the industry. Also, way to go anyone who's still naive enough to believe that today's Microsoft is BFF with Linux.
Actually scratch that, the most annoying thing is that all these crowdfunding platforms like Fig are not subject to common law. In a fairer world this should qualify for a lawsuit against them on grounds of breaking their contract with their funders.
Which means that they've intentionally used tech that they know is neither portable to Linux and Mac (i.e. they'll need to replace all the WMF stuff in their code before they even think of porting) nor possible to be used with Proton in the meantime, which of course means no playing this on the Steam Deck. If this isn't a deliberate act of sabotaging a competitor, I don't know what it is.
Way to go Tim; and you used to be one of my favorites in the industry. Also, way to go anyone who's still naive enough to believe that today's Microsoft is BFF with Linux.
Actually scratch that, the most annoying thing is that all these crowdfunding platforms like Fig are not subject to common law. In a fairer world this should qualify for a lawsuit against them on grounds of breaking their contract with their funders.
0 Likes
Actually scratch that, the most annoying thing is that all these crowdfunding platforms like Fig are not subject to common law.
Actually, there is. Anything you pay for a crowd funding project is a donation that doesn't entitle you to anything in return. And people should really remember that before they open up their wallets.
2 Likes, Who?
Which means that they've intentionally used tech that they know is neither portable to Linux and Mac (i.e. they'll need to replace all the WMF stuff in their code before they even think of porting) nor possible to be used with Proton in the meantime, which of course means no playing this on the Steam Deck. If this isn't a deliberate act of sabotaging a competitor, I don't know what it is.Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. I'd be surprised if this was anything but the usual short shortsightedness that's ubiquitous in game development.
2 Likes, Who?
Actually scratch that, the most annoying thing is that all these crowdfunding platforms like Fig are not subject to common law.
Actually, there is. Anything you pay for a crowd funding project is a donation that doesn't entitle you to anything in return. And people should really remember that before they open up their wallets.
Sure, but what I meant is that the law should change so these crowdfunding platforms become binding like actual contracts. As you said, you're currently not entitled to anything in return as they are considered "donations"; well, IMHO you should be entitled.
Which means that they've intentionally used tech that they know is neither portable to Linux and Mac (i.e. they'll need to replace all the WMF stuff in their code before they even think of porting) nor possible to be used with Proton in the meantime, which of course means no playing this on the Steam Deck. If this isn't a deliberate act of sabotaging a competitor, I don't know what it is.Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. I'd be surprised if this was anything but the usual short shortsightedness that's ubiquitous in game development.
Wise words in most cases, but here we're talking about a company that a) has previously already developed games for Linux and Mac, and b) has just recently been bought by the very company that is both the biggest competitor to Linux and Mac and, as "luck" would have it, the creator and patent holder of the WMF tech.
Also, let's not forget that even if they're just incompetent as developers and they simply never bothered to take Proton into account (which they should have, as an absolute minimum of respect to their customers, as soon as they decided to not have the promised native Linux version out on day 1), this doesn't change the fact that WMF is a Windows-only tech and not portable to other OSes, so this would mean that they've known for a long time that in its planned final state (you probably don't add something like WMF as a last minute decision) their game is Windows-only and can't be published to Linux and Mac as is; so they've been lying to their customers all along that they've been developing all three versions in parallel.
2 Likes, Who?
Which means that they've intentionally used tech that they know is neither portable to Linux and Mac (i.e. they'll need to replace all the WMF stuff in their code before they even think of porting) nor possible to be used with Proton in the meantime, which of course means no playing this on the Steam Deck. If this isn't a deliberate act of sabotaging a competitor, I don't know what it is.Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. I'd be surprised if this was anything but the usual short shortsightedness that's ubiquitous in game development.
Usually, I'd agree. But as has been already pointed out in these comments, DoubleFine have various titles out with full Linux support. They knew what they were doing, then got bought by MS, and I suggest they were simply told to do it this way instead. Or lose their jobs.
Tim (Schafer) seems like a nice dude, but he's always had one eye on the money. First with Fig, then with MS. I suspect the latter has now bitten us. You know, probably because they love us so much...
Last edited by scaine on 26 August 2021 at 12:22 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Not wanting to add any fuel to the fire, but this is a great example to point at why "Proton" is not a good future for gaming. Microsoft will still be dictating the terms of game development, and this kind of scenario is what will happen.I see this in the other way: The reason something like DirectX is closed source is to bind mainstream users to Windows systems, in a way that you're obliged to use MS systems in order to play it. Software like Wine / Proton makes it possible to run those games without a single line of code from MS, which is terrible to their model business.
So if we get in a state where wine / proton can 1:1 with native DirectX, without the need to rely on Windows, then their only choice would be port / open source DirectX, or sabotage using patent protected components Media Foundation, which is the case with this game.
Our problem isn't games being produce with DirectX, is developers purposefully using software that we can't run outside Windows.
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So if we get in a state where wine / proton can 1:1 with native DirectX, without the need to rely on Windows, then their only choice would be port / open source DirectX, or sabotage using patent protected components Media Foundation, which is the case with this game.
Or they release DX13 and we can start all over again. I'm with mirv on this one. Going for DX on proton as the basis for Linux gaming is just keeping Microsoft in control of the pc gaming ecosystem.
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Or they release DX13 and we can start all over again. I'm with mirv on this one. Going for DX on proton as the basis for Linux gaming is just keeping Microsoft in control of the pc gaming ecosystem.It's not so simple to release so this would take some time to happen, and if MS release a brand new version of DirectX with too much changes from their old ones, this could have the opposite effect for them since developers might be afraid of using it.
My point is something like Proton is worse for Microsoft than for Linux gaming, and what I think it really need to happen is Vulkan to become more mature and easier to develop, in a way that developers can rely on without the fear of causing problems they don't know how to fix.
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Not wanting to add any fuel to the fire, but this is a great example to point at why "Proton" is not a good future for gaming. Microsoft will still be dictating the terms of game development, and this kind of scenario is what will happen.That's a point. I mean, if I donate $100 to a charity which says they will give most of it to feed hungry children, and it turns out someone dropped one buck on a hungry child and the rest went to booze and blow, I'll be upset, and might expect repercussions to be possible.
As for crowd funding, I agree that there should be consequences. It looks like the idea was sold under false pretenses: I'm not saying it was, but the appearance is that way, and even for a donation that's unacceptable.
This isn't quite the same, admittedly. But the basic fact of misrepresentation could be.
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The question on this comes down to who can move faster. Traditionally in the old just-Wine days, it always seemed pretty fair to say that chasing taillights was not viable, that MS could always change things faster than the likes of Wine could catch up. If that's the case, a Proton-style strategy is, as mirv and Ehvis say, fundamentally not viable.Or they release DX13 and we can start all over again. I'm with mirv on this one. Going for DX on proton as the basis for Linux gaming is just keeping Microsoft in control of the pc gaming ecosystem.It's not so simple to release so this would take some time to happen, and if MS release a brand new version of DirectX with too much changes from their old ones, this could have the opposite effect for them since developers might be afraid of using it.
My point is something like Proton is worse for Microsoft than for Linux gaming, and what I think it really need to happen is Vulkan to become more mature and easier to develop, in a way that developers can rely on without the fear of causing problems they don't know how to fix.
But I always did kind of wonder if that was perhaps just an artifact of how much each side could throw at the project. And there are constraints on how fast Microsoft can move, both in terms of viable development speed and in terms of how much change they can get customers to swallow. Since Proton and DXVK, it has been looking rather more like with more effort (and money) and more efficient approaches, chasing the taillights is pretty dashed viable, and the Wine/Proton/DXVK/stuff ecosystem can actually move faster than Microsoft can. I am increasingly of the opinion that now, the (not-)emulators can in fact change aim faster than Microsoft can move the target. If that's the case, Proton etc. is a viable strategy (although NOT a long term goal, obviously).
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