Without any warning, Eleventh Hour Games have completely dropped support for and completely removed the Native Linux version of Last Epoch.
Initially, the patch notes didn't even mention Linux at all, but were later updated with the Steam Deck section expanded to include the notice. In the changelog they state "We’re no longer building a native Linux client and recommend Linux players use Proton on Linux which provides a much better experience".
For people who purchased specifically because it was advertised and sold on having a Native Linux version, it's not great and their communication after the fact is not a good look either. That said, Valve's Proton often really does offer a better experience. A lot of the time because of various game engine issues and/or just not a lot of time spent improving the Linux version. So Linux desktop and Steam Deck players can thankfully still play the game. From what I've seen, many players were already using Proton for it due to various problems.
The game currently has a Steam Deck Playable rating with Proton 9.
As for their promised Steam Deck improvements, they have now added UI scaling options with the latest update. However, a recent announcement noted they've pushed back some other changes as they "feel it’s important that when we say we are Steam Deck verified, players can trust that the experience they will receive on the Steam Deck is up to snuff with our expectations for player experience". So more to come there in future.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
That said, in my experience, native versions are unfortunately almost always worse: missing features, worse performance, slower updates etc.
Last edited by rea987 on 20 September 2024 at 9:10 am UTC
soulsource Sep 20
Let me guess, Unreal Engine?
PublicNuisance Sep 20
Quoting: soulsourceWithout knowing anything about the game:
Let me guess, Unreal Engine?
Unity from what I could find.
Quoting: PublicNuisanceThen, sorry, but I can understand them. Supporting Unity linux builds is a nightmare to no gain.Quoting: soulsourceWithout knowing anything about the game:
Let me guess, Unreal Engine?
Unity from what I could find.
However, they could still provide an old Linux build as beta for those who are stubborn about "native" builds.
Still should have been communicated a bit better before it happened though.
Quoting: PublicNuisanceQuoting: soulsourceWithout knowing anything about the game:
Let me guess, Unreal Engine?
Unity from what I could find.
This is correct. I personally recommend PCGamingWiki for this information. And AugmentedSteam extension for Firefox to get a sidebar link on Steam Store pages (not in the Steam app though).
Quoting: constQuoting: PublicNuisanceThen, sorry, but I can understand them. Supporting Unity linux builds is a nightmare to no gain.Quoting: soulsourceWithout knowing anything about the game:
Let me guess, Unreal Engine?
Unity from what I could find.
However, they could still provide an old Linux build as beta for those who are stubborn about "native" builds.
I like the idea of having it as a Steam Beta. But I fear from the developers perspective that is again little gain and the risk of extra maintenance - extra issue reporting burden (or tolerating complaints from entitled players) from users of an unsupported build. I guess Rocket League is an example of a game where the old Linux version was left available though - so at least sometimes it isn't that foreign of an idea.
Quoting: KandarihuWell, I'm mad about this. I bought this based on there being native support. They took that away. Also, there are plenty of people who have horrid performance on Proton, no matter which version they try. I, for one, don't even want to try. If they've been having problems with maintaining the Linux version under Unity, they obviously need help. But dropping it altogether without warning just isn't honest.
Getting help is more complicated and more costly for them, I'd guess, than switching to maintaining the Proton compatibility instead. But yeah, poor communication on their part.
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