Hi everyone! So I just switched to Linux and I am a little unsure of what to play on my laptop.
It’s a presumably decent laptop, 16gb of ram and Iris Xe, but I find that it has battery issues trying to play anything fancy like Skyrim.
I’m looking into things like emulation, finally tackling my Itch.io backlog, and bringing out old classics.
I like RPGs and text-based choose your own adventure games, so if you have any recommendations I’d appreciate it!
Factorio
Factorio might get a bit rough towards the endgame, but I would recommend it as well.
If you’re into automation games Factorio is perfect. I especially love the quality of life functions, everytime I think to myself ‘there has to be a easier way to do this’ I find out that there -in fact- IS a easier way to do it.
Might be a bit off topic here. I really suggest to have a check at https://www.protondb.com/
Many Win-only steam games are performing great on Linux now.
Besides, I’ve played https://vita3k.org/ for a while. There are countless decent old games which can be played via emulators on linux
All Steam Deck verified games should play just fine on that laptop. While Intel Xe graphics are not the greatest, Steam Deck is restricted to 15W and you laptop is not.
Wait, what? Is that why everyone’s recommending steam deck games? I assumed Steam Deck verified games required something like, an okay GPU. Its actually the voltage? That definitely makes my life easier, lmfao.
By the Steam Deck’s site, the verification means that:
- It plays well with the Deck’s inputs
- Can use the Deck’s native resolution or similar (1280x800 or 1280x720) without issues
- It “just works” without having to tinker with the game
- Every component of the game is supported by Proton if running a non-native game
Intel Xe doesn’t seem that bad, specially compared to older Intel GPUs (UHD 630-like). Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’re basically low power versions of Intel Arc. I still don’t think they’re on level with a RDNA 2 GPU like the Deck one.
While it may not exactly match up with the body of your message, I think this would fit the subject line rather well:
…and cataclysm: dark days ahead.
with those two, i can survive indefinitely on (almost) any linux machine.
Mount and blade: Warband
Its on Steam
Absolutely yes, Warband is tons of fun and there’s no other game quite like it. The mods are great too, I’ve put so many hours into Floris and Prophesy of Pendor.
One of my favorite games of ALL TIME.
Into the breach is a pretty underrated game to try out
And FTL. Amazing games. Slay the Spire also great.
And Alina of the Arena. It’s essentially Into the Breach meets Slay the Spire
I’d suggest to check IFDB for the text adventures.
I played this one a number of years back and enjoyed it: Christminster - a sort of ‘whodunnit’ set in an old University college.
Ooh I didn’t know there was a database for interactive fiction! Thank you!
I want to stress that I am NOT liable for any loss of educational opportunities or employment resulting from this discovery ;)
Battle for Wesnoth: open source turn based strategy rpg.
I started playing Wesnoth something like 15 years ago because I was a kid who didn’t have access to ways to pay for games online. I’ve come back to it on-and-off years later - it’s a hell of a game for lasting that long.
If you want an old classic, I’ve been playing rollercoaster tycoon 2 recently and there is an open source engine for it (openrct2) that has native linux compatibility. The controls take some getting used to, But I think that artstyle looks totally amazing.
Or even the first RCT as it’s written in assembly. Can’t get much more efficient than that, even a potato can run it.
I’m also amazed by it. How can you write a full game that looks as good as Rollercoaster Tycoon when you’re shifting bits left and right on the stack? Some kind of wizardry, that’s what.
Even more impressive when you realize it was coded by one dude primarily, crazy stuff.
Garry’s Mod, Super Tux Kart
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Hotline Miami is FOSS??? WOOOOW
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Katana ZERO is an all time fav.
Really looking forward to the second half of the story in the upcoming free update.
Is it coming though? I played it during the first COVID lockdown and it was already supposed to come out soon™
But yeah the first part is more than worth it in itself.
It’s been soon™ for years. The dev has been fairly quiet about it, but popped up now and then on his blog or twitter with new deets.
It was initially supposed to be just a small addition to the game, but has ballooned, and will now nearly double the game’s size when it finally drops. Each time I’ve checked though, there’s been some news.
And when I did just now to get links to the new music and gameplay that I found last time, I just now found out you can try out some new content in the game using a secret beta branch on steam. Its right there in the news feed if you go look at the game in your library.
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The game is worth as is, already. And the DLC will be free.
RimWorld is great and runs on my toaster
With the blackout, I see the Gaming community will be assimilated into the LinuxGaming community and I’m here for it.
I know that you can run TES 4 Oblivion decently well on Linux with a Windows emulator (WINE). I had a few odd graphics glitches like a gigantic texture of a tree just completely taking over the sky. I guess it wanted to be some kind of Yggdrasil tree or something.
It ran well though, and on a early 2010-era laptop. I don’t know about mod compatibility though.
WINE Is Not an Emulator 😉
Seriously, that’s what the acronym means, because it’s not an emulator, it’s a compatibility layer.
There’s also Proton for Steam games, or even non-steam games, though it’s a little more complicated to set up in the later case.
Oblivion’s excellent with mods, though I’m unfamiliar with modding Bethesda games on Linux.
Same boat! Here are some i picked up;
- Planescape Torment - rpg & adventure,
- Darklands - old skool rpg & adventure,
- Spiritfarer - simulation & adventure,
- Papers Please - simulation & puzzle,
- The Captain - rpg & simulation,
- Shadowrun - rpg & strategy,
- Baldurs Gate II - rpg & strategy,
- Don’t Starve - action & adventure,
- Rimworld - simulation & strategy,
- FTL - strategy & simulation
Edit; formatting
