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I know there have been other questions like "What native games are available?" and they often have issues because they turn into a never-ending list of every game ever released for Linux.

But I'd like to know what's coming out this year.

Good answers can include:

  • A game that's coming out in 2011
  • A Linux port being released for games that might be older (eg Trine)
  • As much information and as many screenshots and links as possible
  • Few old games unless they're doing a major update that changes the game very significantly.

One game per answer, add as much information as possible and work with each other to build a catalogue of awesome things to look forward to this year.

7
  • 1
    @Alaukik Only if they're super-significant updates. Ie if they completely change how the game works, or it takes the game from a point of not really being playable (eg GemRB) to being feature complete.
    – Oli
    Mar 2, 2011 at 16:35
  • but that would exclude most floss games.why not only exclude minor updates?
    – Lincity
    Mar 2, 2011 at 16:38
  • 2
    @Alaukik Simply because I'm looking for new games. I'm not trying to exclude FOSS, I just don't want to generate another list of games that everybody and their mother has seen before.
    – Oli
    Mar 2, 2011 at 16:43
  • Nice question :)
    – Ingo
    Mar 2, 2011 at 16:57
  • As the new year is coming, I suggest to create a similar list for 2012: askubuntu.com/q/75564 Nov 4, 2011 at 20:35

19 Answers 19

27

Oil Rush (Software Center) (Desura)

Proprietary, beta preorder for $19.95

OilRush is a real-time strategy game based on group control. It offers mechanics of a classical RTS combined with a Tower Wars genre: control the upgrade of production platforms as well as their defence forces, and send battle groups of naval and air units to capture enemy platforms and oil rigs.

Oil Rush

Phoronix have been harking on about this for months like they're getting a dollar every time they mention it (they probably are), but it does look like a genuinely pretty game. It's made by Unigine, a company that sells a closed source graphics engine and hardware benchmarks based around the tech-demos they've made with it.

This could be good.

2
  • Yeah! Have heard about this. Its gonna be great!
    – Ashfame
    Mar 2, 2011 at 16:55
  • Open for Pre-ordering from today ;) oilrush-game.com
    – Vassilis
    Mar 2, 2011 at 18:33
22

Trine (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $19.99

Trine is a physics-based action game where three characters allow clever solutions to challenges created by hazardous puzzles and threatening enemies. The gameplay is based on fully interactive physics - each character's different abilities and tactics can be used to invent new ways to overcome obstacles and save the kingdom!

Trine Screenshot

I've played this under Wine and can heartily recommend it. It's going to be awesome to play it through again natively.

16

Minecraft (Custom Store)

Proprietary, priced at $26.95

A hard to classify adventure-creativity game that is—in the words of its creator—about placing blocks while running from skeletons. Minecraft is a playground where players pursue self-set goals such as mining resources, gathering food, constructing buildings, accessing alternate dimensions, and riding pigs.

Minecraft screenshot

Premise

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. At night monsters come out, make sure to build a shelter before that happens.

Features

  • A rich, randomly generated world of hills, deserts, swamps, oceans, and mushroom-fields. Towns of villagers, hidden ruins, and alternate dimensions to explore.

  • Nearly endless creative possibilities. Dozens of items and tools. Dozens of block types for building. Mechanical tools like pistons. Redstone wires for circuitry.

  • Emergent challenges. Monsters spawn in the dark, resource-producing and tamable animals spawn in sunlight. Ores and lava deep underground, flora and fauna on the surface.

  • Modes like Hardcore, Survival, and Creative. Allows players to choose whether to play Minecraft more like a sandbox, or more like a roguelike.

  • Huge community of multiplayer worlds, build sharing, and Let's Play videos.

4
  • Minecraft isnt free for online play.
    – Thomas Ward
    Aug 2, 2011 at 18:30
  • 5
    Who asked for free games? Aug 2, 2011 at 19:04
  • UP. No one asked for a free game. Sep 8, 2011 at 7:54
  • The release-date isn't up to date. It will release November 18th 2011
    – tvn
    Nov 7, 2011 at 17:05
15

Achron (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $19.99

Achron is the first game to feature single-player and multiplayer free-form time travel. It is the world's first meta-time strategy game, a real-time strategy game where players and units can jump to and play at different times simultaneously and independently.

enter image description here

1
  • 2
    Sounds similar to the headache Braid gave me... But an awesome idea.
    – Oli
    Mar 2, 2011 at 17:10
14

Xonotic (Desura)

Open source, free to play

A fun, fast paced shooter built on the Dark Places engine, with many weapons and game modes. Based on Nexuiz (from which it was forked), Xonotic introduces many new features, maps, and changes, and continues to improve.

Nota Bene: Not good for children unless certain features are disabled, such as gore and taunts.

Xonotic screenshot

13

Speed Dreams 2.0

Open source, free to play

A nice-looking open source racing game with both arcade and simulation modes. Watch the trailer.

Speed Dreams screenshot

Premise

Speed Dreams is a fork of the famous open racing car simulator Torcs, aiming to implement exciting new features, cars, tracks and AI opponents to make a more enjoyable game for the player, as well as constantly improving visual and physics realism.

Features

  • Over 30 unique car models spanning five classes of competition

  • Three all-new car classes; World Rally, LS-GT1, and LS-GT2

  • Graphical updates for many original TORCS tracks

  • Two all-new circuits; Brondehach and Goldstone Sand

  • Skilled and intelligent AI drivers; fight down to the last meter of track

  • 23 detailed circuits; ranging from fantastic originals to replications of real-world circuits to the best of original TORCS

  • All-new Career Mode; battle your way up from boring production cars to powerful world-class racing machines

  • Network play; show your friends who is BOSS

2
  • 1
    That look completely amazing! It doesn't seem to be available for 11.10 though. I hope it'll be available soon! :) Nov 11, 2011 at 8:10
  • 1
    You have forget one important thing: it's Open Source Nov 15, 2011 at 8:36
12

Beacon

Proprietary, free to play

“Beacon” is a sprawling adventure-platformer involving SAD THINGS and MYSTERY. It also has a jetpack. It’ll take you about 15 minutes to play.

Beacon

The description is accurate but don't be put off by it. You get more for your 15 minutes than you do in a lot of other games. It has a nice little story, superb music, and there's a native Linux build (as well as OSX and Windows builds) so almost everybody is catered for.

At the very least, this is promising work from a clearly talented developer who is making things for Linux users. If you like the game you should show them your appreciation via twitter or as a comment on the page.

As a side note, I found running the Beacon binary directly didn't work. Just run chmod +x Beacon.sh and then run that launcher script instead.

2
  • 1
    Is it me or this REALLY looks like some "Commander Keen" look alike. Sep 8, 2011 at 2:18
  • Looks like something for me :p
    – RobinJ
    Nov 7, 2011 at 19:20
10

Heroes of Newerth

Proprietary, free to play

A Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game (think the Warcraft III map "DotA") that was re-released as free-to-play in 2011.

Heroes of Newerth screenshot

3
  • 4
    "A DotA game turned f2p"? I don't understand English anymore. :( Sep 8, 2011 at 10:30
  • 2
    Technically a 2010 game but I'll allow it as it turned free-to-play this year.
    – Oli
    Sep 8, 2011 at 11:39
  • @jo-erlend-schinstad: "DotA" is wrong. it is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game that has recently become f2p (Free 2 Play") ("Free To Play").
    – Daniel
    Nov 11, 2011 at 5:18
7

FlightGear 2.4 (Software Center) (PlayDeb)

Open source, free to play

Flight Gear screenshot

FlightGear is a free flight simulator project. It is being developed through the gracious contributions of source code and spare time by many talented people from around the globe. Among the many goals of this project are the quest to minimize short cuts and “do things right”, the quest to learn and advance knowledge, and the quest to have better toys to play with.

The idea for Flight Gear was born out of a dissatisfaction with current commercial PC flight simulators. A big problem with these simulators is their proprietariness and lack of extensibility. There are so many people across the world with great ideas for enhancing the currently available simulators who have the ability to write code, and who have a desire to learn and contribute. Many people involved in education and research could use a spiffy flight simulator frame work on which to build their own projects; however, commercial simulators do not lend themselves to modification and enhancement. The Flight Gear project is striving to fill these gaps.

1
  • 8
    Offtopic-rant: I wish FlightGear was easier. I wish all simulators had a "I'm not a commercial pilot - please don't treat me like one"-mode so n00bs can take off. Nonetheless, it's a great looking sim.
    – Oli
    Sep 16, 2011 at 14:03
6

The Binding of Isaac

A dark action rouguelike set in a Legend of Zelda-style dungeon. Offers fast-paced bullet hell combat, procedurally generated levels, and many hours of replay value.

Screenshot

Premise

When Isaac’s mother starts hearing the voice of God demanding a sacrifice be made to prove her faith, Isaac escapes into the basement facing droves of deranged enemies, lost brothers and sisters, his fears, and eventually his mother.

Features

  • Dungeons, enemies, and loot are randomly generated for each new game
  • Permanent death makes every encounter is tense and challenging
  • Excellently realized tone; warped enemy design, creepy sounds, and a deliciously grim soundtrack
  • More than 100 unique items, 50 enemy types, 20 bosses, and 3 character classes.
  • Tons of unlockable easter eggs
1
  • I got this game with the Humble Bundle, haven't played it yet though. Didn't know it was something like The Legend Of Zelda :p I think I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow :D
    – RobinJ
    Nov 7, 2011 at 19:26
6

Frozen Synapse (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $24.99

A turn-based tactics game where you must predict the motions of an enemy squad, conjecturing and positioning your own to defeat them.

enter image description here

Premise

Frozen Synapse [...] brings the simultaneous turn-based strategy genre bang up-to-date and lets you give detailed, accurate orders to your squad: classic gameplay with a modern interface. Plan your moves, test them out, then hit the "Prime" button: both you and your enemy's turns are executed simultaneously. Competitive-but-intuitive multiplayer and a huge single player campaign mean that Frozen Synapse will give you hours and hours of tactical delight.

Features

  • 5 challenging multiplayer modes, including the innovative bidding-based “Secure” and “Hostage Rescue”
  • 55-mission single player campaign with dynamic dialogue and thrilling near-future narrative
  • Powerful Skirmish Generator
  • Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration
  • Integrated IRC chat as well as various community features
  • Random generation combined with hand-crafted content means that levels and maps are different every time
  • Critically-acclaimed electronica soundtrack by musician nervous_testpilot
4

No Time To Explain

Proprietary, priced at $10.00

No Time To Explain is a game about time paradoxes, jetpack guns and ribs in people’s eyes. It’s also an indie platformer!

No Time to Explain

It's a port of a Flash game that was popular. Looks very funny, quite refined and very different.

4

Greedy Car Thieves

Proprietary, free to play

An arcade driving game in the style of Grand Theft Auto 2.

enter image description here

Premise

Follow the stories of a couple of friends from childhood, who now stand on the opposite sides of barricade - Thomas is a lawman, Kevin works for Mafia. Witness how their life paths cross while they take hard decisions, leading to a dramatic finale. Out of the story mode, multi-player awaits you, where you can face real players in various game types. Shootouts, car thefts, pursuits around the cities; all that within this fast-paced game!

Features

  • Single-player story mode where you play as both a lawman and a thug.

  • Multi-player mode with various game types: free for all, 1v1, team deathmatch, capture the flag, hunting, bombmatch, race.

  • A lot of cars, weapons, power-ups and destructible objects that succesfully diversify the gameplay.

  • Fire to enemies while seating in a car as a passenger.

  • Precise aiming mode makes it no problem to accurately fire to enemies even from a roof (despite the fact the game exhibits an old-school top-down view).

  • Delightful visual effects including ambient occlusion, dynamic per-pixel normal-mapped lighting, real-time dynamic shadows (cars headlights and sunlight with varying day-night cycle), water reflections, blooming and antialiasing.

  • Fast and reliable networking, based on UDP/IP protocol, minimizes game lags and provides continuous multi-player gameplay.

  • Map editor that lets players to easily create new cities with a lot of predefined objects and tiles.

Installation

3

Atom Zombie Smasher (Software Center) (Desura)

Proprietary, priced between $9.99 and $15.00

A real-time strategy game for those who enjoy heavy-duty firepower. Deploy mercenaries and explosives against zombies while survivors flee for rescue choppers.

enter image description here

Premise

Take command of your mercenary forces in Atom Zombie Smasher. The zombie apocalypse is upon us and it's up to you to evacuate everyone before they fall prey to the undead. Conduct massive rescue operations with a helping hand from snipers, artillery crews, orbital bombardments, and more.

Features

  • Wackily overpowered and satisfying weapons. Artillery crews, mines, snipers, dynamite, orbital canons, bioweapons... this is 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' the game.
  • A lengthy, unscripted campaign. Engage zombies at cities on the overworld to contain outbreaks. Rescue scientists to develop new weapon technologies.
  • Strategy that alternates between careful beforehand planning and frantic, seat-of-the-pants real time decision-making.
  • Strong production values. In particular, the Hawaiian Surfer soundtrack and humorous comicbook-style vignettes color the game with great panache.
  • Many different modes and difficulty settings to keep players coming back
3

VVVVVV (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $4.99

An addictive, simple, and somewhat masochistic platformer. Great chiptune soundtrack.

VVVVVV Screenshot

Premise

VVVVVV is a retro styled 2D platformer by Terry Cavanagh, creator of dozens of free games. You play as the fearless leader of a team of dimension exploring scientists who inadvertently crash, and are separated. The game involves exploring the strange world you've found yourself in, and reuniting your friends.

VVVVVV explores one simple game mechanic: you cannot jump - instead, you reverse your own gravity at the press of a button. The game focuses on playing with this mechanic in a variety of interesting ways.

3

Blocks That Matter (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $4.99

Blocks That Matter is a game that combine platformer and puzzle-solving skills, in an incredible mashup between tetris, super mario bros and minecraft.

You are Tetrobot,a tiny driller robot that travels underground in order to save its creators, kidnapped by someone who wants to steal their work.

normal mode

Sand, wood, stone, obsidian, iron, diamond : each matter has its specific behaviour you'll have to use wisely and take advantage of them. You also have the possibility to destroy lines of 8+ blocks in a very «retro russian» game style.

tetris mode

It's available for Linux on

2

Voxatron

I find Voxatron a pretty amusing game to play, only it can get a bit frustrating on the harder parts :p It's a kind of arcade-style adventure game made out of tiny cubes wich you can destory and build, and you've got a pea gun :D It's not entirely finished yet, neither is it a free game. But you've still got a week left to get it from Humble Bundle for whatever price you want. It includes a level designer to make you own levels, wich you can share with others.

Voxatron

2

Family Farm (Software Center) (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $14.99

A farm management game somewhat in the model of a Tychoon or Harvest Moon game. Guide your family's homespead to happiness and prosperity.

enter image description here

Premise

19th century farmsteading game Work the farm in this game of 19th century farmsteading and build a home for your families. Clicking cows won't earn you any cash. This is a simulation of a farmstead experienced in stories which span a generation. Keep them fed, develop their skills, and grow their land in to a Family Farm!

Features

  • An innovative tycoon game in the setting of 19th century farmsteads.
  • The player controls characters with RPG-like attributes, skills and needs.
  • A realistic approach to farming.
  • Workers have to prepare ground, seed and harvest crops, care for livestock, cook meals, etc.
1

Scoregasm (Desura)

Proprietary, priced at $9.99

enter image description here

That's not a typo. Scoregasm is a fast-paced 2d space shooter very similar in gameplay to Geometry Wars. Very similar indeed. You shoot things that come towards you and if they hit you, you die. If you kill enough in a short time span (ie a combo) you're rewarded with a better progression pattern... And some female "moaning".

I've only played the demo so far but I really like it. As I just said in chat:

First Linux game I think I've played that has gone (and I'm paraphrasing) "Oh it looks like you have a Playstation controller plugged in and this game rocks with a gamepad, do you want to set it up?" and has then flawlessly worked with the controller

I think it would be fine to play without a gamepad but if you have one, plug it in and rock on. Things like this are great with dual analogue sticks.

Free demo available from the game's site as well as Desura if you're in the Linux beta group (which you should be!)

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