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Grow Home From Ubisoft Now On SteamOS & Linux

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Grow Home the wacky-looking, but intriguing game from Ubisoft's Reflections studio is now officially available for us Linux and SteamOS folk. It has a lot of good reviews, and I'm looking forward to trying it. Our editor flesk may be doing a review of it sometime, so look out for that.

The updated version now available isn't just limited to SteamOS and Linux support, it also adds in official Steam Controller support for it (woohoo!).

About the game (Official)
In Grow Home you play as BUD (Botanical Utility Droid), a robot on a mission to save his home planet by harvesting the seeds of a giant alien plant. On his quest BUD will discover a beautiful world of floating islands that are home to some rather strange plants and animals.

Grow the giant plant and use your unique climbing abilities to reach ever higher ground, but be careful…one wrong move and it’s a long way down!

You can find Grow Home on Steam right now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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25 comments
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Guest Nov 10, 2015
Quoting: jochenhSadly not working correctly with my Xbox 360 Gamepad just now... Waiting for a patch.

incredibly its not working here either :S: it has all the messages to say relax and stuff use a pad and game on the couch..

.. I am, with a mouse
adolson Nov 10, 2015
Quoting: berillions
Quoting: CreakThat is... surprising!

As a Ubi developer, I didn't expect that ;)

You are really an Ubisoft Developer ? :O

I really doubt Creak was saying he/she works for Ubisoft. I think they were talking about the fact that Reflections is a Ubisoft studio. May be a case of ESL?
Creak Nov 10, 2015
Quoting: adolson
Quoting: berillions
Quoting: CreakThat is... surprising!

As a Ubi developer, I didn't expect that ;)

You are really an Ubisoft Developer ? :O

I really doubt Creak was saying he/she works for Ubisoft. I think they were talking about the fact that Reflections is a Ubisoft studio. May be a case of ESL?
Nope, I am indeed a Ubisoft developer, I worked on Far Cry 4 notably (http://creak.foolstep.com/romain-failliot.en.html) ;)

I'm quite alone here being interested in SteamOS, Linux, etc... that's why I'm surprised that a Ubisoft game was actually ported to Linux. I think it's a pretty good news actually.


Last edited by Creak on 10 November 2015 at 10:06 pm UTC
Miqueye Nov 11, 2015
heya all,

just played through the game, here is a little review (which got way to long, as I see now):

TL DR: solid port of a perverted game with strange ctrls

~
port:
looks pretty much perfect to me - steady 60fps, everything running on best options on a 1080 display. V-sync doesn't really V-sync, though. my wired XB360 controller works perfect, plug an play.
my system:
ubuntu 14.04, i5 4690, GTX 750Ti on 346.96

~
game content:
I'm not a dirty, one-track-minded porn addict per se, but I have to admit that I think about sexual acts from time to time. I find sexual imagery in everyday objects, language, actions and of course in everyday video games. nothing special, most people do I guess.
so of course I was ready to not be surprised by some accidental innuendo when I started playing Grow Home today. I have seen enough rocket launchers in my day to expect the one or the other phallic image!
but this game. oh boy.
the games main attraction is nothing else but a GIANT penis that's disguised as a plant. the main mission is to erect that thing until it hits the sky. that alone is striking, but there is more:
the way to make the giant boner plant grow is to grab onto little shoots that come out of it and connect them to a power source. the shoots are another caricature of the male organ, extending stiffly into the breeze and featuring a conical/comical tip (see the video above in the article at 0:42).
the player, robot, has to climb onto this tip, grab a hold of it and then let it thrust from the main trunk into the nearest glowing, floating rock. that's pretty much the main mechanic of the game.
the subtle - or not so subtle - goal is to let the boner plant grow until it reaches your ship, which is going by the name of (drumroll!) M.O.M.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex much?
M.O.M. is of course sentient, always watching and commenting your actions. my favorite line is something like "you look so cute when you explode" (paraphrasing).
I sure do!
that said, I don't have a problem with any of this. what I do have a problem with, though, is that the robot itself is totally limp and can hardly stand on it's own! what the?
that, and the strange (yet familiar), circular geysers, spraying unappetizing liquids (I did not thrust a sprout into one of them, and probably never will).
oh and by the way, the male sounding moaning that's hardly audible, but going on constantly, is not the plant (as I thought of course) but a Bull that's hiding in a cave, rightfully oblivious.
so what do I make of this? I honestly don't know. is this a joke by the designers? are they just as oblivious as the bull in the cave?
is it really just me? M.O.M.? are you there?

~
gameplay:
the robot handles strangely spongy and builds up lots of momentum. it's not very responsive and needs some time to get used to. you could hate it!
basic controls like running and jumping are like any other platformers avatar, but the robot can also grab hold of things with it's two hands. they are separately controlled by the left/right shoulder (or mouse) buttons. press and hold the button = hand holding on.
that's interesting for some time, but I had to use it so much climbing, it started to get annoying quickly. luckily the robot has a jetpack for short bursts, and later can use a big, dry leaf to fly around with. with a little foresight the robot can be moved in a fluid motion and get's kinda fast that way.
also a feature of the hands is to rip and drag objects around.
the camera is fully 360° adjustable with the second stick, or is controlled by the mouse similar to an fps.

~
design:
no textures, just origami-like folded structures in plain colors. pretty well balanced design, comes off totally fresh and good looking. I'm sure that that's quite an achievement, could have gone stale pretty easy I guess.
personally, I do like this art style a lot, being totally in love with Virtua Racer (arcade) and Jumping Flash (ps1). Spyro the Dragon (ps1) seems to be an inspiration also, as evident by some of the sound design and the sheep, which are a kind of Spyro trademark. needless to say that Spyro is one of my favorite games ever.
bright colors, moody lighting, great atmosphere. Grow Home looks just perfect to me!

~
oops. writing that review got way out of hand, I just wanted to say a few words actually.
well. never mind.

cheers,
Michael


Last edited by Miqueye on 11 November 2015 at 12:14 am UTC
Mblackwell Nov 11, 2015
Quoting: Creak
Quoting: adolson
Quoting: berillions
Quoting: CreakThat is... surprising!

As a Ubi developer, I didn't expect that ;)

You are really an Ubisoft Developer ? :O

I really doubt Creak was saying he/she works for Ubisoft. I think they were talking about the fact that Reflections is a Ubisoft studio. May be a case of ESL?
Nope, I am indeed a Ubisoft developer, I worked on Far Cry 4 notably (http://creak.foolstep.com/romain-failliot.en.html) ;)

I'm quite alone here being interested in SteamOS, Linux, etc... that's why I'm surprised that a Ubisoft game was actually ported to Linux. I think it's a pretty good news actually.

Far Cry Smar Cry, you worked on ZombiU which is one of the best games to have come out in years (and not just out of Ubisoft).

Anyway, I bet Ubisoft has the tools and pipeline that they could crank out quick and dirty Linux ports, but they are definitely conscious of the returns a given project will have and tend to play it safe. Based on their other platform support they look for at least 3% of their sales to come from a particular platform before they consider investing the time and energy. Yes, for a lot of developers that have talked about their sales publicly it seems that Linux/SteamOS falls into that range, but with a reported market of 1% of users it's not a guarantee at this point. Give it a (long) while before you expect to see more.
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