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Slipstream [Steam] is awesome for two reasons, the first being that it was developed on Linux using free software tools and second, it's really darn fun.

I played a lot of similarly styled racers way back in the days of the Amiga, to see more come out like this is excellent. Although, don't get me started on how many times I failed the drifting tutorial…stupid fence. When I finally got it though—damn it feels good!

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In terms of features, it's all kinds of crazy. It's a  pseudo-3D game engine made with 2D graphics that has 20 different tracks, three game modes, five different cars, an original sound track and a few fun graphical options to emulate how older monitors and TVs looked. There will also be split-screen co-op for up to four players and a track editor released in a future patch.

Thankfully, it's not an easy game, as that would be boring. Even on Medium difficulty, catching your rivals can be seriously intense. Thanks to the slipstream feature, where you gain a speed boost being behind another car for a certain period and the slick drifting, catching up is certainly possible—as long as you're not me and you crash into another car every time you drift.

I do have to admit, I've had so much fun with this it's crazy. The arcade mode, where you drive left or right at the end of each track to pick the next is gloriously retro. Being able to upgrade your ride as you go in the Grand Prix mode is also a nice touch, I particularly liked cranking up my top speed at the expense of acceleration to zoom past everyone gradually throughout each race, drifting past them like a pro.

It's been a while since I had to enter my name like this…


That sure does bring back memories.

In terms of performance and bugs, I've not had a single problem. It worked beautifully out of the box with the Steam Controller, with nothing needing adjusting anywhere apart from switching into fullscreen.

Find Slipstream now on Steam where it's 10% off until May 28th.

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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6 comments

Corben May 22, 2018
Easy to learn, hard to master...

It's also a great game for jumping in for just a few minutes, drive an arcade race or any other single track.
So you don't get too frustrated when the amount of other cars increased in the last track and you bumped into each one of them. Or you bumped too much in the green bushes which are rock solid :D

Also looks like a controller is a must have, haven't tried it with a keyboard yet, but as I read on the steam recommendations, some people want to play it with a keyboard but can't.

But yeah, as soon as you manage to get into the drifting flow you can start enjoying the great scenery, skylines and backgrounds as well as the cool soundtrack.
Liam Dawe May 22, 2018
Quoting: GuestSo, is it more enjoyable that, say, Horizon Chase ? Both supposedly have the same gameplay and references ; although one look more modern and the other looks more retro... ?
They're both great, the actual gameplay is quite different.
dirkdierickx May 23, 2018
get this game, it's cheap and fun if you enjoyed games like outrun in your younger years ;)
Cybolic May 25, 2018
Controller support is ... flaky, it seems. I've seen reports of it working, but I can only get my Steam Controller to work with the game if I set it up to emulate a keyboard - which is absolutely necessary if you're on a keyboard layout that doesn't have X and C near each other, such as Dvorak; rebinding the keys is not possible in the game.

There's also no support for ultra wide monitors, the game will instead cut off the top and bottom of the display.

Also, if you're using a screen modeline that contains anything other than "XxY" (such as "_100" on the end - mine was "3440x1440_100.00" ), the game will fail to launch.

In short, it's a great little game, very pretty, very fun, but it might be worth waiting for an update or two before purchasing it.


Last edited by Cybolic on 25 May 2018 at 12:07 am UTC
GustyGhost Jun 4, 2018
Also on itch.io.

I would like to trust the gamestore specific tags on GoL articles but they don't get applied consistently. :(
tuubi Jun 5, 2018
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Quoting: GustyGhostAlso on itch.io.

I would like to trust the gamestore specific tags on GoL articles but they don't get applied consistently. :(
The situation might change after the article is written. If you think tags need to be updated, you can always message the author (without the guilt trip preferably).
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