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I know how it is, you look at your list of games and think "I need something new!" and then you click around Steam, GOG, Humble, itch and more and end up going back to the safety of what you already know. Here to help with that!

Gathering a list of good games is hard, and it's always highly subjective. With this list of 50 Linux games released across 2019 I've tried to mix in plenty of games I personally might not have enjoyed as much as others, but I know plenty of people that do. That way, it creates a nicely varied list.

When looking for a new Linux game, here's 50 to try that support Linux. In alphabetical order and obviously not a complete list of last year:

  1. A Short Hike - Adventure/Exploration
  2. AI War 2 - RTS
  3. Abandon Ship - Naval Combat and Exploration
  4. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust - Exploration Adventure
  5. Baba Is You - Puzzler
  6. DUSK - FPS
  7. Descenders - Sports
  8. Devader - Twin-stick Shooter
  9. DiRT 4 - Racing
  10. Dicey Dungeons - Deck-builder
  11. Eliza - Visual Novel
  12. Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure - Point & Click Adventure
  13. Hell is Other Demons - Arcade Shooter/Bullet-hell
  14. Hive Time - Management/Base-building Sim
  15. ISLANDERS - City builder
  16. Indivisible - Action/RPG + Platformer
  17. Ion Fury - FPS
  18. Life is Strange 2 - Adventure
  19. Little Misfortune - Adventure
  20. MOLEK-SYNTEZ - Puzzle
  21. Mindustry - Tower Defense
  22. Mosaic - Adventure
  23. Nowhere Prophet - Deck-builder
  24. OneShot - Puzzle/Adventure
  25. Overland - Strategy
  26. Oxygen Not Included - Building/Survival Sim
  27. Pathway - Strategy/Adventure
  28. Pilgrims - Adventure
  29. Pine - Action/Adventure RPG
  30. Rise of Industry - Strategic-tycoon Sim
  31. Rise to Ruins - Village Builder/Tower Defense
  32. Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition - Action/Adventure
  33. Shotgun Farmers - FPS
  34. Shovel Knight: King of Cards - Action Platformer
  35. Sigma Theory: Global Cold War - Strategy
  36. Slay the Spire - Deck-builder
  37. Smith and Winston - Twin-stick Shooter
  38. Snakebird Primer - Puzzler
  39. SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech - Deck-builder/Adventure
  40. Streets of Rogue - Action Rogue-lite
  41. Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - RPG
  42. Sunless Skies - Exploration/RPG
  43. The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] - Retro-styled Adventure
  44. Total War: THREE KINGDOMS - Strategy
  45. Train Valley 2 - Tycoon-style Puzzler
  46. Transport Fever 2 - Building Sim
  47. Tropico 6 - City-builder
  48. Undead Horde - Action RPG
  49. Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus - Turn-based Tactical Strategy
  50. X4: Foundations - Open-world Space Sim

The thing about the list above, is that they're all games that were properly released. However, what about games that entered Early Access during 2019? There's a surprising amount there not only in terms of how many but also how good they are. So here's a bonus list of Early Access games worth looking at:

  1. Barotrauma - Co-op Submarine Sim
  2. Dota Underlords - Strategy
  3. Jupiter Hell - Roguelike
  4. Kubifaktorium - Colony Management & Automation
  5. Last Epoch - Action RPG
  6. Littlewood - Casual RPG
  7. Merchant of the Skies - Trading/Tycoon & Exploration
  8. Monster Sanctuary - Adventure/RPG & Monster Catching
  9. Stone Story - RPG
  10. UnderMine - Action Roguelike
  11. Vagrus - The Riven Realms - Turn-based RPG
  12. Volcanoids - Survival/Crafting
  13. Waves 2: Notorious - Twin-stick shooter
  14. Wildermyth - Tactical RPG
  15. ΔV: Rings of Saturn - Space Sim

Next time you're stuck and want something new to play on Linux, perhaps keep a bookmark of this list to come back to. We're also linking to our own special game pages this time, to get you more details on each game plus links to different stores, a list of articles for them and more.

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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8 comments

Zlopez Feb 3, 2020
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QuoteI know how it is, you look at your list of games and think "I need something new!" and then you click around Steam, GOG, Humble, itch and more and end up going back to the safety of what you already know.

I usually have the opposite problem. I open up my library on Steam and I think "I don't know what to play first!" :-D

And this will be a nice list to have before doing nomination for GOTY 2019. :-D
Quoting: ZlopezI usually have the opposite problem. I open up my library on Steam and I think "I don't know what to play first!" :-D
Yes, indeed.

Speaking of which - has anyone played OneShot on Linux? I bought it and then found that it required jumping through a whole bunch of extra hoops. Having had to fix too many broken games lately, I just left it alone for now. There are so many other games I have that work perfectly.

I think there should be some kind of "report game" button on Steam so that games that don't actually work out of the box on linux get a red linux icon or something, to warn buyers.
scaine Feb 3, 2020
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Quoting: no_information_here
Quoting: ZlopezI usually have the opposite problem. I open up my library on Steam and I think "I don't know what to play first!" :-D
Yes, indeed.

Speaking of which - has anyone played OneShot on Linux? I bought it and then found that it required jumping through a whole bunch of extra hoops. Having had to fix too many broken games lately, I just left it alone for now. There are so many other games I have that work perfectly.

I think there should be some kind of "report game" button on Steam so that games that don't actually work out of the box on linux get a red linux icon or something, to warn buyers.

I know Linux users have a reputation for "fixing" stuff, but honestly, if I get a game that doesn't run when I hit the "play" button, I give it a forum topic on steam and if the dev doesn't respond, it's a refund and move on. It's happened... twice? But there's no excuse. Either you're selling to this market, or you're not.
Zlopez Feb 3, 2020
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Quoting: no_information_hereI think there should be some kind of "report game" button on Steam so that games that don't actually work out of the box on linux get a red linux icon or something, to warn buyers.

This sounds like a nice idea, maybe there is a way to propose this feature request to Valve.
Zlopez Feb 3, 2020
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: scaineI know Linux users have a reputation for "fixing" stuff, but honestly, if I get a game that doesn't run when I hit the "play" button, I give it a forum topic on steam and if the dev doesn't respond, it's a refund and move on. It's happened... twice? But there's no excuse. Either you're selling to this market, or you're not.

I had a two games that I had the same issue with, but both of them were old titles, so I ended up playing them with Proton instead directly playing Linux version.

And with the above I must say my thanks to developer of Demetrios, which was so kind and responded to my e-mail over weekend and even sent me an old build to try it on my gaming machine.


Last edited by Zlopez on 3 February 2020 at 7:59 pm UTC
tmtvl Feb 4, 2020
Quoting: ZlopezI usually have the opposite problem. I open up my library on Steam and I think "I don't know what to play first!" :-D

I have the third problem: I see my list of games and realize I'll never have the time I need to give them all the love they deserve.
Ardje Feb 4, 2020
Too many games I have never played. I thought switching from GOG to Steam would change it a bit. But nooo. At least steam has cloud save for most games. Which makes the client more like a game cache.
seanbutnotheard Feb 4, 2020
Quoting: tmtvlI have the third problem: I see my list of games and realize I'll never have the time I need to give them all the love they deserve.

Same. And somehow that list also keeps getting longer...
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