The best surprise I had in 2020 was Desperados III. I took it mostly to support devs realising on Linux day 1. But as soon as I started playing it, I loved it. It was even fun replay missions several times to play differently. If you like stealth games, you should have a look at it.

The big crush of 2020 is probably Stellaris. It was not realeased in 2020 but some of its DLC are, so I think it is closed to. At first, I was very affraid to play it. I thought it would be too complex and so only for hard core strategy fans. Actually, the game manages to be fun from the beginning. I have 300h on the game and I only start to know how to play well. So yes the game is very deep. But I enjoyed all of these 300 hours. Exploring the galaxy is fun, there are a lot of naratives and you don't need to understand everything to play and have fun.

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Quoting: GuestWow, Linux gaming has really made giant strides lately! Some years ago we were just happy when a native AAA title like XCom 2 or Civ V got a native port. Nowadays native ports are out of the question and we are happy if a game *may* run ok in Linux using a compatibility layer tied to a specific store and only if you have a specific vendor gpu. Amazing progress!

Actually, it is a real progress. When CivV and XCom2 got a Linux port, there were only a few AAA games playable on Linux. Wine was there but was a real option only for DX9 titles, and not even all. DXVK was a real game changer. The days of the AAA native ports are probably over, but there is now far more AAA games playable on Linux that there never was.

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Quoting: Palanca

Quoting: WorMzyI'll wait for a native port. If the devs don't support Linux, then I don't support the devs.

And that's how you don't get Linux on the desktop.

It's way more complicated than that. Proton is indeed a great asset for Linux adoption. It enables gamers to switch to Linux even when games they like have no native build. Doing so it makes Linux gamers playing Windows games visible to developers as Linux users, incentivizing them to target Linux. That's great!

But one hugely important point is: developers have to make profit from targeting Linux. If Linux sales do not cover the cost of porting the game, then they'll stop supporting Linux. So it is very important to support the developers who support Linux. What does that mean? When I have to choose which game I buy between two games I like, I buy the one that supports Linux. As good as Proton is, the best situation will always be when the developers of the game directly support Linux.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people should not buy Windows games to play on Linux. First of all, everyone is free to buy the game they want and play them on the system they want. I'm saying these two strategies complement each other. Making the developer know that their Windows only game is played on Linux is a nice way to tell the devs they have Linux users and might consider invest some time, efforts and money to target this audience. But what's the point in porting the game on Linux if every Linux gamer has already bought it? There has to exists some people waiting to make Linux sales after the port.

But some developers won't target Linux, even when they already have a Linux build and officially say that porting was easy. We know that Id Software had a Linux build of DOOM 2016 made in two weeks but never released it. Larian Studios also have a Linux build of Baldur's Gate 3 but not released it:

Larian Studio developers tell me Stadia’s not especially difficult to develop for. One even noted that the platform is essentially like developing for a Linux box, albeit one that actually helps inform developing for the Windows build of the game, too. Source [External Link]

And now CDPR too. We know these 3 studios won't support Linux. So if you like one of their game, play it. But personally, instead of supporting these anti Linux companies, I largely prefer to give my money to developers treating us well. These days, we are so Lucky so many developers support Linux.

PS: we will get Linux on the desktop when most of the stores propose Linux preinstalled on most of the machines. Don't hold your breathe.

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Stellaris is such a great game, it stole so much of my sleeping time :grin: but it was a delight. Even after 150 hours on the game, I'm still discovering things.

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What I nice occasion to play it again :grin:

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Quoting: Samsai

Quoting: Whitewolfe80Thing for me its too late yes our marketshare has increased but almost every single video/article that says nows the time to try linux has one draw back proton its all they talk about and lutris I use both so i am part of the problem. That problem is of course proton has become the clutch we all rely on for games on linux. We have collectively given up on native gaming with the exception of indie games and the one to three games we get from feral a year. We have already seen developers say use the proton version if you want a linux version that attitude has quickly become the norm.

It's definitely an annoying and stupid trend. People don't realize that Proton is putting our eggs in one ever-growing basket that will eventually collapse in on itself. We need game devs that know how to work with Linux that will contribute to the ecosystem.

But on the topic of "collectively giving up on native gaming", I will point out that there are those of us that still totally reject Proton as the future of Linux gaming.

The problem is not really Proton but the lack of consideration from some delevopers who targeted Linux. I'm totally fine with devs that officially target Proton: doing testing, QA and support as they are supposed to do for any target.

But I haven't seen a single dev doing so for Proton. Proton for devs is just an excuse for doing nothing to support Linux but still accepting money. That's shameful.

As a professional developer myself, and like ALL devs, I know that delivering on production an untested version is very risky and have high chances or being a support nightmare.

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I remember the old times where "Humble Indie Bundle" meant DRM-Free and Cross Platform. This is probably the first Humble Indie Bundle to neither be DRM-Free nor Cross Platform. A very sad anniversary.

But hey! Even is Humble Indie Bundle is dead, the situation is much better now! We have strong supporters like Feral, Steam and others. We have lots of native games available and even more thanks to Wine/DXVK/Proton. So see you HIB, dear old friend, may you rest in peace.

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Quoting: lelorrainI'll stop buying this type of games from steam and go to GOG instead

How does GOG count sales? And how GOG reports platform of users to developers?

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Quoting: Mountain ManWe're still niche, and that's a problem. Developing for Linux is more attractive than ever before, but we're still a tiny percentage which makes long-term support a problem for many studios.

I get the argument for Linux, less than 1% is niche indeed. But Linux + Mac is arround 4% market share which is not niche at all!

In the end this is very simple, there are companies that care about their customers and companies that don't. I'm not talking about Psyonix because they probably did not have a word to say but about the parent coompany.

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I spend a crazy amount of time on this game :) I LOVE it! It regroups a fair number of genres i like: base building, tower defense, factory management and rogue like. If you like these genres to, give it a try, you may like it.

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