Quoting: hiryuI haven't tried this game under Linux in years... What is its current state? Is the performance still terrible?

Should be fine enough, depending on the system of course. I get somewhere between 160 to 220 FPS when I did quick run around the slums.

Back when I had GTX 970, game was playable most of the time, though there were times where performance was horrible right from the menu. Don't remember why.

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Few games that I played today:

Find All 3: Travel [External Link]
Hidden object game mixed with a coloring book. Basically things work like in simple hidden object games, but in this one level is black and white and gets colored when you find the targets. There's little bit of gatekeeping as you have three different types of things to find at a time, by finding all the objects in a slot, slot gets another types of things to find.

Simple as that. If you like hidden object games, demo will keep you occupied for a while. If you want more, previous games in the series are not that expensive.

Pocket Wheels (Proton) [External Link]
This one is kind of toy car 3D platformer. I haven't played Micro Machines, but based on screenshots, both games have graphically same idea: tiny cars in environments where you can really see that they're tiny.

Exploration is also big part of the game as level has (which in demo is a kids room) coins and batteries to collect. Coins seem to be for unlocking new cars and batteries open next room (which is not included in the demo). Level has also racing challenges.

Most fun I had was with the racing challenges, in the demo collecting items didn't cause any addiction. I think somebody might still enjoy it though.

Even when demo is for Windows, system requirements contain Linux, so native version might be coming up.

Adamstown [External Link]
Adamstown is tile laying puzzle game about building cities. Tutorial gets easily dismissed, but luckily it can be re-enabled in the settings. Tutorial is needed as it takes a moment to get used to the controls.

Things start simple, but slowly tiles include targets. For example tile might have target of five continuous blocks of red buildings.

What makes that difficult is that tiles have hooks (I forgot what the game calls them) which enable attaching them to other tiles. Having hooks on all sides of the tile is rare. Because of that, after playing a while there might be half completed area that have no hooks available at all on its side. Which is not game over at all, you just have to start building from closest hook.

There's certainly puzzle element in there. Not wishlist material for me, but I can clearly see that this might work for somebody.

Hands of Necromancy [External Link]
GZDoom based FPS inspired by Heretic. Decent level design, puzzles where just too hard for me. Might take a another look later.

If you have no idea what kind of game Heretic is, its Doom, but weapons are staves and wands. And no, Heretic was inspired by the original Doom, not the 2016 one.

Machinicide [External Link]
This one is FPS that has gimmick that guns are disposable. I didn't have enough patience for it, but it also advertises that there's gravity switching mechanic.

So lot of potentially cool stuff, but for some reason it doesn't feel fun.

The rest

I also played Homemade TCG [External Link], but it seems to bit of mess right now. It doesn't seem fun.

Missile Input [External Link] is broken at the moment. Good news that Python source code is included in the download, so if you treat it as programming game, it could be fun. Coincidentally description says that it's a typing game. Bit more seriously though, lets see what developer responds to my bug report.

I also played Astro Colony [External Link], which seems to be first person space station building game with some automation. I think I'll get back to that later, there's still lot of things that I haven't tried.

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Quoting: Phlebiac

Quoting: LinasI was wondering if it makes sense to buy all those weapon / costume bundles? Do they make any difference in the single player campaign?

I was wondering the same; Hellraid looks cool, but the reviews on it are still not great. The rest of the Definitive Edition DLC all seems to be cosmetic stuff, as StalePopcorn mentioned. I don't mind picking those up super cheap, but even at an 84% discount that still adds up to more than I want to pay for skins.

Hellraid is for those who hate parkour and open world, but love combat.

OK, the parkour is still there, there's just much less of it. Which means it's not an option for avoiding the combat. Combat is luckily bit better than in the main game, mainly because there's more enemy variety in most combat encounters.

I played most of it on nightmare difficulty (last boss was too tanky, so I had to drop the difficulty a bit) and hacking whatever is closest is not a good strategy as there's bigger threats. I can imagine that having maxed agility skill tree helps a lot as otherwise getting surrounded is going to be issue all the time.

So if you don't mind bit of grinding, it's worth a try on sale.

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Quoting: mircallaI thought Barkhan was going to be a game about dogs leading armies across the Eurasian steppe but I see it's a Dune RTS with the serial numbers filed off (to the point of naming the factions "Clan of Trickery" etc).

I kinda liked my version...

I tried it too. Too bad it tries too hard to be Dune game that it hasn't copied things from Total Annihilation for example. Being able to queue all kind of things is just so handy.

It still seems to be solid enough. I have seen worse.

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Quoting: Phlebiac

Quoting: AnzaDeus Ex though quite soon took immersive sims to whole another level.
Luckily it wasn't last of its kind, but there's not too many immersive sims out there.

Can you recommend some other games that are similar?

I haven't played all of these, but as far as I know, they should be fine examples of the genre: Both Ultima Underworlds, Bioshock series, Dishonored series, Prey (the Arkane game, not the earlier one), Deus Ex series and Thief series.

There's even more, but the list was getting quite long already. From the Linux native side, only Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Bioshock Infinite are native. Rest should work with Proton as there's nothing very recent in the list.

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Quoting: scaine

Lo lo lo look at you, hacker. a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?

God I want this game. The original, and Deus Ex six (!) years later, sandwiching Half Life - these games defined my love for PC gaming, committed me to it completely. Sure, Doom and Quake helped, but these three were actual stories where you were the star. They were phenomenal.

Despite myself, I have such high hopes, based on that trailer. My fingers are very much crossed.

System Shock 2 shouldn't not be forgotten as it was bit more accessible version of the original, but wasn't simplified too much. Deus Ex though quite soon took immersive sims to whole another level.

Luckily it wasn't last of its kind, but there's not too many immersive sims out there.

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Only game that I played today was Selaco. It's bit like simplified version of System Shock (Selaco doesn't have the RPG elements). In addition of running around and shooting enemies, there's plenty of things to interact with. Including things like combination locks that have codes mentioned in log entries. Don't let the retro graphics stop you from trying the demo.

There are some issues though, but hopefully they're fixed for the final game. The player icon is hard to spot in the map as things are mostly white lines, including the player icon.

Also doors that need keycards don't always show up. Maps are relatively small, so that's not a blocker at all. You might even find some useful items and secrets while hunting for the door.

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Quoting: LinasI was wondering if it makes sense to buy all those weapon / costume bundles? Do they make any difference in the single player campaign?

I haven't been buying them myself, but based on the comments I have read, it depends on the DLC. Some of them are reskins and few of them contain weapons that are somewhat overpowered (at least Retrowave does). So I guess in that sense they make a difference. Might be better for fooling around after the campaign is finished.

If you want to save some money, there are some weapons that you can get via bounties. Also if you want make game easier, events will usually give you gold tier weapons.

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Quoting: stylon

Quoting: MalLook for victor vran on YouTube and see if that is something you might Like.

Thanks, that looks like it'll fit the bill perfectly :grin:

Victor Vran is great. Story and setting are above most ARPG:s as setting is not the most generic fantasy one. Also dialogue is witty enough to keep things entertaining.

If you're still hungry for more after it, there's Torchlight II. It should be playable on Steam Deck and there's no complaints about gamepad as such. Complaints were about manually having to bring up on screen keyboard and not having Steam Deck specific button hints.

It might feel bit generic after Victor Vran, but should still be fine specimen of the ARPG genre. There's also Torchlight III, but based on the reviews it's just Torchlight lite.

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I have played Dungeons 2, Railway Empire, Tropico 5 and Tropico 6. All pretty good games. Probably rest of them are not bad either (OK, reviewers haven't liked Spacebase Startopia).

Railway Empire was sadly broken for me last time I tried it though.

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