Quoting: Phlebiac

Quoting: slaapliedjeUnless... and this is a HUGE unless, we can finally get PC to equal Linux / Mac / Windows.

What if my PC runs OS/2? Or Haiku? Or FreeBSD?

Yes, listing the individual operating systems is more helpful. I would really like to know if some game is actually released for FreeBSD...

Problem in mainstream gaming media is actually little bit worse than listing just PC. PC might mean Windows or it could include Mac, Linux and Windows (Carrion for example). Or review could list just Windows even if game actually had Linux support right at launch.

So we really should be grateful for GamingOnLinux as it's lot more reliable source for Linux games than mainstream gaming media.

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Quoting: denyasisDying Light looks really interesting to me. Any thoughts? I'm trying to find a few games to stream via my link and play with a stream controller

Dying Light is great. Editions are bit confusing as The Following is actually DLC, but Humble description clearly describes that the base game is included. So linked one seem to be full package after all.

Anyway, in short Dying Light is zombie game with parkour. Parkour itself makes already quite big difference as zombies are attracted by noise, so simply fighting your way to the place you're going will result being surrounded by more and more zombies. That all changes once you maxed out your skills and have pretty good weapons. But even then, it's better to largely try to avoid the zombies as they will just slow you down.

So it's good fun. When you have maxed everything out, there's still stuff to do, like bounties. On top of that there are also events now and then, which can give a excuse to go back and kill more zombies.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: MohandevirIt's just that it highlights the fact that no solutions are 100% thrustworthy. That's the saddest part, imo.

AFAIK, all the Feral ports still work and are still supported, but yeah: native versions have been pulled, ports by these other porting houses have stopped working, and Windows-only games can get changes that stop them working in Wine. And I get the impression that Linux ports for Feral aren't as profitable as the other things they could be doing with their time, assuming they can find a developer-partner that will let them do it in the first place.

They seem to be doing just that. Mobile and Switch ports: https://www.feralinteractive.com/en/news/?platform=all [External Link]

Mac is also another refuge as AFAIK Proton is unavailable there.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: GuestSad news. Thanks for investigating for us.

Personally, all these news make me even more suspicious before buying a game. Too many games which either stop working or have their cross platform play broken or nonexistant. Rendering the game close to useless.

The key if you want a well supported native linux port of a game, is that the developer cares about it themselves to justify the port outside of financial reasons, and has a history and skills to do the work themselves. The porting houses are great, but they can't work for free. And if the money isn't there from the original developer, then it won't be there for the porting house, and the work won't get done.

I think at least Feral Interactive made deals where they would get all the profit from Linux sales, so it made sense for them to give support for the games and keep porting new games. Aspyr was first in the new wave of the market, but they never did port that many titles to Linux.

I would suppose Proton has killed market for the more commercial side of the porting. With Feral Interactive it was just easier to see as they released new ports so often. Ethan Lee and others are kind of different as they do work more in the shadows and don't care about the money as much

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Quoting: undeadbydawn

Quoting: AnzaI wasn't very good at stealth, so things usually ended up me having to knock everybody unconscious that would be running into my general direction. Bank was one of the worst places. Lot of security to get past.

Might have been easier to play it like regular FPS and just kill everybody...

Gah. They really did mess up the pacing badly towards the end. Prague is just a painful grind even with max stealth.. and of course it eats up all the Energy you need for London. I'm now at the last quest in the game and finding it a total nightmare... tempted to just blast through it purely so I've done it.
And I now discover I totally should've done the Heist mission, since it's impossible to get the best ending without it. Damn. This is a major damper on what was, up to now, arguably the best game I've ever played

I played the original Deus Ex without being aware of all the choices that I actually had. It must be easier to enjoy the story if you worry about about choices that you didn't even know you had.

If Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is your first immersive sim game, there's still plenty to explore. Previous Deus Ex games don't have official Linux support, but should work with Proton. The original is classic and if I remember correctly, it's new enough that developers had already sorted out the controls. As for the more modern ones, I have heard that Human Revolution is better than the Mankind Divided. I have never finished Human Revolution though as back then there was no Proton, you had to run Steam with Wine to play the Windows games.

Even older than that are are the System Shocks. The second one is much easier to get into. First one might feel like a flight simulator, though Nightdive Studios is working on improved version.

Bioshocks might also be fun, third one has even official Linux version. Maybe some day I should also play the first two as I have the first one already.

Also I have heard good things about the games Arkane Studios have developed, but I haven't played any of them.

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There's actually excerpt from Sid Meiers book Sid Meier's Memoir: A Life in Computer Games over at Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/09/from-pong-to-civilization-how-i-made-one-more-turn-work-on-consoles/ [External Link]

Around half way of the article there's bit where Sid Meier explains how the multiplayer worked and lag and synchronization problems were problem already then. Not being able to copy whole game state over and having random number here and there didn't help.

Doom was able to function with pregenerated list of random numbers, but I'm not sure if something like Civilization would have been fun with solution like that.

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Quoting: undeadbydawnDeus Ex: Mankind Divided, where Proton *vastly* outperforms Native [60fps Ultra vs 25fps Low]. The game is absolutely stunning and has rocketed up my all-time favourites list. I'm just about to hit the final stage [London], playing as a stealthy non-lethal hacker.
I was going to stealth through both the Machine God / Heist timelines, but am now considering a full replay as mad ninja killing machine

I wasn't very good at stealth, so things usually ended up me having to knock everybody unconscious that would be running into my general direction. Bank was one of the worst places. Lot of security to get past.

Might have been easier to play it like regular FPS and just kill everybody...

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Quoting: LungDrago

Quoting: AnzaOriginal System Shock was strange, but in odd way still fun to play. It really doesn't play like Doom, which was released year earlier. I think it's closer to sci-fi version of Ultima Underworld.

System Shock also compared to Doom has better immersion in a sense that you have reason for going to places, it's not always about finding the level exit. You can even try to escape the space station.

System Shock 2 though had lot of improvements and felt more like the more a traditional FPS game, but still retained the RPG elements (there's even a grid inventory). Engine had also evolved quite lot, which made it possible to make environments feel bit more real and recognizable.

Sadly, I never tried SS2 because of my experience with the first one. Grid inventory would help a lot, but I didn't know it had a grid inventory. If I remember correctly, what gave me trouble as a kid was actually the control scheme and user interface. It looked 10x as complicated as Doom and items were represented as text instead of sprites, so a kid like myself who wasn't as yet comfortable with English had no idea what the screen is trying to tell me.
I thought it played more like a Mechwarrior game rather than Doom - and I couldn't play the first MW either. :)

I think I must have been already teen when I played System Shock. Also having played RPG:s and System Shock 2 first made original System Shock approachable enough that I was able to get past the steep learning curve.

All that would make me interested in Deus Ex, which again is evolutionary improvement. It even has talking NPC:s.

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Quoting: LungDragoI was too young to understand System Shock back in the day, although I do have memories of trying. This remake looks incredible however, I might get my System Shock experience yet.

Original System Shock was strange, but in odd way still fun to play. It really doesn't play like Doom, which was released year earlier. I think it's closer to sci-fi version of Ultima Underworld.

System Shock also compared to Doom has better immersion in a sense that you have reason for going to places, it's not always about finding the level exit. You can even try to escape the space station.

System Shock 2 though had lot of improvements and felt more like the more a traditional FPS game, but still retained the RPG elements (there's even a grid inventory). Engine had also evolved quite lot, which made it possible to make environments feel bit more real and recognizable.

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Quoting: denyasis

Quoting: AnzaTerraria is one of those games where you can feel somewhat lost if you don't take look at a guide at some point. It's more fun to play it when you have idea that there is better weapon or armor out there, you just have find all the ingredients and in case of ores, you might have to upgrade your pickaxe. There's lot of different things to do.

Truth to be told though, I gave up before final boss. I didn't feel like going back to previous boss in hope of getting random loot that would be needed to be able to craft a better weapon.

I can see that. I think my issue is that I want a perfect balance between "open world" and lore/story/progression, which is almost impossible to do in a procedural setting. I just didn't feel compelled to continue and progress. I think I'll return to it sometime later, when I'm more in the creative mood.

I was also put off by the night time. It felt like just waiting while the game progressed without purpose. I know I could craft or something, but if I ran out of supplies, I just had to wait.

I totally agree that getting sucked into more open ended game can take more effort. Good enough tutorial can help by introducing some core concepts.

For example Factorio demo was great as it was possible to experience some things in advance that in freeplay require bit of effort to set up. It would be bit different to start with pickaxe in hand and all the instructions are that you need to build a rocket. Once you get far enough, you kind of forget the main goal while trying to optimize things and tackle problems as they appear. When that works, it's better than quests that barely have any relevance to the world.

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