SC Controller driver and UI version 0.4.5 is out, last release for a while

PlayOnLinux 5.0 Alpha Released With Redesigned UI, Phoenicis

It's been a long time since last hearing anything new with PlayOnLinux, a graphical front-end to Wine catered towards making it easier running Windows games on Linux, but they are out this weekend with a version 5.0 alpha release.

OpenRA for playing classic Command & Conquer titles has a fresh release up with AppImages for Linux builds

The excellent open source RTS game engine OpenRA [Official Site], which allows you to play classic Command & Conquer titles has a new release out.

As a reminder, it currently supports Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert and Dune 2000 officially. They're working on Tiberian Sun, which is one of their current major goals with the project. It's taking a long time though, since it's quite different to the other games. For the existing games, it will download the required content for you since they were set free by EA years ago.

Looks like Galaxy in Turmoil, an exciting looking free to play shooter will come to Linux

Galaxy in Turmoil [Steam] is an upcoming shooter that looks promising, with large 32v32 battles that take place both on the ground and in the air. The developers are looking to do a Linux version too.

From what I understand, it started off as a fan-made Star Wars game, but Lucasfilm got involved and asked them to remove all Star Wars related IP and so they're now going their own way.

The beautiful puzzle adventure 'The Gardens Between' is now out with native Linux support

The Gardens Between from The Voxel Agents looks like a fantastic puzzle adventure and it's now available with native Linux support.

Feral Interactive are teasing ANOTHER new Linux port

As a reminder, Feral Interactive have only recently release Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Total War: Warhammer II is confirmed to be coming this autumn. On top of that, last month they also put up another teaser that we're still guessing.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do try to get more ports out earlier now, especially with Steam Play which would eat into their Linux port sales. Anyway…looks like 2018 really will be another great year for Linux gaming!

The amount of Linux games Feral has ported now is kind of ridiculous: XCOM, XCOM 2, Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Mad Max, Shadow of Mordor, HITMAN, F1 2017, Life is Strange, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Dawn of War II, Dawn of War III, DiRT Rally and the list goes on.

Free to play third-person shooter 'The Misfits' has a Linux version that's currently hidden on Steam, works well

The Misfits, a free to play third-person shooter from PigDogGames that's currently in Early Access has a Linux version on Steam, although it's currently hidden it does work well.

The latest Steam Client Beta has some fixes for Steam Play, Steam Link improvements and so on

For those of you who like to live life on the edge, the Steam Client Beta was updated yesterday with some fixes for Steam Play amongst other things.

For Steam Play, Valve fixed an issue with install scripts for Steam Play games sometimes not running correctly after you've used Big Picture Mode. Additionally, something a few people noticed with Steam Play was missing DLC, this should also now be fixed. Hopefully not long before those go in the stable client, since they can be quite troublesome issues.

Fast-paced platform racer 'RAZED' is now out and it's pretty good

Much like Sonic, the idea is to run as fast as you can while avoiding obstacles with your special running shoes. They're not your ordinary running shoes, since one of them will explode if you run out of energy which you accumulate by running. Any special abilities you have, will also use that same energy so if you use too much—boom!

Lamplight City, the steampunk-ish detective adventure game is now out

From developer Grundislav Games, who also made A Golden Wake, Lamplight City is a detective adventure set in a alternate "Victorian" setting.

Din's Legacy action-RPG enters Early Access with Linux support

Din's Legacy, the latest action-RPG from Soldak Entertainment has entered Early Access on Steam and early reports suggest it could be good when further developed.

The MMO tactical shooter Mavericks has a release delay, Linux support still coming

Mavericks [Official Site] is an incredibly promising sounding shooter with an interesting take on the Battle Royale-type games although it's having a delay in the release.

The Windows release for people who become "Founders" (their form of giving people Early Access) was due today, instead they're now aiming for November 29th. Talking about the delay, they mentioned how they needed some "more advanced tools" to keep an eye on what's going on along with needing some gameplay adjustments.

Ioquake3-Derived Spearmint 1.0 Engine Coming Next Month, But Ceasing Development

Spearmint, an enhanced version of the open-source ioquake3 engine in turn derived from the id Tech 3 source code, will see the big "1.0" milestone in October. But that will also coincide with the developer and ioquake3 maintainer ceasing work on this engine now with an eighteen year lineage.

Village building god sim 'Rise to Ruins' had an absolutely massive update

Rise to Ruins, a village builder that mixes in some god sim fun just went through a bit of an evolution with the latest patch, which really is absolutely massive. In terms of file-size the patch was relatively small, but good things come in small packages!

Roguelike RPG 'Depth of Extinction' is nearing release with a launch trailer

I'm personally very excited about Depth of Extinction, a roguelike RPG with turn-based battles and an interesting setting. The release is closing in for this month and they have a new launch trailer. Note: This was a personal purchase for me.

Puzlogic combines elements from Sudoku and Kakuro to make an interesting puzzle game

Puzlogic from developer Eduardo Barreto was released on Steam back in July and it just recently gained Linux support. It combines elements from Sudoku and Kakuro along with some lovely ambient music to create a pretty decent and relaxing experience.

Currently in Early Access, the developer expects the full release to be available in the first part of 2019.

Never Split the Party, a free online team-based action-RPG is now on Linux

Never one to pass up trying out a free game, today I tested out some of Never Split the Party, an "an ultra social rogue-like" and it's not bad. While the game is free to play, you only get given one single character. If you want access to the others, you need to buy the Fellowship DLC which will unlock the Cleric, Rogue, Mage, Ranger and Mercenary.

Godot Engine 3.1 will have support for simplex noise generation which looks incredibly useful

Godot Engine 3.1 [Official Site], the big upgrade coming to the open source game engine has gained another exciting feature with simplex noise generation.

One of the fine folks in the Intel Mesa driver team has written up a post on their work improving games in DXVK

Writing on their personal blog, Jason Ekstrand from the Intel Mesa team has written up some information on what they've been doing to improve the Intel drivers on Linux. What they're talking about isn't exactly new, since the fixes are already in Mesa but it's nice to get some information about how they came across the issues and what they did to solve them.

Regardless of your feelings towards Wine, DXVK, Steam Play and so on, no one can ignore the benefits they bring to the people actually working on the drivers. Giving them so many more ways to test and push Linux graphics drivers is a good thing, as it means we can end up with much better drivers for all sorts of workloads (not just gaming!).