Links 7/4/2014: Games
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-07 08:47:26 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-07 08:47:26 UTC
The Linux land has a reputation, especially among developers used to Windows, of being – let's say – somewhat savage, uncivilized. We've all heard the ghost stories: things being downright broken, lack of documentation and general despair; people coming, exclaiming: "what the fuck?!" and going right back.
In little over a year since the first stable version of Steam for Linux emerged, the number of Linux-supported games continues to grow at a rapid pace. Valve's digital game distribution currently hosts 376 games for Linux, with many quality commercial titles such as Shadowrun: Dragonfall, System Shock 2, and Europa Universalis IV to name-drop just a few of our favorites. With more game engines being natively ported to Linux, this trend is going to continue. For example, the CryEngine technology has recently been natively ported to Linux, so we could see ports of games like Ryse: Son of Rome and Crysis 3.
Every month Valve publishes a comprehensive hardware and software survey that reflects what is being used to run the Steam client. It’s been pretty accurate until now, but a couple of months ago Valve made a few small modification and eliminated most of the inconsequential entries for various other distros.
In the past I had a look at 17 free games available for Linux, overviewed here and here. In this article I will have a look at five more completely free and open-source games available to install in any distribution out there.
Shipwrecked. Captured. Betrayed. Forced to perform for an audience of cats? Yes, all that and more when you unlock BattleBlock Theater! This game just sounds funny!
It has only been a week since we let you know about Icebound, but it's now been released! Icebound is a dark fantasy visual novel that takes place in a steampunk world locked in the depths of an ice age, where alchemists possess supernatural powers.
Star Gem and Gaijin Entertainment’s inter-galactic MMORPG, Star Conflict, is celebrating its two year anniversary with a pretty hefty update that will see it gain Oculus Rift and Linux support.
We're extremely excited that Epic is porting Unreal Engine 4 to Linux -- see the official announcement or some press here and here. Once we heard UE4 Linux was coming we pretty much dropped everything to ensure vogl can handle UE4 callstreams. The latest code on github now supports full-stream tracing/replaying and trimming of UE4 callstreams in either GL3 or GL4 mode. UI support for UE4 is still in the early stages, but now that we can snapshot/restore UE4 and continue to play back the callstream without diverging it's only matter of time before the UI comes up to speed.
FaeVerse Alchemy, a puzzle game developed and published by Subsoap, has been released on Steam for Linux with a small 9% discount.
Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden, a point and click adventure developed and published on Steam by Artifex Mundi sp. z o.o., has also received a Linux version and a sizable discount.
Harvester, a disturbing adventure video game developed by DigiFX Interactive and published by Night Dive Studios, is now available on Steam for Linux.
While the voglperf code has been public for some time within Git, the first initial release of Voglperf was tagged on Tuesday evening by a Valve developer.
Getting games to stream properly from Windows to Linux seems to be the main focus of the Valve developers and many of the patches deal strictly with this feature. It's unlikely that In-Home Streaming will exist the Beta stages too soon, but the developers might surprise us with the next stable release.
One month after releasing Unreal Engine 4 and talking about Unreal Engine 4 Linux support, Epic Games released Unreal Engine 4.1 preview today and it's paired with first-rate Linux support.
The Unreal developers from Epic Games have expressed their support before for the Linux platform, but now they actually made it possible with the latest update for the Unreal Engine 4.
Good news for gamers who've been eyeing Valve's upcoming Steam Machines: Unreal Engine 4.1 will support the Linux-based SteamOS after a pending update. In a blog post today, Epic Games' Mike Fricker announced that the source code now includes "initial support for running and packaging games for Linux and Steam OS." This means that upcoming UE4 titles like Daylight and Fortnite could be ported to the systems.
Unreal Engine 4, the newest version of the game engine that powers many a AAA gaming title, just got a feature that may prove quite important in the near feature: the ability to build games that run on Linux.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Czech Mate: EPO Kingmaker or Merely a Pawn in the Game?
- recent "missions" of the EPO President
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 131 Out of 200: A Big Win for the Media in the United Kingdom (UK) Today
- In a democratic society the Right to Know, which is closely connected to freedom of the press (or what one might label "blogging" or "blag"), comes above all else, except where there are lives being put at risk
- IBM's Fedora Plans to Integrate Slop Into "Fedora Workstation as a Default Feature."
- IBM does not care whether the community wants this or not
- The Media Talks a Lot About XBox Layoffs, a Closer Look at the Data Shows Microsoft 'Bloodbath'
- 'Bloodbath' is the term insiders use
-
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 07, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, July 07, 2026
- Links 07/07/2026: Microsoft Cuts Doom "id Software" and Turkey Detains Journalists
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 07/07/2026: Old Computer Challenge (OCC) and Hardware Tests
- Links for the day
- A Break From the Routine
- What matters is what whistleblowers keep feeding information to us
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 132 Out of 200: When You Cannot Pay a Million Pounds (1,335,520.00 United States Dollar) to Lawyers But Have a Strong Community
- Techrights compensates for its fiscal poverty with a wealth of community spirit
- Fame is Not the Goal
- "Fame" kills
- Mental Health in Free Software Communities
- clearly there is a subject that merits debate and it ought not be a taboo anymore
- The Era of Sponsored Spam
- There is no "era of AI", there is era of BRIBES to PRETEND there is an "era of AI"
- Gemini Links 07/07/2026: Cleaning, Old Computer, and More
- Links for the day
- Links 07/07/2026: Le Monde Combats LLM Slop Plagiarism, "ACLU Launches Largest Ever Midterm Electoral Program"
- Links for the day
- Extremism in the Free Software World is Mostly a Myth
- Only the firm belief that justice applies to all will produce a just society
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 06, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, July 06, 2026
- Links 07/07/2026: Kernelized Secure Operating System (KSOS) and "Exploiting Thoughtcrime in LLMs"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 130 Out of 200: Jealousy, Envy, Hubris
- This site is primarily about Free software
- Gemini Links 06/07/2026: Still Mostly Dry, GoToSocial, and More
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Effective Dispute Resolution… But Not For EPO Staff
- Slovenia fielded one of the few Administrative Council delegations which managed to maintain its own independent line against the tyrannical EPOnian "Sun King"
- Community Sites Need Genuine Collaboration and True Autonomy
- People who want to communicate, federate and organise for effective change need to evolve
- Free Software Foundation (FSF) Covers Quibble, Free Software for Secure Communications, in the FSF Summer Bulletin
- The Georgia Tech folks are bringing Free software education and contributions to one of the better known Computer Science hubs in the US
- Microsoft Layoffs Include Windows, Bing, Slop (CoPilot etc.) and There Will More More Rounds (or Waves) to Come
- "43% of Xbox laid off"
- Obscene Contradiction in Microsoft's Layoffs Tally ("Official" Numbers Do Not Add Up)
- Notice how they treat "LinkedIn" as separate
- Preserving Comments About the Real IBM Before They Get Deleted
- IBM in the 1980s is not what it is right now
- Cybershow on "Escaping Prisons For Your Mind"
- "THE CYBER SHOW: Stealing technofascism's boots, and stomping on its own face with them."
- Links 06/07/2026: At Least 20% Staff Reduction in XBox (Microsoft), Taiwan Sees Uptick in Chinese Aggression/Provocation, Senator Rodante Marcoleta Arrested
- Links for the day
- Confirmed: Microsoft Layoffs Come in Two Waves, Just Like Last Summer
- To us, what stands out is the admission from Microsoft that there are two (or more) waves
- In Praise of the UK's Stance on Free Speech (but Some Reservations)
- At the moment there is a healthy discussion going on with the objective of disrupting attacks on British press
- Exposing Corruption at the European Patent Office (EPO), a Call for More Whistleblowers
- We predict that, provided enough whistleblowers speak out, António "the unready" won't even finish his current term
- Leaving Our Pets for Several Days
- This week our pets will be worried that "mommy and daddy" are away
- Dating Trees and Dating 'Apps'
- several high-profile stories in the news about scandals in "dating apps"
- DW Documentary About Julian Assange Turns 2
- It was released just days after Assange had turned 53 and about two weeks after he had left the UK
- Independent Media is the Only Form of Legitimate Media
- Independent media is, indeed, what we need to demand more of
- The Story of the European Patent Office (EPO) Wagging the Dog (EU)
- The aim of the series is to properly inform the world - not just Europeans - how Europe's second-largest institution is run [...] How did a corporate hub of monopolies become so detached from the Rule of Law?
- GNU/Linux Up to New High in Libya, Windows Down to All-Time Low
- GNU/Linux touches 5% there, based on statCounter
- Links 06/07/2026: Artists Reject Slop (or Even de Facto Bribes to Market/Endorse Slop)
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 129 Out of 200: Iranian Tactics
- Hunger for revenge compels people to do overzealous, irrational things
- Quiet Week
- Many in the US are still enjoying an extended weekend
- The Media Needs to Speak of Slop as a Climate Issue Like It Did With Bitcoin
- But the slop industry keeps paying the media to play along with the hype
- IBM's Fall
- IBM's fate is closely connected to that of the Free software movement because of the salaries
- Social Dialogue at the European Patent Office (EPO) is Dead, the Strikes and Work Stoppage-Like Actions Carry on
- What next for the EPO?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 05, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 05, 2026
- Links 05/07/2026: Shadows of the Upper Peninsula and 2026 Old Computer Challenge
- Links for the day
