gaming

Remember Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis???
Now that this game is impossible to aquire, you can play the next best thing:
Jurassic World Evolution


I was able to pick this up during a free Epic Games offer and load it up with Heroic Launcher!
Design and manage your dinosaur park by creating your own unique genetically modified dinosaurs! Customize fences, walls, giftshops, restauraunts and viewing stations! Send your scientists out on digs to find new bones and dino-DNA to research new types of genes. Create a magical world of roaming dinosaurs and tantilize your guests!

In Heroic Launcher I had no problems downloading the game and launching. Everything literally worked out-of-the-box with bundled proton!

Specs:
Mint 20.3 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1650
Nvidia 515
Heroic Launcher
Proton Experimental...

Blizzard recently released a complete graphical overhaul for Diablo II and I caught it during a sale!

https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/diablo_ii_resurrected?p=168305

Everything in the game has been updated with new graphics and widescreen compatibility! Even online co-op is available!

Play the epic Diablo II with all the eyecandy you wanted and even press "G" to play with original 1990's graphics!


I was able to install Battle.net in PlayOnLinux but initially unable to run the Diablo II launcher. Darandin provided the solution for DirectX12 compatibility:

Download the 2.6 release vkd3d-proton-2.6.tar.zst:
https://github.com/HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton/releases/download/v2.6/vkd3d-proton-2.6.tar.zst

You can extract it, and then simply run the provided script to install the dx12 libraries automatically. You just need to ensure to set the path to the wine prefix for the game, and then simply run the script...

Streets of Rogue is a procedurally generated action stealth game with many classes, abilities and random events. Classes all have advantages and disadvantages which can help you to complete your missions. Enter the streets with your friends among NCP thugs, police, gangsters, mobsters, vampires, gorillas and even zombies. Take your chances by completing missions to earn money or just roam around an break-in to a building for some loot.

The streets are harsh and unforgiving, but so are you!


I've been following Streets of Rogue since it was in development on moddb.com and it has become quite an epic game with so many unpredictable scenarios. Replayability is the reall niche here... you'll never have the same experience twice, but mission do repeat themselves.

Thankfully Matt Dabrowski was kind enough to creat a native Linux port for us and it plays beautifully! Everything is destructible and 8-bit graphics style.

I was able to pick it up on...

SupraLand is a first person adventure, action, puzzle game with some stunning graphics and features.

Play as the hero of the back yard sandbox... help the red people to find out why the water stopped and explore huge detailed world made of sandbox toys. There are many hidden areas, powerups, coins and enemies. Spare no expense!


I picked up the game for free on Epic Store and was able to play perfectly with Heroic Launcher in Linux. Never experienced a crash or stutter. This game runs smoothly and its a lot of fun. I found myself exploring and finding all kinds of secrets. My GeForce GTX 1650 runs it just fine!

Specs:
Mint 20.3 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1650
Nvidia 515
Heroic Launcher
Proton Eperimental (version 7)

...

Beautiful Desolation is a top-down adventure game with no combat inspired by nostalgic games like Sanitarium. You are teleported to the future into an apocalypse! What happened and how did this happen? Explore detailed pre-rendered desolate landscapes! Interact with interesting characters with clever dialog and optional conversation paths.

https://www.gog.com/game/beautiful_desolation

The Brotherhood was kind enough to provide us with a native Linux port and it runs beautifully in 1920x1080 resolution. This isn't an open world game, it is very restrictive and linear, but still a lot to explore.

There is even a demo available:
https://www.gog.com/game/beautiful_desolation_demo

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1650 (4GB)
Nvidia 470

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What begins as a corporate espionage turns out to be a paranormal extravaganza! Federal Bureau of Control is a secret government agency experimenting in secret weapons, but something happens and now they are in complete lock down. Play as Jesse Faden and investigate what happened while also discovering your new abilities....


I was able to pick up Control for free on Epic Games. Then I was able to download and play the game in Heroic games launcher without any issues. I even recently picked up a new video card and Control runs pretty well with most settings on high. The video doesn't display the full performance I get in Mint on my GeForce GTX 1650. I've had a few frame rate stutters when indoor (of all places) but the large areas seem to run great. Physics are amazing and do not seem to cause any lag as you destroy everything in sight.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1650
Nvidia 470
Proton 7.0

...

Never Alone is a co-op puzzle platform game inspired by Iñupiat, (Alaska Natives). The visuals are stunning and the physics make each puzzle interesting and challenging. Make your way through the icy Alaskan mountains and rivers with your pet fox. Work together and see the majestic spirit world appear with new puzzles and creepy creatures!

https://www.gog.com/game/never_alone_arctic_collection

Upper One Games / E-Line Media was nice enough to provide a native Linux version and it runs beautifully! I was able to use the keyboard & mouse while my daughter played with the Xbox controller.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1650
Nvidia 470

...

Pine is yet another open world RPG with gathering, crafting, skills and such, but also some interesting features. The world of Pine is full of animal clans you can befriend and fight alongside. Explore many biomes and find a safe place for your human clan to live in a world of intelligent animals who are enemies or allies.


I picked up Pine on Epic games for free and it was worth if for sure! The game plays beautifully and there are only a few instances with some serious stutter. Other than that, I found that the game has issues loading and can take almost a whole 2 minutes to reload after dying.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 470
Proton 7.0
Heroic Games Launcher

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Sclerosis: an Amnesia PS1 demake is a re-make of Amnesia Dark Descent with Playstation 1 look and feel.
Re-live the horror experience as Daniel finding himself among sacred dungeons and experiments gone wrong.
Play for free like it was 2001...

https://createam.itch.io/sclerosis-an-amnesia-ps1-demake


Made with the Unity 3D engine, I didn't experience any issues in Linux. Playstation 1 games have extremely low requirements so performance was spectacular as expected. I loved all the interactive objects, lighting effects and spooky sounds. Makes me want to play the original Amnesia all over again.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 470
PlayOnLinux 4.3.4
Wine 6.17-staging64-bit
DXVK 1.9.1

...

I kept hearing the hype about Stardew Valley and thought it was just another farming/crafting game like many others. I did notice there is LAN co-op available which is always great for playing with the family.
So I finally checked it out... I love it!

Farming is the main feature of the game, but there is still a lot to do. Cut trees, mine rocks, plant seeds, water crops, fish, meet towns people and much more. There is even fighting in the caves or at night!

Like many crafting games you have a short list of available items to craft, but you can learn recipe's and level up your skills to be more efficient.


The developers were nice enough to provide a Linux version for us and everything works perfectly! I was able to host a co-op game and my wife-n-daughters joined with out any problems. The game runs smoothly and there are plenty areas to explore and events to do together.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 470...

I never played the original Bloodborn on the Playstation, but this game reminds me of Dark Souls soooo much! The movement, the backgrounds and even the sound effects are just like Dark Souls!


Download Bloodborn PSX for free and customize the graphics to simulate a 1990's CRT television and enjoy the old school hack-n-slash!

https://b0tster.itch.io/bbpsx

I was unable to play this game on stable versions of Wine because of dependencies needed for Unreal Engine.
But I quickly found that staging versions are able to run it almost perfectly! There are some staticy sound artifacts which I tried to fix by installing xact and Direct X June 2010, but it didn't help. So I just dealt with it...

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 470
Wine: 6.17-Staging
DXVK 1.9.2

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Assassin's Creed Unity takes place in France during the French Revolution. Make your way through the streets alone or with 3 friends and free the lower class from oppression by assassinating key figures in power. Purchase costumes, gear, skills and even co-op boosts to complete the single-player campaign or co-op missions.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/289650/Assassins_Creed_Unity/


Unity runs really well in Linux Mint but there are times when it might randomly crash. Sometimes we had a hard time connecting a co-op session because one computer appeared offline for no apparent reason. Other than that, I was able to crank up the graphics to Very High and still enjoy a decent frame rate. Expect to see "Processing Vulkan Shaders" from time to time.

I was only able to play Unity in E-Proton7-9 (Glorious EggRoll) as other versions would crash UPlay/UConnect

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060 & GTX 950
Nvidia 470
E-Proton7-9...

Dungeon Hunter is a mobile RPG series that is completely free-to-play. Fight in an epic story in singleplayer campaign or play co-op with 3 friends in all kinds of beautiful war-torn environments in Valenthia. Wield hundreds of weapons, armor and spells... fight in tower defense modes and take on daily events.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/982510/Dungeon_Hunter_5/


Dungeon Hunter 5 has a Diablo meets Torchlight feel and graphical style. The only downside is the levels are very small and completed very quickly. I could only play using Proton 6.3. None of the other versions of Proton or GE worked... the game would time-out with internet connectivity at the beginning.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Nvidia 470
Proton 6.3-8

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Island Saver is a free-to-play first person clean-up game where you are saving the island from litter bugs who want to pollute it. Wield your Trash Blaster and suck washed up plastic and recycle it. Then suck up water can and clean the black goo from trees, water and recycling objects which help you clean up the island.

This is an absolutely kid safe game! And its educational by teaching kids how plastic and pollution can damage the environment and an animal ecosystems. Once you complete the free-to-play island, you can pay for more islands and continue the adventure!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1210250/Island_Saver/


I was unable to play Island Saver with standard issue proton or experimental, because it requires Media Foundation to play the videos. So I tried ProtonGE and it played beautifully!

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060
Proton 6.21 GE 2

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Left4Dead 2 is a zombie apocalypse co-op shooter made by Valve with the Source engine in 2008. The story follows 4 people who are trying to survive zombie hordes with a movie-esque cinematic feel like the classic horror movies. Enjoy slaying all kinds of zombified humans and special mutated monsters with classic weapons like machetes, pistols, shotguns, UZIs and much more!

Play co-op with friends or solo with 3 bots and hack your way through running hordes of zombies to the safe house. Left4Dead 2 even includes all the maps from Left4Dead 1. Now you can play the entire story!


Valve was nice enough to port Left4Dead 2 to Linux so we can host games and join games without any need for Proton or Wine. You may notice a bit of stutter in the beginning of the video, but other than that it runs beautifully! I have hosted this game in LAN parties for years and it has always run great! There was only one instance where my game kept crashing...

PREY is an absolute "Must Play" if you are a first person shooter gamer! Imagine System Shock 2 on steroids with amazing graphics, clever morphing aliens, psionic abilities, loot, crafting, survival, sneaking and more. Of course all happening on a space station! Doesn't get any better than this!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/480490/Prey/

I remember testing PREY crashing a few years ago: reddit
But now it runs beautifully! I was even able to get a decent frame rate while recording and playing! I'm even using the same hardware, but newer Nvidia drivers, Proton, Vulkan and Mint version.

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
Nvidia 470
Proton 6.3-8

...

Children of Morta is a couch co-op action RPG in a fantasy world of dungeon crawling. Enter the lives of the Bergson family where their land is becoming corrupted by darkness and evil. Slowly level up each character starting with the mother and father but later adding their children. Change characters between dungeon runs and learn each one of their intricate abilities. There is no permadeath, but survival is key to moving ahead and stopping hordes of evil.

https://www.gog.com/game/children_of_morta

Children of Morta comes with a native Linux edition and it runs very nicely. Performance isn't an issues since it is 2D pixel art. I was able to play with keyboard/mouse and an Xbox controller in co-op. The one frustrating thing about this game is... its very hard! We never finished the first dungeon. I love that the dungeons are procedurally generated... which is great, but until you finish the boss, you can't make it to the next level. There are several other...

Rise Of The Tomb Raider is another epic chapter in the life of Laura Croft. She is searching for the Lost City of Kitezh by following the relics and stories of religious prophet. But a new enemy has risen to beat her to the prize: Trinity

Survive in the frozen mountains climbing death defying cliffs, hunt animals with your bow, loot to craft new upgrades and take out mercenaries with a new throw-able weapon crafting system.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/rise-of-the-tomb-raider


I was able to install Heroic Launcher and run Rise Of The Tomb Raider with very little issues. At first I had some logging in problems, but waited a day and I logged in just fine. Performance is hit-n-miss with Tomb Raider probably because of Proton/Vulkan Shaders. Any time I initially load a save game it takes about a minute to render the entire map so it will stutter and freeze... but when its done the game runs perfectly with nice frame...

Who doesn't like the Borderlands series?
Procedurally generated weapons/loot/vending machines, hilarious enemies, hideous creatures and minions that level up. Play as one of 4 classes and continue the story of Handsome Jack and his plan to rule Pandora. This should be easy right? Level up our skills, equip your gear and tear through deserts, icy mountains and mechanical cities.


Borderlands 2 provides us Linux gamers with a native port that runs beautifully! I am playing co-op with my two daughters and only one computer had a problems with shadows. I edited a configuration file and enabled shadows, then we were on our way!

Specs:
Mint 20.2 64-bit
GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 950, 750 Ti
Nvidia 470

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Eternal Evil is a first person survival shooter made by one person. This is no run-n-gun shooter but instead more of a survival horror with story, weapons and puzzles. Each level is very small but packed with zombies and detail. Finding weapons, ammo and health is no easy task when zombies are clawing at your back. Each zombie walks, moves and attacks with physics instead of animation. They crawl on the ground, bump into objects and smack other zombies. Be careful, if they feed on you they become powerful and almost impossible to kill. Even objects in buildings are completely interactive with physics. Use books or chairs to slow down zombies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604260/Eternal_Evil_Prologue/


I'm absolutely amazing how detailed and intense this game is! I had to play through the Prologue several times to make it a bit further. Ammo is very limited and you have to be careful how you use it. Run out of ammo and...