The only game I have ever played is FIFA on a PS4. Now I have a gaming laptop but have no idea how I should go about playing games on Linux. Appreciate your help in advance!
This is such a short, sweet game, runs on everything: Portal. Even my mom likes it!
Portal and Portal 2 are my go to tests for if a machine qualifies as “an computer”. Basically, if it can run those, it’s probably good enough to be grandmas facebook machine. Might have to toss an ssd into it (exactly what I did with an old core2duo hp pavilion), but generally I find it to be a good rule of thumb.
Plus it gives me an excuse to play Portal when I test a machine :P
Just last week, I fired up Portal with RTX (on Windows, I’m ashamed to admit), and holy guacamole, I think it stresses my gpu more than any other game in my library!
Addictive? Factorio.
The factory must grow!
cracktorio. I had to uninstall it
Factorio
It must grow.
This factorio has a native linux cliënt!
Doesn’t seem to be on the list yet:
Terraria.
I have hundreds of hours on my steam account, and I’m pretty sure it’s actually thousands. It’s a great game, and it’s been updated so much since it released. When you could buy and hold gift copies of steam, I used to regularly buy new copies to hang on to to hand out to people; I’ve probably gotten ten people into it. Currently doing a modded master playthrough with my family and having a great time.
Terraria is an absolutely wonderful game, I’m in the thousands of hours as well. It’s probably worth a warning for a first time gamer that it can be hard to progress without a bit of guidance. If you want to stumble in the dark for a while, that’s awesome, just go for it. If you want a little more guidance, check out the official wiki (https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Terraria_Wiki) and especially its getting started guide.
Yeah, the wiki is a big help, as is being aware that any item that has ‘Material’ in the list of traits when you mouse over it, can be brought to the guide, when you talk to him one of the options is ‘crafting’, and the empty blue box in that menu can have said items dropped into it for a list of all recipes using it, along with what workstation it takes.
Calamity.
It’s like a second game.
I can’t believe people don’t add it to the recommendation every time.
Finish Terraria, get Calamity, go nuts.
Calamity is great, but if you’ve never played any other games, I’d try others before running straight from Terraria to Calamity. If just for a broader experience
Factorio
It’s worse than crack cocaine.
Hard to say without some indication of what sort of thing you’d like. Are you looking for something to just power trip and blow off steam, are you looking for strategy games that make you think, narrative experiences, dexterity/reaction time challenges etc etc etc? But knowing absolutely nothing here’s 3 good games:
Stardew Valley has native Linux support. It’s a game about farming. There’s not really any consequences for doing things slowly so take your time and enjoy the game.
factorio is a strategy game essentially about optimizing supply lines. Programmer types tend to find it extremely addicting.
Baulder’s gate 3 is a Turn based RPG based on Dungeon’s and Dragons. It may be a little difficult for beginners especially if you haven’t played DnD but it is also one of the best games to have come out recently having swept all the award shows for both it’s great story telling and run mechanics.
If there’s anyone in your life who really likes gaming asking them for games you can play together or that they can watch/guide you through would be a great idea.
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Install Team Fortress 2
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Get prawned like a noob repeatedly
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Get good
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Prawn noobs repeatedly
I’m somewhere between steps 2 and 3 myself after around 2500 hours or so of gameplay.
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So, you’re a tech nerd who wants an addictive game?
Factorio.
Also Satisfactory, but I’m not sure how well it runs on Linux. Fairly sure Factorio will run on just about anything
Also Dyson Sphere Program. They are all amazing factory games, but personally I like DSP the most when playing alone, and Satisfactory for multiplayer. And yes they all run fine on Linux.
Unrelated, but it is interesting that people ask for addictive games rather than for good games. Those are not the same.
Don’t miss this entire genre: classic LucasArts point-and-click adventure games! Sam & Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle and Monkey Island are a few of the stand-outs for me, and they all run on Linux via the amazing ScummVM.
That, as others have mentioned, is a moderately difficult question for us without knowing what you like or what the specs on your laptop are.
If you install Steam, they have a pretty generous return policy. You just need to act within 2 weeks of the purchase OR before you hit a total of two hours played in that game - whichever comes first. I like Steam because the Proton compatibility layer built in makes gaming on Linux so incredibly easy.
I’m hesitant to do so because you undoubtedly like different things, but here is a short list of some of the games I’ve played that I really enjoyed based on total time played.
Sid Meier’s Civilization (the whole series is good, but 5 is my favorite)
Stellaris
Battletech
Satisfactory
Valheim
Football Manager (think of this title as the complex strategy game to FIFA’s action game)
I agree!
Get Freedoom for free or the doom2.wad-file from somewhere, download GZDoom (flatpack), download Brutal Doom and start it with Doom Runner.
Damn, it sounds pretty complicated like this, watch a YouTube-tutorial maybe. It’s worth it.
Deep Rock Galactic
Unfortunately very instable on my machine (Mint, 16 Go RAM, i7). I would not recommend on Linux
False, I have 0 issues with DRG (ryzen, 7900, tumbleweed)
Strange, never had any issues here
I’ve never been able to get it to launch on Linux (Ubuntu 23, 16 GB, AMD Ryzen)
Go with a classic: Minecraft Java. Bonus - use the prism launcher for mod packs. Vanilla MC is kinda boring (at least once you see all the bonkers stuff mods can add, just like Skyrim XD )
A lot of these recommendations are for advanced gamers.
Some more entry level games include Portal and journey.
Slay the spire is also excellent if you like card games.
I loved Slay the Spire but eventually having the same enemies every game and the luck required to build a solid deck wore me out. Luckily I slayed the spire once. It was as the Defect, that’s like the easiest build because the automated orbs blast the hell out of everything. But it counts and I can finally rest.
Anyway, looking forward to Spire II, will probably buy it the instant it is available.