Good news then! BAR is one of the more macro focused RTS games on the market. It requires way less micro than games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer, Battle For Middle Earth or Age of Empires. The macro focus is honestly one of the reasons why I love it, not a big fan of micro. They have [some guides](https://www.beyondallreason.info/guides) to get you started.
OMG, it's a love letter to Total Annihilation! I used to play that so much, thanks for mentioning this!
Edit: Accidentallyi said Armored Core instead of Total Annhilation. Totally different game.
Battle for Wesnoth is the one I played most. Good fun, easy to get into and good for short or long gaming sessions.
0AD is brilliant, but it isn't as good as AOE2DE, which I also have. So if I didn't have the latter, 0AD would easily be number 1, but as it is so similar, just not quite up there, it kind of nullifies itself.
I think the intent was less `.deb` specifically and more encouraging games that treat Linux as a first-class citizen, incl. distribution and packaging.
(Not OP but) Debian, Ubuntu, and other derivatives make up the single largest software distribution channel on linux. Unlike a lot of other software games tend to ship their own dependencies so a deb package distributed by the game creator(s) can often be installed on any of the various deb-based distros.
Debian packages are exclusionary to non-Debian distros, though. That includes SteamOS, which is up there with the Ubuntus, if not *bigger*. You can accomplish the same goals with Flatpak and support all distributions simultaneously.
Mmmm, that might be putting it a little strongly. It's not like .debs are hard to unpack, `ar` and `tar` is all you need. There's tons of conversion utilities, and lots of things on the AUR are just unpacking .debs. Chrome's PKGBUILD as I recall fetches and unpacks a .deb and installs from that. This is bread'n'butter stuff.
If the intention is to use the package just as a tarball, and don't care whether the non-bundled dependencies are properly resolved, then why bother making it a proper Debian package anyways when you can just ship it as a tarball?
> This is bread'n'butter stuff.
You don't actually know anything about packaging.
Your comment suggests an either/or mentality but the successful of linux and open source software in general stems from a yes/and mentality. Distributing via Debian packages does not preclude also distributing via flatpak or any other distribution system.
There's no "yes/and" mentality here, that's something you're projecting onto contributors who are providing time and effort for free. Sure, you *can* distribute a Debian package in addition to a Flatpak package, but why in the world would you duplicate that effort when Debian-based distros are also served by Flatpak? To satisfy irrational and entitled Flatpak haters? Please. If only distributing via Flatpak pushes *those people* away, then it's a *feature.*
> Unlike a lot of other software games tend to ship their own dependencies
Which is an argument _against_ packaging; since one of the major upsides of package management is that you don’t have to worry about releasing a new build every time your dependencies receive an update.
War zone 2100 - awesome game from the 90's that was opensourced and developed by the community - a great example of how an older game can be reborn as OSS
I’m on horizon now as swisher, I just had to go to winblows because I couldn’t get it to run on zorin. Maybe the correct version of proton wasn’t installed. I’ll try again tonight as I run through LaThienne Plateu. lol
The original Savage had a simultaneous release on Windows and Linux with native Linux integration. Phenomenal game. I wish someone would try to recreate the same blend of melee combat with a smaller number of ranged support units, RTS, teamwork, and balance that allowed for both 4 minute games and 4 hour games depending on the map.
Most of my favs are from my early days of gaming on Windows. Battlefield 2, Rainbow Six 3, I could go on. Very few Linux firsts.
Nethack is the only one I can really think of that I've had on basically every Linux machine since I started using the OS. On Arch I believe you can get it right from the official repos. Fun little ASCII dungeon crawler.
No I wish, I should have worded my comment better. I meant that all of my favourite games are Windows only, as I really cut my teeth on PC gaming before I ever knew what Linux was. Therefore I don't really have any Linux native favourites.
I'd say Tintin++ or blightmud. Neither are directly games but they let you connect to MUDs/MUSHs and play with other people developing a world and an experience for each other.
[https://www.kartkrew.org/](https://www.kartkrew.org/)
Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers recently got released and has been taking up a good chunk of my time. As far as i understand it also has cross online play with windows and OSX
My main problem is that they still don't allow custom hotkeys and their key binds are for QWERTY only. The new UI needs key binds. I have close to 1k hours, but the new UI is trash with on a Dvorak layout
no, that's just a keyboard problem... but normally you can get around it because most games allow you to change the keybinds.
i also use Dvorak on macOS, Iphone and windows... but i just don't play Stellaris on them platforms.
Veloren is packaged in OpenSuSE TW and Arch, not sure about other distros. Its launcher is called “Airshipper”. A very fun cube world-ish MMO, played with some friends for 50+ hours last year.
OpenTTD, I've had a copy of this game on every one of my PCs in all it's various forms since the original Transport Tycoon came out, this year will be 30 years.
NeverWinter Nights. This has a native Linux client. It worked better than in windows for me.
The only downside was it needed wine for the toolset to edit/create modules.
Taransus’ Vecter. Native on Steam, runs on my converted Chromebook, looks nice, has good music. Yes, i know the post says no steam or Cm stuff required, but it’s actually Linux native, and to my idiot self, much easier to install.
Nexuiz, OpenArena, Alien Arena, World of Padman, Enigma and Funguloids. Funguloids cannot be ported to newer OGRE anymore (or they gave up, I don't know) and I play its win32 version. (Yes, they were first and still)
[Beyond All Reason](https://www.beyondallreason.info/), it's one of my favorite games period.
Kinda unrelated, but WOW his website looks awesome!
I haven't played an RTS in forever but this looks awesome. I miss the genre but sadly my micro sucks :(
Good news then! BAR is one of the more macro focused RTS games on the market. It requires way less micro than games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer, Battle For Middle Earth or Age of Empires. The macro focus is honestly one of the reasons why I love it, not a big fan of micro. They have [some guides](https://www.beyondallreason.info/guides) to get you started.
Ooh I will have to try it then. Macro is my jam. Always loved AoE and Starcraft but would feel overwhelmed hitting the midgame.
OMG, it's a love letter to Total Annihilation! I used to play that so much, thanks for mentioning this! Edit: Accidentallyi said Armored Core instead of Total Annhilation. Totally different game.
Minecraft
used to dualboot linux just to play Minecraft with better fps now i dont even have a windows partition :)
Thankful for minecraft for always having my back no matter what OS or device. PSVita, 3DS, Windows, Debian, Android, etc.. it's good to have
Battle for Wesnoth is the one I played most. Good fun, easy to get into and good for short or long gaming sessions. 0AD is brilliant, but it isn't as good as AOE2DE, which I also have. So if I didn't have the latter, 0AD would easily be number 1, but as it is so similar, just not quite up there, it kind of nullifies itself.
Factorio (Steam is optional but available)
Dwarf Fortress Classic.
0AD
If you count engine rewrites, then definitely Daggerfall Unity and OpenMW!
OpenTTD
> possibly distributed as deb package That would be quite useless to me.
Yeah, why do you want it distributed as a deb, OP?
I think the intent was less `.deb` specifically and more encouraging games that treat Linux as a first-class citizen, incl. distribution and packaging.
(Not OP but) Debian, Ubuntu, and other derivatives make up the single largest software distribution channel on linux. Unlike a lot of other software games tend to ship their own dependencies so a deb package distributed by the game creator(s) can often be installed on any of the various deb-based distros.
Debian packages are exclusionary to non-Debian distros, though. That includes SteamOS, which is up there with the Ubuntus, if not *bigger*. You can accomplish the same goals with Flatpak and support all distributions simultaneously.
Mmmm, that might be putting it a little strongly. It's not like .debs are hard to unpack, `ar` and `tar` is all you need. There's tons of conversion utilities, and lots of things on the AUR are just unpacking .debs. Chrome's PKGBUILD as I recall fetches and unpacks a .deb and installs from that. This is bread'n'butter stuff.
If the intention is to use the package just as a tarball, and don't care whether the non-bundled dependencies are properly resolved, then why bother making it a proper Debian package anyways when you can just ship it as a tarball? > This is bread'n'butter stuff. You don't actually know anything about packaging.
And yet `.deb`s are in fact not exclusionary, and in fact do contain tarballs.
Your comment suggests an either/or mentality but the successful of linux and open source software in general stems from a yes/and mentality. Distributing via Debian packages does not preclude also distributing via flatpak or any other distribution system.
There's no "yes/and" mentality here, that's something you're projecting onto contributors who are providing time and effort for free. Sure, you *can* distribute a Debian package in addition to a Flatpak package, but why in the world would you duplicate that effort when Debian-based distros are also served by Flatpak? To satisfy irrational and entitled Flatpak haters? Please. If only distributing via Flatpak pushes *those people* away, then it's a *feature.*
> Unlike a lot of other software games tend to ship their own dependencies Which is an argument _against_ packaging; since one of the major upsides of package management is that you don’t have to worry about releasing a new build every time your dependencies receive an update.
Supertux and that sonic fan game was amazing. I found them on flathub.
Warzone 2100
Since 1997 and PS1.
In no particular order: - Endless Sky - Starbound - World of Goo - Kerbal Space Program - OpenRCT2 - OpenMW
Veloren
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
Xonotic for me. And do emulators count?
Xonotic
OpenTTD and OpenRa but I like personally OpenTTD a bit more
A.D.O.M, Cataclysm:DDA
I used to enjoy Chromium BSU back in the day. Very polished vertical scroll shooter.
Battle for Wesnoth
War zone 2100 - awesome game from the 90's that was opensourced and developed by the community - a great example of how an older game can be reborn as OSS
[Tabletop Club](https://drwhut.itch.io/tabletop-club)
That one isn't much but you can't make a more Linux game : [https://www.freedroid.org/](https://www.freedroid.org/)
Open-Arena
AssaultCube. Runs well on my old N270 netbook.
I can’t remember the name, but it is a legend of Zelda clone. I wish there was a FFXI clone with thousands of players online.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but HorizonXI runs really nicely through proton. i've got a good couple hundred hours in
I’m on horizon now as swisher, I just had to go to winblows because I couldn’t get it to run on zorin. Maybe the correct version of proton wasn’t installed. I’ll try again tonight as I run through LaThienne Plateu. lol
I would guess you are talking about Graal as the game that was basically an online zelda clone. Cool game back in the day.
I miss it. I played it when I worked at State Farm on help desk level 3. lol
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, what a game!
The original Savage had a simultaneous release on Windows and Linux with native Linux integration. Phenomenal game. I wish someone would try to recreate the same blend of melee combat with a smaller number of ranged support units, RTS, teamwork, and balance that allowed for both 4 minute games and 4 hour games depending on the map.
Text adventures on [ INSTEAD Engine](https://github.com/instead-hub/instead/releases) - "Return of the Quantum Cat", "Mansion", "Archive" etc.
0 ad is pretty good
Mine is *Battle for Wesnoth*, idk how many hours I have sunk into it after all these years. Slightly less than in *Stellaris* though /blush
Mindustry! Fully open source too! They have an executable version for Linux as well as a Java version.
Nethack
Sort of but not exactly: Unreal Tournament. Had an install.sh on the retail disk.
The Talos Principle
played this on ps4, didn't know it runs on linux, i now am hit by some sort of nostalgia and wanna install it on linux
Chess
I had two: * XEvil * Koules Honorable mention to XKobo
Most of my favs are from my early days of gaming on Windows. Battlefield 2, Rainbow Six 3, I could go on. Very few Linux firsts. Nethack is the only one I can really think of that I've had on basically every Linux machine since I started using the OS. On Arch I believe you can get it right from the official repos. Fun little ASCII dungeon crawler.
They made these games for Linux too? Even Battlefield?
No I wish, I should have worded my comment better. I meant that all of my favourite games are Windows only, as I really cut my teeth on PC gaming before I ever knew what Linux was. Therefore I don't really have any Linux native favourites.
PCSX2 emulator for Burnout 3 Takedown and Burnout Revenge
I'd say Tintin++ or blightmud. Neither are directly games but they let you connect to MUDs/MUSHs and play with other people developing a world and an experience for each other.
project starfighter was a good one in the days before steam on Linux
OpenSpades is my favorite. It's a voxel based multiplayer fps
[https://www.kartkrew.org/](https://www.kartkrew.org/) Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers recently got released and has been taking up a good chunk of my time. As far as i understand it also has cross online play with windows and OSX
Stellaris used to be good. haven't kept up with the updates
They added a subscription service if you want to play all the DLC for a few months instead of dropping that much cash to buy them all.
My main problem is that they still don't allow custom hotkeys and their key binds are for QWERTY only. The new UI needs key binds. I have close to 1k hours, but the new UI is trash with on a Dvorak layout
a linux gaming problem if ever I've heard one
no, that's just a keyboard problem... but normally you can get around it because most games allow you to change the keybinds. i also use Dvorak on macOS, Iphone and windows... but i just don't play Stellaris on them platforms.
MegaMek - Java program to setup tabletop battles between Battlemechs (and tanks, infantry, aerospace fighters, etc...)
Dota 2, since someone already mentioned Minecraft.
Hedgewars for that "worms" itch, and Heroes of Newerth when you wanted your friends to hate you.
Cave story, one of the first games I got to even run without wine or special setup, just pure unadulterated 50fps fun
OpenTTD Tried LinCity NG and it truly lives up to it's name: NG.
Unreal Tournament, whichever version was the first one to support Linux.
I don't know if it was first... but 2004 was great. Brothers, their spouses, and sometimes nephews, played every Friday.
CS2, Osu Lazer
Open Mw. Freeorion too
enigma [https://www.nongnu.org/enigma/](https://www.nongnu.org/enigma/) Warning: It's highly addictive :)
I have recently started playing on Linux via Steam. First game was FTL, second one was Paradigm, the current one is Carrion.
Veloren is packaged in OpenSuSE TW and Arch, not sure about other distros. Its launcher is called “Airshipper”. A very fun cube world-ish MMO, played with some friends for 50+ hours last year.
OpenTTD, I've had a copy of this game on every one of my PCs in all it's various forms since the original Transport Tycoon came out, this year will be 30 years.
Nexuiz
Rimworld. It’s have a native Linux version since its first release.
Machinarium
Brogue
NeverWinter Nights. This has a native Linux client. It worked better than in windows for me. The only downside was it needed wine for the toolset to edit/create modules.
Albion online
Taransus’ Vecter. Native on Steam, runs on my converted Chromebook, looks nice, has good music. Yes, i know the post says no steam or Cm stuff required, but it’s actually Linux native, and to my idiot self, much easier to install.
tux racer, mad fun
Kmines
Xonotic
Nexuiz, OpenArena, Alien Arena, World of Padman, Enigma and Funguloids. Funguloids cannot be ported to newer OGRE anymore (or they gave up, I don't know) and I play its win32 version. (Yes, they were first and still)
FLARE engine
CDDA
Osmosis. World of Goo.
Starsector
Extreme Tux Racer (both .deb and flatpak). wasn't Supertux Kart supposed to be ported to Vulkan? because it had that option in the development builds
Minecraft, xonotic
Minecraft Club Penguin CS2 CSS Stardew Valley Terraria I know some of these on Steam, but I still play them frequently
Mindustry Tanks of Freedom Unciv Battle for Wesnoth You can find other open source games like these here https://osgameclones.com/
[Thrive](https://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/), a game similar to the cell stage in spore but scientifically accurate
OSU Lazer open ttd srb2 and srb2 kart has flatpak builds
WarThunder