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Games for Linux

Overview

Usually, people think of Windows when it comes to PC gaming, as the majority of games on the market are primarily developed for that operating system. However, Linux is becoming a popular second choice, and even big stores like Steam are supporting it.

Although I don't game on Linux myself, I thought I'd help out fans of this operating system by setting aside this listing of the 101 games I've reviewed that can be run under Linux.

Simply click on a game's title to view the full review.

Games in this List

0 - C D - I J - P Q - Z

The Deer God

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platformer
Platforms:
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A late night hunting trip goes terribly wrong when a hunter accidentally shoots a faun and angers the mighty Deer god. Now transformed into a deer himself, the hunter must survive long enough to redeem himself and earn the respect of the forest deity.

Brief thoughts: While there are supernatural forces (such as the titular Deer god) and some mild violence, this game's just too unstable to really enjoy.

Demon Hunter: Chronicles from Beyond

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 10 and up
Genre:	Hidden Object
Platforms:
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When a famous scientist is murdered, Dawn Harlock suspects that there's more to the story than the newspapers are telling. Her fears are confirmed when she arrives at the scientist's laboratory, and now she must solve the mystery to prevent disaster!

Brief thoughts: While the scary portions of this game have a tendency to come off as silly, the player will need to interact with occult artifacts and eventually banish a demon.

Doom (1993)

ESRB Rating:	M - Mature Audiences
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	First Person Shooter
Platforms:
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A free demo is available
Laboratories on the Martian moons were attempting to develop working teleporters, but while they succeeded, the scientists got more than they bargained for -- one of the teleporters malfunctioned, opening a gateway into Hell itself. Now a lone Marine must fight the Hellspawn back through the portal, and stop the invasion from within Hell itself.

Brief thoughts: While there's a lot of violence, gore, and demonic references in this game, it's important to remember that the player is actively trying to contain the forces of Hell, not support them.

Whether this context is enough to excuse the everything else is a matter of opinion.

Doom 2: Hell on Earth

ESRB Rating:	M - Mature Audiences
My Rating:	Adults - 18+
Genre:	First Person Shooter
Platforms:
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After returning to Earth, the Marine is met with the horrible fact that the legions of Hell had already breached Earth's security and were in the process of invading the planet. What remained of the human race is fleeing into space, but they need your help to finally stop the invasion and make Hell pay for its evil.

Brief thoughts: Like its predecessor, there's a lot of graphic violence and demonic references in this game, and for the same reason - the player is fighting against an invasion by the forces of Hell.

That said, it's a matter of opinion whether or not this is enough to justify the game's content.

Dwarfs?!

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Real Time Strategy
Platforms:
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This game is completely free!
You rule the roost as the Overseer of a new Dwarf colony. Guide your dwarfs to riches, protect them from dangerous hazards, and fight vicious monsters as you aim for a place on the leaderboards!

Brief thoughts: The biggest concern about this game is that it features fantasy creatures (etc, Dwarfs and Goblins) fighting each other. Everything is shown in a very tame and family friendly way, however.

Escape Goat

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platform Puzzler
Platforms:
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The Master of Chains has imprisoned a goat for the crime of witchcraft. But, while the goat has no actual powers, their desire for escape and puzzle solving skills leads them to partner up with a mouse that does, and the jail break is on!

Brief thoughts: Although the story claims the goat is involved with witchcraft, nothing too serious actually appears in this game.

Escape Goat 2

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Puzzle Platformer
Platforms:
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The sheep you freed in the previous game have found themselves trapped in another dungeon, so it's once again up to a magical goat and a courageous mouse to solve the riddles and free their friends!

Brief thoughts: There are references to magic and ghosts throughout the game, with a monster appearing in the final levels. While this sound a little spooky, everything is still fairly tame and isn't likely to be much of a problem.

Eversion

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	Platformer / Horror
Platforms:
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Despite the bright and colorful graphics, Eversion is a horror game. This should be taken somewhat seriously, as jump scares become common in later stages, and you're led to distrust what this supposedly cute little platformer is showing you.

Brief thoughts: While this game starts out looking cute and cheerful, it quickly turns sinister as you progress, and by the end of the game jump scares are commonplace.

Faerie Solitaire

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Card game
Platforms:
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Faerie Solitaire is exactly what its name suggests: it's a card game that centers around a world where faeries and other magical creatures exist. All is not well in this world, as there is an evil force threatening the faeries, and each round of solitaire you complete helps save the world a little bit more.

Brief thoughts: While this game is filled with magical creatures - mostly faeries, as the title suggests - this mainly serves as a backdrop or theme for the actual game, and therefore isn't something to worry about.

Faerie Solitaire Harvest

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Card Game
Platforms:
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Free faeries, collect materials, and raise magical pets by clearing boards in this quiet solitaire adventure. Unlike many similar games, you remove cards in pairs of equal rank and can gain special perks to help you solve each hand.

Brief thoughts: Although this game is themed after faeries and other magical creatures, none of this really features in the gameplay.

Fez

ESRB Rating:	E - Everyone
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Puzzle Platformer
Platforms:
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After accidentally breaking the all-powerful Hexahedron, Gomez finds himself on a quest to retrieve the 32 cubes needed to restore the Hexahedron and save reality as we know it.

Brief thoughts: There are a few spooky sections later in the game, but none of these really warrant much concern.

Fran Bow

ESRB Rating:	T - Teenagers
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	Point and Click Adventure
Platforms:
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Sometimes, you can just tell when a story isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows, and this point and click adventure game is one of those times. Considering that the story is based around a young girl who is dealing with severe emotional trauma, it's very fitting.

Brief thoughts: Fran's world is a blend of multiple, layered realities, and for most of the game she switches between them by taking some pills she found. On her journey, she encounters things that are frightening, demonic in appearance, or quite gory, and sometimes needs to do horrible things to them in order to progress.

FreeDoom

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	First Person Shooter
Platforms:
Fun-O-Meter:

This game is completely free!
While Doom source ports copy the engine that runs the early Doom games, FreeDoom functions as a free, open source replacement for their content. Not only can it be used to play custom WADs without the original games, FreeDoom is also able to function as two unique single player games!

Brief thoughts: Although this is essentially a fan "remake" of the first two Doom games, most of the demonic references and imagery have been removed in favor of a space alien theme.

That said, this game still features a lot of blood, gore, and graphic violence, just like the original games.

GenerativeCity Freerun

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Walking Simulator
Platforms:
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This game is completely free!
Fancy a game of hide and go seek? Somewhere in this computer generated city is a red cube, and it's up to you to find it. The tricky part is figuring out how to parkour over the buildings to reach the cube.

Brief thoughts: This is more of a tech demo than a full fledged game.

Goat Simulator

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 10 and up
Genre:	Simulation / Open world
Platforms:
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When people make games, it's usually because they have some great creative vision or idea they want to express. Goat Simulator, on the other hand, started out as little more than a quick joke. But, when people found the "game" hilarious and began asking for their own copy to play with, this buggy mess became an actual product. It's thoroughly insane, and there's no real point beyond having silly fun.

Brief thoughts: The main point of this game is just to have fun and mess around, which typically involves using your goat to cause mayhem. While this is usually all in good fun, the player is able to mess with questionable things, like a satanic-looking pentacle that can turn you into a demon-goat if you sacrifice enough humans on it.

Grow Home

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	3D Platformer
Platforms:
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In order to save its home planet, a Botanical Utility Droid (BUD for short) must explore an alien world and gather the seeds produced by a gigantic alien plant. Along the way, BUD will have to explore caves, climb mountains, and even find ways to drift from one floating island to another.

Brief thoughts: Although players do have the option to torment the local wildlife, you're not required to do any of that.

The Herbalist

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	Visual Novel
Platforms:
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Slavya's grandmother has been missing for some time, and now she's curious about her grandmother's fate. The small town her grandmother had lived in is in need of an herbalist, and since Slavya seems to have the talent for this craft, she moves in to her grandmother's old home and takes up the job earn some income while she investigates.

Brief thoughts: Although this game is based around creating magical potions, the biggest concern is the suggestive imagery. It doesn't get pornographic, but it might be more than someone is comfortable with.

Hero Siege

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	Arena based hack 'n slash
Platforms:
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Live in the town of Inoya could hardly be worse. Horrible creatures are constantly attacking what remains of the village, and it's only a matter of time before it falls under the control of Damien, the son of the Devil himself. Unfortunately for the townsfolk, the heroes who've come to battle with Damien's forces are just as psychotic and violent as the monsters they'd be fighting.

Brief thoughts: Blood and gore are a common sight in this game, and while there is an option to reduce the amount of it you'll see, it won't clean everything up. But while the combat can be a big issue, the omnipresent references to demons and Satan (some of which are considered a good thing) makes this game conflict heavily with Christian morals.

Hollow Knight

ESRB Rating:	E10 - Everyone (Ages 10 and up)
My Rating:	Ages 10 and up
Genre:	Metroidvania
Platforms:
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As you search for answers to your own history in the remains of the Kingdom of Hallownest, you'll find that a dangerous infection is spreading throughout the kingdom, and that its future lies on your tiny shoulders.

Brief thoughts: While the majority of the violence seen in this game isn't anything to write home about, there are a few exceptions. A bigger issue is the way everything is built around magic, with ghosts, spirits, and even a pair of rival "gods" making an appearance.

Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!

ESRB Rating:	E - Everyone
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Time Management
Platforms:
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In this humorous time management game, the typical roles are reversed. Instead of you running around and fighting monsters, you run the smithy that makes the protagonist's weapons. This is a silly, "feel good" sort of game, and casual gamers will probably enjoy the time they spend watching their potatoes dance away the hours.

Brief thoughts: While the main focus of the game is creating weaponry of all sorts, you never actually use them or witness them being used. At most, customers comment on their effectiveness when they provide feedback. More serious issues revolve around references to various deities, magic, and the occasional mildly suggestive outfit.

InCell VR

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Racing / Educational (sort of)
Platforms:
Fun-O-Meter:

This game is completely free!
Scientists have developed a new way to cure disease: deliver the vaccines directly into the cells before they can become infected! The only catch is that this solution needs to be tested before it can be approved for widespread use, and they need someone to pilot the test flights...

Brief thoughts: There's nothing offensive about this game.

INK

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platformer
Platforms:
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This platformer has a simple but surprisingly difficult twist: you can't see the level. In order to make a section visible, you need to paint it by touching it with your shape, popping enemies, or dodging projectiles.

Brief thoughts: This game really doesn't feature any objectionable content; at most, the animated shapes pop into paint splatters when something hits them or they touch something they shouldn't.