(With a Linux version or at least works good with Proton) Edit: just bought disco Elysium, going to post updates in the comments when I try it tomorrow. It’s on sale until tomorrow in case anyone is going to purchase it.
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Nier Automata
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Bioshock (quality varies as the series continues)
- Soma
- The Sexy Brutale
- Fatal Frame 2 and 3
- Fran Bow
- Telltale’s Walking Dead (first one)
- First 4 Silent Hills
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a recent one.
Can second bd:3, I’m just in the second act and it’s been fantastic.
If you don’t mind horror, I would definitely recommend SOMA. It’s also one of those games where it’s best to go in blind. If you are interested, do yourself a favour and do not look at any spoilers before playing.
Lots to think about.
I found Spec Ops: The Line to be a good story. Starts off as a typical gears of war third person military shooter. I immediately was skeptical since I don’t typically like cod like military arcade shooters. Let’s just say the story gets dark. Mainly the character development. I saw the reviews and don’t regret grabbing it, well worth the play in my opinion.
I’ve been playing the System Shock remake, and it’s been a dream!! It could be a tad more hand holdy, particularly with actually presenting the story, but it’s very true to the style at the time, leaving you to just explore an “abandoned” space ship to figure out what happened. It feels very Bioshock, meets Metroid, meets Marathon, meets Alien Isolation.
Metro 2033, and I’m fairly confident the 2 sequels, has also been running very smoothly. I plan to do a full play through of all 3 games having played the first 2 zones of metro exodus years ago and falling in love with the world building. Something I realized I was missing in a lot of games was full voice acting. If there are captions/words/subtitles on the screen someone is saying them out loud. I guess in world words like posters and such no, obviously not, but even the “loading screen” are these lovely journal/map moments, reminiscent of travel transitions in old films. They come with a fully voice acted paragraph to make it not feel like a loading screen at all, but a transition in the “film” or chapters of the game. This makes sense being based on books. The story is just given to you so well, while also allowing enough freedom to make it feel like you are an active part.
Pretty sure Portal and Portal 2 are playable in Linux.
They are more than just playable. They have native versions, because Valve wants to push gaming on Linux. Both are awesome games! I have already played them.
I love Celeste’s simple, effective storytelling. Every aspect of the game ties into its own meaning–the environments, the music, the challenge. Extraordinarily well done.
Surprisingly detailed is the Horizon series. Replaying Zero Dawn and seeing just how much of the story is set up before and during the tutorial is genuinely crazy. Every event feels like an actual part of the narrative, rather than random filler.
Chrono Trigger. Timeless masterpiece. Arguably the greatest JRPG ever made, and yet another one that gets more fun the more you analyse it.
All of these were pretty good on Deck, and should work well on anything. Went for a mix of genres.
100% agree with Celeste!!! Go crack your egg and climb a mountain!! Lol
Firewatch, not really sure if it’s on Linux but i played at osx so at least multi playform.
The game is mostly about the story, really something else.
Confirmed running on Linux under proton. I started replaying it just the other week. Struggled to get back into it for a second time, but not because it’s a bad game, I’m just a very different person from the one that got a lot from that story. Would absolutely recommend the game.
The Talos Principle. It’s my all time favourite game. It has a sequel too that expands on the story.
It’s a puzzle game with a story that you discover while solving the puzzles. It’s kinda similar to Portal in that sense but instead of a focus on comedy, there’s a focus on philosophy. If you don’t mind reading some philosophical texts and being asked questions that will literally make you question your own value system, then definitely give it a shot.
If you consider emulating older games a viable option, I would suggest:
- Chrono Trigger (SNES)
- Silent Hill (PS1)
- Any Legend of Zelda game (Majora’s Mask is my favourite story-wise)
Exquisite taste.
Seconding the Zelda rec, Majora’s being my favourite as well, with Minish Cap being a close second. (narrative-wise, that is)
Disco Elysium hands-down. Has a brilliant story with a bunch of branches, it’s a great way to kill 20+ hours.
A shorter experience but one still pretty fun is Thank Goodness You’re Here which is a comedy with brilliant voice acting and setting. 2.5hrs ish.
I love the fact that even “failed” skill checks lead to interesting stories, and how having some skills “too high” starts leading down dark alleyways too.
My fiance and I both played it, and wound up with radically different stories.
Fallout 3, but especially New Vegas have great stories and hundreds of hours of gameplay, and work fenomenally on proton (I mean, they are equally buggy as in other versions). Fallout 4 is good as well, but I have never tested it on linux
I can’t make the radio stations play in New Vegas, under Proton. And I’m a sucker for Fallout playlists, just can’t play without Radio New Vegas. It was a known bug but nobody has a fix.
That’s weird, I don’t have it
It’s a really old game, but Lucas Arts The Dig was really great and directed by spielsberg
Except for that one bit that everyone gets stuck on.
You have to hold down a pressure plate. The solution is to use a metal rod on the big stone tile. You’re welcome.
Beneath a steel sky https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky
I’ve been gaming on Linux exclusively for 3 years now. So. These are all proton-tested-and-approved. Though a couple (especially the old ones) require a bit of tinkering.
- Pillars of Eternity I and II – Slow burns. cRPGs. Get very good, but take a while to get there
- Tyranny – Same developer, also a cRPG, but gets to the point faster, and in fact can be finished in one weekend. Do note: It’s an “evil campaign” type of RPG.
- Pyre – A fantasy basketball game with a Visual Novel on the side. Very touching story, made me cry twice. And the gameplay is no slouch either, even if I kinda suck at it. (… Though when you lose the games you don’t game over, the story just changes)
- Wolfenstein the New Order – FPS set in an alternate history where the nazis won WW2, where you play a resistance fighter. Very enjoyable action, and it always feels good to blow nazis away.
- Dishonored 2 – Stealth-FPS/Immersive Sim where you play as an assassin-princess who can turn herself into a horrid tentacle monster. Also a nice story.
- Enderal: Forgotten Stories – Skyrim Total Conversion title. Very surreal and trippy story. Pushes the Skyrim engine to its absolute breaking point to realize the developers’ vision, and doesn’t always get there.
- Fallout: New Vegas – I mean, if I didn’t bring it up, someone would. New Vegas is a flawed and messy game, but it is just about competent enough that you are fine with it being less-than-ideal in the name of getting to the story.
If old games & emulation are on the cards –
- Terranigma (SNES) – What if Legend of Zelda… But you are literally creating the world by doing your quest. It’s nuts. I love it.
- Legacy of Kain series (PS1, PS2, PC) – Very flawed gameplay on all of them (each in its own unique way)… But it is legitimately one of the greatest tales ever told through gaming. (note: It’s also edgy)
- Prince of Persia Sands Trilogy (PC, PS2, GC, Xbox) – This little trilogy of games from the sixth generation delivers in both elegant platforming gameplay and entertaining storytelling. Does suck that they are from a time that game devs thought subtitling your cutscenes would make your skin fall off (or something. No games back then had subbed cutscenes and it sucked)
- Paper Mario/Mario & Luigi series (Nintendo machines) – Comedy RPGs about the Mario characters (duh). Very well written, especially Thousand Year Door (GC/Switch) and the original Mario & Luigi (GBA/3DS). Story is as vanilla as you’d expect, since it’s Mario, but it is worth it for the comedy imho
I’ve got a mod list sitting about waiting for a New Vegas replay. Just some light stuff to make it feel like it holds up more today. What a good game.
