I'll be switching back to Linux as my main OS for a while, I need to know which games I MUST play! For the purposes of this discussion, let's arbitrarily stick to either fully open-source or native, first-party binary releases (no Wine unless it's part of the Linux release, as with Limbo and System Shock 2; no emulators; no after-market engines like Exult, PrBoom, EDuke32, Quakespasm or Scummvm).

I have played:

• Aquaria
• Ur Quan Masters (well, hours of it)
• Katawa Shoujo
• Nethack (although not for long)
• Half Life 1 and 2, including DLC episodes
• Portal 1 and 2
• Alpha Centauri (I own the Loki Games port)
• Unreal Tournament 99 and 2004
• Torchlight

I am in the middle of playing:

• World of Goo
• Bit. Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
• Towerfall Ascension

I am curious about:

• DOTA 2
• Guacamelee
• Mark of the Ninja
• System Shock 2
• Awesomenauts
• Limbo
• Metro Last Light (will wait for the Redux releases)
• Neverwinter Nights
• The Anomaly series
• Juniper's Knot and Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos
• The Cave
• Trine series
• Cave Story +
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• Broken Age
• Leisure Suite Larry: Reloaded
• Steamworld Dig
• Kingdom Rush
• Waking Mars
• Crusader Kings II

Here's my favourites right now;

Red Eclipse! (native/open source)
http://redeclipse.net/

This is really a great game, became my favourite shooter of the open source world.


For closed source (steam games);
I recently played through Metro Last Light, and thought it was a really good game. It has a few knacks on linux though, random crashes and not alot of options to configure in terms of graphics settings. Although, it is very good single player game besides those issues.

Left 4 dead 2 - zombie coop
Legend of Grimrock - tile based dungeon crawler (with modern 3D graphics)
Amnesia (dark descent / a machine for pigs) - horror
Serious Sam 3 - ego shooter with lots of explosions/blood/enemies

Also, Trine, i have played the sequel, it's a pretty game, very nice graphics. Personally i find the gameplay mechanics frustrating (probably just me though).

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If you happy paying for a game I used to play quakes wars a few years ago which has a linux patch. I had a lot of fun playing this game.

Check out:
http://www.splashdamage.com/content/...ory-quake-wars

Dota 2 is fantastic, but is NOT an easy game to get into. It takes a bit of learning and skill to play well, but the variety and depth of the game will keep it fresh for a long time. (Plus the community behind it is huge nowadays. It's become a culture of its own.) There are single player and coop modes vs bots, but the main fun of the game comes from multiplayer, of course. Be sure to read this article first, if you plan to play:
http://www.purgegamers.com/welcome-to-dota-you-suck
On Linux, it runs well, although with minor bugs on occasion. (The most glaring one at the moment is that after a several games, sound drops out. This is fixed by restarting the game, so it's really not that bad.) Valve does a good job of supporting Linux and fixing the bugs.

Neverwinter Nights is decent single player, but multiplayer can be quite amazing, as it feels like classic pen-and-paper RPG night, especially if you have a skilled DM controlling the session. There are plenty of modules and scripts to give the game variety, and a fairly active community behind the game to this day.

Cave Story is the seminal indie platformer that pretty much inspired all modern indie platformers. This one you really have no excuse not to play. Seriously. Just play it.

I also recommend:
Warsow: If you like classic, hardcore arena FPS style, this follows in the realm of Quake 3's CPM mod. It's kinda like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHTUvz3nqf0

Eversion: A platformer, like Cave Story. It's . . . compelling.

Battle for Wesnoth: The best turn-based strategy game of all time. A FOSS Linux gaming classic.

FTL: A spaceship-based roguelike. Well loved.

Spacechem: An amazing puzzle game that is essentially a programming exercise. (But fun!) One of the few games that Valve has officially reviewed as a game they like.

[EDIT]Quake Wars was glorious too, but sadly, I don't see many people playing anymore. Dirty Bomb might be a decent, but we'll have to see if Splash Damage brings it to Linux.

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I'm a big fan of strategy games. How about,
0 AD - Like Age of Empires
Warzone 2100 - It's so hard to win
Battle for Wesnoth - My favorite Linux native strategy game
UFO : Alien Invasion

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Thanks for the recommendations, people. I had forgotten about Spacechem and FTL, and I never knew that there was so much love for Battle of Wesnoth!

And I am also curious about:

• Bastion
• Amnesia

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars doesn't seem to be possible to buy new anymore. I passed up a chance to buy a new, in-store copy 3 years ago, and, well, maybe I shouldn't have.

And: I definitely don't mind paying for games. I actually play few enough per year that I can pay for the games I do play. And shopping for games is very economical if you keep track of bundles and sales.

Pro-tip for Amnesia, play it past midnight, no lights, with headphones.

i played neverwinter nights 2 thru at windows, i really liked that game.
some ppl whined alot about its ending but i liked even that.

Here are the ones I recommend:
Warzone 2100 (use cheats)
Battle for Wesnoth (use cheats)
Red Eclipse (don't cheat, but others do)
Tremulous/Unvanquished - depends entirely on the people playing
Astromenace
Hurrican (set lives to 99) http://sourceforge.net/projects/hurrican/?source=navbar
Cave Story (use cheats) http://nxengine.sourceforge.net/
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (use Minotaur Necromancer, it's like cheating)

EDIT: I've found that Wesnoth is much more fun to play if you add on your own story. "Just as the overwhelmingly outnumbered and outmatched heroes were about to be crushed mercilessly by the forces of evil, a level 4 Red Dragon appears and allies itself with the heroes ... as does a Yeti, a Bone Dragon, a Lich, etc."

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Dungeons of Dredmor is awesome, especially if you like rougelikes. I dig just about everything Arcen Games put out (older ones run flawlessly with WINE, two newest have Linux native ports. Didn't like Shattered Haven or Tidalis, but I gather I'm weird. AI War is hands-down one of the best strategy games out there.) Civ V has a Linux native version, which I'm told is a departure from Civ IV. (Last version of I played before this one was Civ II.)

I played the hell out of Neverwinter Nights, but its real strength is the player-created content. (Check out Stefan Gagne's series. Also the Shadowlords/dreamcatcher one is pretty decent.)

Like old school RPG's? Spiderweb's stuff has a couple Linux ports and also works via WINE. (There's a text bug with Geneforge 1 and 2, and the oldest Avernum games have wonky controls with modern hardware. Those are being remade, however, and you can get the story via Avernum: Escape from the Pit. The second one is being made, I believe.)

Knights of Pen and Paper is hysterical.

Papers, Please is chilling, but excellent.

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Just heard the good news that XCOM: Enemy Unknown (with add-on Enemy Within) was released for Linux today, definitely a game that I can recommend

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Link for the lazy: http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/200510/

Just got it myself!

maybe not technically a game, but gone home is excellent.

For anyone concerned about that, it is confirmed that XCOM is a native port, not ported with a wrapper: http://steamcommunity.com/app/200510...30535890616807

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You should have waited a bit, it is now on the Steam Summer Sale for $7.49.

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