I've never played games. Suggest a couple of addictive games I can play on Linux
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!
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)
Rimworld if you want to play the Sims but with war-crimes.
Factorio if you like automation and IRL time skipping.
Oxygen not Included if you like to accidentally starve people due to your poor understanding of thermodynamics 100 hours ago.
Minecraft because everyone likes Minecraft.
Noita if your an unhinged masochist.
Helldivers 2 to discover your friends lead a much more busy life than you.
For future readers: if you want something like Rimworld, but with a fantasy setting instead of SciFi, there’s Dwarf Fortress. But yes, it can be confusing, so Rimworld is easier to get into, as it’s more user friendly.
You either would like it or not. Requires brain to play. Think Call of Duty only fast reflexes and low latency make no difference. Each game is around 10 minutes or less.
It is totally possible to play and enjoy for free, if willing to accumulate cash prior to getting tank at next level.
for someone totally new?
i guess it depends on what you mean by "addicting," so i'll try to put in "potential hours" as a reference. regardless i think all of these are quite fun and consuming for me for a while.
The Binding of Isaac Rebirth.
its difficulty sort of "scales" with how well you do in your runs: if you never beat mom, the next boss, the next boss etc, it'll stay "easier" for as long as that takes. (and if it gets too hard when you start beating stuff, you can always wipe your save and start over, or start a new save, hah!)
the control scheme is extremely simple and it's fine to not be completely perfect at it if you're just going for basic runs and okay with relying more on "lucking" into victory. you really don't have to take on mega-satan or whatever.
up to you if the horror-to-horror-adjacent visuals appeal or not. you do also have to be okay with the idea of dying, it's a roguelike.
you can play this for literally thousands of hours.
Slime Rancher 1.
just a fun time shlorping up slimes. very low stakes and silly and cute. meant to be pretty accessible. if you're brand new i could see it taking up some time, and it's a good way to learn "video game logic." i've spent 80 hours in SR1, playtimes can be a bit varied.
Plants vs Zombies (the original GOTY edition, and definitely not the ad-ridden mobile port)
old 2000's popcap games in general were onboarding for many a gamer back in the day. i've spent 60 hours of it on steam, no idea how much back in the 2000's. playtimes overall can be a bit all over the map on this one.
Garden Paws,
if you like cutesy and the idea of gathering stuff for villagers, with farming / animal raising mechanics. it's slightly jank but it's very endearing. no fail condition. (it's somewhat similar to stardew valley with some differences!) this can be played almost infinitely, if you really like the loop, decorating, or have a few people to play with. playtimes tend to be 40-200 hours roughly.
Wobbledogs,
if you like the idea of raising cute pets with a genome and don't mind the very subtle horror/bizarre aspects (they can die, eat each other's bodies, and they pupate like caterpillars lol.) pretty sandbox game, and you can turn death off if you want. (or "clone" dogs you want to keep with the export/import tool in the menu.) this is a newer one for me so i've only put in 35 hours, but i fully intend to go back and try for some Huge Dogs TM. average seems about 20 hours but you can spend a lot if you like raising weirdo pets.
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.
Not really sure what would be your type of game but here’s some that I’ve played that I found addicting, from various genres. All of these are on Steam and I’ve played on Linux.
Definitely look at Portal 2. Great game that’s easy to get into.
If you played and liked Portal 2, also take a look at Portal, The Talos Principle, and Q.U.B.E. (I probably can’t go wrong recommending puzzle games)
Maybe also Mirror’s Edge (2008).
Baldur’s Gate 3 is one I’ve put a lot of time into recently.
Chill exploration game that I couldn’t put down and am still obsessed with: INFRA
If you think you could like base builder games: RimWorld, Factorio, Satisfactory
And then some absolute PC classics: Half-Life (1998, or you can also play the remake Black Mesa), System Shock (play the 2023 remake), Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
The best game of all time: dungeon crawl stone soup. Open source dungeon crawler that has been developed for 20 years. It is free and you can play in your browser. And since deaths are permanent, it is an easy game to walk away from since game sessions tend to be short (because it is easy to die).
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