In the game qomp you are the ball, the ball that has been thrown around games like Pong for a very long time and you've had enough - it's time to escape. Note : personal purchase.

qomp is a small game about freedom. It won't take you long to get through, it's not complicated and it's absolutely brilliant. Using a single button, you will be changing the direction of the ball to get through various different challenges and overcome several different game mechanics. It really doesn't look or sound like much but its one of those times were the simplicity makes it so good.

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For a game that has nothing but a single button and the same main mechanic all the way through, as you click click click to constantly change direction and avoid all sorts of hazards - it's surprisingly atmospheric. It gives off dungeon vibes with the camera effect and dark colouring, along with the pumping music to keep you going.

Difficult too. I've cursed at my screen and my slow clicking ability numerous times while bouncing through the various levels it offers. It's a good test of reaction timing and your ability to think quickly often, as well as understanding how the angles of everything you're bouncing off will affect your ball trajectory to plan ahead. I'm really not joking on the difficulty of some parts of it, I even held my breath a few times and hoped for a bit of luck. No punishments here though, just go back to a checkpoint and click around around and see if you can bounce to safety.

I will admit to the below section kicking my butt for a while but it shows the great design work that went into it.

So close!

You're an escaped pong ball trying to escape to freedom, what more could you want for a few hours? Honestly I think it's absolutely brilliant and well worth picking up.

A finely polished experience you won't forget.

You can buy it on itch.io and Steam .

Grand Theft Auto style mechanics blended in with some Minecraft blocky style and city-building, that's sort-of a basic overview of what you can expect in Voxel Turf.

Hard to really properly describe it, as there's just so much to it. Want to build a city? Go ahead. Want to get involved as a person and fight for territory against gangs? There's plenty of that too and so much more. Released back in 2017 it's been steadily improved and after a break of updates lasting many months it appears the developer is back with some big stuff here.

Returning players can expect to see a whole new biome, a revamp of the outback biomes with red stone and the plains now have patches of dry grass and salt lakes. Not just new content though, there's a big overhaul of performance with more multithreading and it should all be faster overall. Nice.

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Need to be sold on it a bit more? From the developer:

Voxel Turf is a block based city builder/action adventure game. Build cities or destroy them. Start businesses or rob them. Nurture your citizens or subjugate them. Build a real estate empire, or perhaps just drive around and blow stuff up. Its your choice! Voxel Turf allows you to be the force of benevolence or the agent of chaos in a city of your creation.

- Have you ever played an open world game and thought "if only I could build something here?"
- Or a city builder and wanted to drive around and interact with your creation?
- Or even a building game and thought "if only these buildings would come to life?"
If so then Voxel Turf is the game for you!

You know Voxel Turf is also great? It's another game developed on Linux with the developer having their main machines and development done all under Linux so it sees first-class support.

Buy and play Voxel Turf on Steam .

Released out of Early Access as a full game on February 4, Rogue Star Rescue blends together a furiously good mix of twin-stick bullet-hell action with tower defence. Note : copy personally purchased.

A game we've never covered here before and were completely unaware of it until the full release, which is a shame because it deserves a bit more attention. Featuring a non-linear story-mode along with local and online co-op options, there's a lot to like about it with the fast-paced action.

The story? The Rogue Star. A massive Rogue Star has formed from the cosmos and is on a direct collision path with us! It threatens to vaporize everything. Leaders from planets around the galaxy have assembled a top team of fighters to stop the Rogue Star at all costs. Choose your own non-linear path through the galaxy and explore each of the 10+ planets carefully.

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It really is a curious blend that works somewhat like Orcs Must Die in 2D with a little more exploration. You pick between different planets to try and save, making a few decision along the way that will affect the outcome. During each mission you explore, take down enemies, find resources and traps and then eventually it turns into a wave-based tower defence game where you need to deal with lots of enemies coming through and a mini-boss. You need to manage your inventory, upgrade traps as you progress and pick between different playable characters to get you through.

There's also some persistent progress too with a level up system. You can put attribute points into health, speed, traps and more. Since it's a twin-stick shooter at the core, there's also a decent variety in the weapons you will be using with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Absolutely loads to love about it and it really hits that satisfying over the top action feeling.

You can buy it on Humble Store , itch.io and Steam .

Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood from Devespresso Games and Headup has now moved to an April 9 release date, and it will no longer be in Early Access as they will be ready for a full release.

It was going to be due on February 10 so it's not exactly a long delay and they gave no reason for the change. Sounds good overall though as it will release with all parts of the story along with translations for English, Korean, German, French, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish.

Featuring Devespresso's signature manhwa-style with hand-illustrated graphics by Minho Kim and a non-linear story written by T.L. Riven, Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood is a narrative adventure set within a vibrant Oz-esque fantasy world. The game features a recurring time loop (think Groundhog Day) with unique branching story paths and multiple endings.

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"Scarlet, the protagonist and a diva in the making, awakes in the realm of Glome after being flung over by a rogue tornado. She discovers an electrifying world brimming with magic, beauty, and artifacts from a mysterious bygone culture. Her strange journey begins when she takes up the mantle of the Red Witch and leads a troupe of Munchkins through the forbidden Wicked Wood. In a world full of riddles and wonders, she encounters witches, a tin knight, talking beasts, monsters, and many fearsome creatures to overcome."

Features:

• Survive a narrative time-loop.
• Solve ridiculous puzzles.
• Follow your own multi-path story.
• Unlock multiple endings based on your decisions.
• Ogle the hand-illustrated graphics.
• Use Scarlet's witching skills to avoid detection.

You can wishlist / follow on Steam .

Relic Space is a new announcement from Fourfold Games (prev game Xenomarine), which will bring to Linux some rather sleek space sci-fi strategy action when it releases into Early Access.

It's turn-based with a hex-based ship-to-ship combat system that uses fluid interpolation. This makes the movement and the combat a bit like the feel of Jupiter Hell, where it's so smooth and sleek that you could even mistake it for being real-time. Wrapped up in an open-world roguelike space RPG setting.

Example of how smooth the movement is:

The developer has been working on it for around 18 months, with it initially going into Early Access for at least one year. Although there's no set date on when that will be just yet. When it does arrive the initial release will have the tutorial and randomized missions ready with the single-player story campaign to come later.

Feature Highlight:

• Tactical turn-based space combat - Use your tactical skills on a hex grid with ‘one-tile-per-turn’ mechanics inspired by traditional roguelikes.
• Flexible development - Use your growing reputation and influence to acquire more powerful ships and equip them with countless weapon and utility combinations. Acquire new piloting abilities through a flexible skill tree.
• Deep Simulation - Realistic combat mechanics simulate damage to individual ship components. Each weapon, engine or utility item can catch fire, leak power, and acquire many more status effects.
• Real Space - Movement rules based on actual space physics: motion in a straight line is free, but turning, starting or stopping cost energy. Generators convert fuel into energy, which is used for both engines and other equipment.
• Immersive setting - Uncover a rich, branching narrative threaded with endless procedurally generated stories in a detailed setting inspired by hard sci-fi.
• Open World - Explore a vast procedurally generated solar system with handcrafted elements. Factions and NPCs pursue research, trade, construction projects, and other goals irrespective of your actions – though your actions affect their success or failure!

You can follow Relic Space on Steam .

OpenTTD, the free and open source simulation game based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe is officially coming to Steam on April 1, and the Linux build will be available too.

Another fine example of a brilliant open source project! Based upon Transport Tycoon Deluxe, a business simulation game in which players earn money by transporting passengers and cargo via road, rail, water, and air. It's entirely free and doesn't need the original game as it has a full graphics replacement too but it can work with the original data files if you have them. This is a fully-featured game and it's popular.

Just a few of the enhancements it has over the original:

• bigger maps (up to 64 times in size)
• stable multiplayer mode for up to 255 players in 15 companies, or as spectators
• dedicated server mode and an in-game console for administration
• IPv6 and IPv4 support for all communication of the client and server
• in game downloading of AIs, NewGRFs, scenarios and heightmaps
• new pathfinding algorithms that makes vehicles go where you want them to
• autorail/-road build tool, improved terraforming
• canals, shiplifts, aqueducts
• larger, non-uniform stations and the ability to join them together
• mammoth and multi-headed trains
• different configurable models for acceleration of vehicles
• clone, autoreplace and autoupdate vehicles
• the possibility to build on slopes and coasts
• advanced/conditional orders, share and copy orders

The team had a few packaging troubles as getting a game up on Steam has a more involved process compared to direct downloads. Partly due to the Steam Linux Runtime being based on older libraries, which caused issues with the way the OpenTTD team automate their builds. Thankfully, after some discussion and others getting involved they found a way around it and so we can expect it on Linux at the Steam release on April 1. I've tested it myself from the Steam build and it works perfectly on Ubuntu 20.04 and Arch Linux.

Since it will no doubt be asked: why download on Steam anyway when it's been available in Linux distributions for years? The point is extra exposure, opening it up to even more people to see it and enjoy it!

Follow OpenTTD on Steam or download right now from the official site .

Multiple Linux distributions all had a brand new release in the space of week with Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, EndeavourOS 2021.02.03 and Solus 4.2 all out now for downloads and upgrades.

For Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS , this is the latest point release which gives a refresh for new downloads bundling all the updates since the initial release, and additionally bumps up a bunch of package versions for everyone. It brings in a brand new HWE stack (Hardware Enablement) that will bump the Linux Kernel from 5.4 to 5.8 and newer Mesa 20.2.6 graphics drivers, so that means better support for newer hardware. All users should get the HWE updates by default now too .

All the Ubuntu flavours that come with different desktop environments also saw updated releases including Kubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, Ubuntu Budgie 20.04.2 LTS, Ubuntu MATE 20.04.2 LTS, Lubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, Ubuntu Kylin 20.04.2 LTS, Ubuntu Studio 20.04.2 LTS, and Xubuntu 20.04.2 LTS.

Download Ubuntu here and see the release announcement here .

When it comes to my own personal current choice with EndeavourOS 2021.02.03 , it's a bit different. EndeavourOS is just Arch Linux which updates as much as you want it to, with a nice installer and a few custom bits so it's always up to date. However, their installation media was from September 2020 so it was seriously out of date so this is a huge upgrade for anyone downloading first time.

The main updates for this will be:

• Linux Kernel 5.10.11.arch1-1
• Mesa 20.3.4-1
• Nvidia 460.39-2
• Firefox 85.0-1
• Calamares 3.2.34-10
• Live environment and offline install updated to Xfce 4.16

Release notes for EndeavorOS here and download here .

Lastly, Solus 4.2 is also out now bringing with it the usual assortment of updates to various desktop environments, software updates and support for newer hardware. It's now shipping with Linux Kernel 5.10.12 and the Mesa 20.3.3 graphics drivers. Some multimedia updates included too like GStreamer 1.18 and Pulseaudio 14.1.

Solus is also interesting as they also have their own custom desktop environment with Budgie, with Solus 4.2 now shipping with the latest Budgie 10.5.2 which has numerous enhancements like a new desktop icons implementation, a rewritten system tray implementation, a redesigned sound applet and more.

Solus is also now shipping with the latest GNOME 3.38.3, MATE 1.24, Plasma Desktop 5.20.5, KDE Frameworks 5.78, KDE Applications 20.12.1 and QT 5.15.2.

You can download Solus 4.2 here and see the release notes here .

Stellaris: Nemesis is going to boost some very exciting things for the grand space strategy game from Paradox, with a huge new endgame crisis coming where you get to pick a side. Not only are we get a whole espionage and spying system, we're also getting a big boost in endgame content with the Stellaris: Nemesis DLC.

Players will be tasked with either helping to keep the galaxy under control, or become the actual endgame crisis directly by eating up stars and possibly destroy the entire galaxy. Okay then.

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How will this all work? You will be able to pick a new associated ascension perk aptly named "Become the Crisis". It will be available to most types of empires but it will need at least two other ascension perks unlocked first. However, be warned, Paradox said in the new dev diary if you pick it you will "forfeit other opportunities to focus on your newfound goals" so everything you do will lead to destruction.

You will then need to go on a glorious path of destruction to earn Menace, unless you're working to stabilise the galaxy that is but where's the fun in that? Each level of the crisis progression needs a certain amount of Menace and finishing a special project. As you go through you get new types of ships with the last one being a Star Eater, that you need to use to gather Dark Matter by destroying stars and eventually wiping out the galaxy.

Sounds wild, I love it.

You can wishlist / follow Stellaris: Nemesis on GOG and Steam .

In need of a new fun physics sim? How about one that's free, open source and can be played in multiplayer? Rigs of Rods might be what you're after and they have a new release.

What actually is it? Rigs of Rods is a free/libre soft-body physics simulator mainly targeted at simulating vehicle physics. The soft-body physics system is based on mass-spring-damper theory. It's pretty much a sandbox vehicle playground, one you setup yourself with trucks, cars, cranes, boats, bridges, aeroplanes and much more.

Not the most beginner friendly game, with it needing plenty of modding and configuration to get it where you want it but it seems like a nice option for some physics amusement. As it turns out, we've never written about it here, despite it being around since at least 2005 - madness!

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Seems the team has been busy since the last release over a year ago, with a major new release landing on February 2, 2021. Quite a lot is included too, and much like Pioneer (another open source sim), they've moved their UI system over to the popular Dear ImGui . Now they have a modern UI system in place, it should be a lot easier to tweak it and work with it.

Not only that though, here's a bunch of what else is new:

• Major cleanup of the codebase
• Upgraded the translation system to work with popular Weblate
• A new Quake-style console variable system
• Vehicle speedometer will now be based on wheel speed rather than vehicle speed
• Added the ability to configure the blinker lock range
• Added the ability to toggle hydro speed coupling
• Added support for OS-specific input mapping
• Added a game controls information panel
• Added thrust reversal for aircrafts
• Added the ability to individually remove vehicles
• Updated Xbox 360/One controller and G29 wheel input maps, added wireless PS4 controller input map

Plus the usual assorted bug fixes.

Find it on the official site and download it easily from itch.io .

As impressive as it is, hopefully someone will be able to hook up a good introduction / tutorial for new players getting into it. While it's been around a long time and there's beginner guides out there, having something in game for people to follow would really help.