David Szymanski and New Blood have updated DUSK to include some helpful UI updates, along with 40% off and there's plenty more to come for this brutal retro FPS.

For the main menu UI you can now delete saved games (hooray!), and there's a Continue button now to jump right back in a little easier for your current run. There's also a Max Loadout button for when you just want to bring on all the toys a little easier without lots of clicking.

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Much more exciting stuff is coming though, as they're bringing over some fancy upgrades done for consoles including a completely redone world map and loadout menu to be "easier to read and navigate with a controller, keyboard, mouse and eyes.". We're also getting the weapon wheel, the classic HUD option and finally Steam Workshop support is getting close. You will be able to easily add in new "enemies, weapons and literally everything else". They mentioned how they've "basically rebuilt the entire game to be 100% moddable at this point".

Find DUSK on Humble Store , GOG.com and Steam . Both GOG and Steam have it on a 40% discount right now!

Thunder Lotus appear to have done well with Spiritfarer, their unique management game with a rather cozy atmosphere and a theme based around looking after the dead.

For those who haven't played it yet: you build a boat to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. During the game you build, farm, mine, fish, talk to lots of different people and travel across the seas and eventually say goodbye to spirits you've looked after. In a press release they noted that three separate updates are coming that will "notably expand upon the game’s main story, as well as adding additional characters, locations, and quality of life improvements" and all will be free.

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“We’re tremendously happy with the praise Spiritfarer has received since launch” says Spiritfarer Creative Director Nicolas Guérin. “It’s attracted a very passionate group of fans too, which is great because the team is excited to keep supporting the game with new content this year! I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank our fans for their crucial input as we explored various ideas for new Spiritfarer content. Your feedback definitely helped us zero in on the best path forward for the project!”

Additionally, they shared that Spiritfarer has become the most successful game Thunder Lotus has launched to date. Not without some controversy though. Overall, it is an absolutely lovely game and well worth spending some time with. If you want to see their new roadmap it's up here .

You can buy Spiritfarer on GOG , Steam and Stadia .

Ready to explore a bigger universe? The upcoming X4: Cradle of Humanity expansion along with the big free 4.0 update for all players is now confirmed to launch on March 16.

Taking the X series from Egosoft back to Earth, it will significantly increase the size of the game's universe giving you new sectors to explore along with two Terran factions to X4: Foundations, along with their economy, ships, weapons and stations.

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What Cradle of Humanity will include:

• Big expansion of the X4: Foundations universe with new sectors
• Return of Terran factions with economy, ships, weapons and stations
• Thrilling new story missions and adventures to experience
• New game-starts that allow new perspectives on the X4: Foundations story
• Introducing a new terraforming gameplay feature, evolving the endgame
• Visual improvements such as volumetric fog, making the X universe look better than ever

As for the big 4.0 free update, Egosoft continue mentioning it will be the biggest free update in the game's history. You can even try a Beta for it on Steam right now . It does sound pretty expansive with a new coordinated attack system for fleet commanding, volumetric fog graphical feature has been added, a new transaction log to see a good breakdown of your monies, a new message system for important communication with NPCs, new Escorts missions, an option to declare war on a faction and absolutely loads more.

X4: Cradle of Humanity is probably one of the biggest, or perhaps actually the biggest and most in-depth single-player space sim around.

For the full game right now you can buy it on Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Master from developer Goblinz Studio is closing in on the final release, with a fresh big update out now for this mix of dungeon management and turn-based battles.

It actually reminds me a little of the card game BossMonster (which is great by the way). With you in charge of the dungeon and tasked with protecting it from pesky heroes trying to get all your treasure. You need to setup room after room of traps and in Legend of Keepers you're also dealing with your own creatures that you place in defence. Hits the mark quite well and is quite unique.

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What's new in the latest release? Highlights include:

New game modes : Ascension and Endless ! Play with a default team or create your own with the team editor! Available for Supporter Pack owners only until full release.
New Archivist section : keep track of the Artefacts available in the game and how to unlock more of them!
New monster : the Futakuchi-onna!
New Artefacts to discover and play with!
New Steam Achievements !

Legend of Keepers has been in Early Access now for close to a year, and the next update will bring it to the full release so if you've been waiting for it to be finished you might want to keep a closer eye on it.

You can pick it up on Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

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 .

A big feature players have been asking for a long time is now live in the Factorio 1.1 update, and it should run smoother than ever with big factories.

Blueprint flipping is the big headline feature here, allowing you to pretty much copy and paste creations while also now flipping them around. They repeatedly said no on it but then they wanted it and so they hooked it up in a way that only allows it for blueprints that can flip properly (preventing giving you a bunch of broken creations).

Seems to work okay too:

Lots more than just that arrived with Factorio 1.1 including:

• Spider waypoints and the ability to set spiders to to follow other things. Making controlling the big spider mechs a huge amount easier.
• Smart belt building to lock quick building into a direction, and automatic underground belt traversal. Building belts nicely has never been easier looking at it.
• Multithreaded belts to help boost performance. This will be especially noticeable in the later game stage.
• New Train Overview GUI.
• Much faster saved games.

That's just the basic gist of it, you can see the full details of the 1.1 update here .

Factorio is an absolutely incredible game and I imagine most people who've put a few hours into it will agree. Looking at Steam, it's hit over 87,000 user reviews now and still remains on an Overwhelmingly Positive rating. That's pretty amazing and so hopefully they can keep on expanding it for years.

You can buy a copy of Factorio from Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

As Far As The Eye is a strategy game that has you build a city, while also making you constantly move on before the world becomes submerged. It's tough and it's now available on Linux.

Developed by Unexpected with publishing from Goblinz Studio, Maple Whispering Limited it brings together city building, procedural generation and a whole lot of planning ahead. With limited resources and time against you, there's a constant need to prepare for the worst. This is no Civilization game and certainly not Cities Skylines either, this is a whole new breed. Originally released in September 2020, as of January 26 2021 it now supports Linux.

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It's definitely among the more interesting build and gather strategy games thanks to both the unique gameplay loop and the absolutely charming visual style to it. Seriously, As Far As The Eye is really quite beautifully designed graphically. The UI is a bit difficult to manage at times but the overall artwork is fantastic.

What's also interesting about As Far As The Eye is that you also have no enemies to fight here, it's you and your tribe against the might of nature itself and the looping huge storm that seems to keep happening so you're trying to get to the Eye which appears to be the only safe haven.

Feature Highlight:

• Plan the best path for your tribe to take in order to go as far as the Eye.
• Explore, analyze and search places of interest for long lost treasures on a procedurally generated journey.
• Harvest, build, stock and leave your halt before the wave engulfs your tribe.
• Improve your pupils through the job system, your buildings through the improvement system and your whole tribe through Tribe's Knowledge.
• Survive dire conditions and protect the Pupils against random events.
• Meet allies, negotiate for resources, recruit new Pupils and more!
• Make offerings in Sacred Sites or plunder them, but never forget you'll have to bear the consequences of your actions .

• Live a peaceful adventure as there are no enemies in As Far As The Eye
• Relive a new adventure each time thanks to our Roguelike tribe system

You can buy As Far As The Eye from GOG , Humble Store and Steam .

Perhaps your prisoners in Prison Architect fancy growing something to pass the time? Give them the gift of green in Prison Architect - Going Green and The Glasshouse free update out now.

Most prison tend to a look a bit…depressing. Grey, lots of walls and just terrible. Now though you can give them a splash of colour and of course all this growing comes with its own type of contraband because no prison can apparently be without some kind of special herbs. Here's the list of what's new in the Going Green DLC

• Fruits of Labor: Farming introduces a new type of Prison Labor, allowing prisons to grow potatoes, wheat, apples, and more. Produce can be exported or used as ingredients for inmate meals.
• Room to Grow: Three outdoor rooms facilitate farming: Fruit Orchard, Farm Field and Vegetable Allotment. But that’s not all, players can recruit staff Farm Workers, build a Pantry to store produce, and construct a Shed to house farming-related items.
• Best Buds: Inmates who enjoy nature’s beauty can grow flowers and other plants recreationally. Gardening affects inmates and gives them a positive recreation activity.
• Trouble is Brewing: With new crops comes new contraband. Prisoners can now secretly grow herbs in the fields and swipe kitchen ingredients to brew Booze. Fields can also become Gang Turf, so keep your guards on alert!
• A Greener New Deal: Prisons get an eco-friendly makeover with Solar, Wind, and Solar/Wind Hybrid power sources. Excess power created by these sustainable methods can be sold back to the grid using the Power Export Meter.

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Meanwhile there's also The Glasshouse free update that everyone who owns the base game sees. Here's the highlights of what's free for you all:

• New Recycling System
  • Includes new Recycling Bin object

• New Quick Rooms
  • Yard, Grove, and hedge maze

• 2 New dog types
  • Shepherd
  • Bowtie Bandit

• Community improvement: dump/demolish
• Community improvement: Objects Menu Sorting Methods
• Staff alerts
• Job Menu optimization

According to their Twitter team, it should also be having a Free Weekend on Steam so you can try before you buy all weekend long. It's not live yet though it seems as of time of writing but expect it soon.

You can buy Prison Architect from GOG , Humble Store and Steam .

Wasteland 3 from inXile Entertainment has a big new free update out with the Robots & Rangers" patch, and it's looking to be a good one for all players.

"In Wasteland 3 you take command of a squad of Desert Rangers, lawmen and women in a post-nuclear world, trying to rebuild society from the ashes. More than a century after the bombs fell, you’re fighting a losing battle to keep your beloved Arizona alive. Then the self-proclaimed Patriarch of Colorado radios, promising aid if you'll do a job he can only entrust to an outsider—rescue his land from the ambitions of his three bloodthirsty children."

Originally released in August 2020, the Linux version came just before the year was up in December and since then they've clearly been busy on fixing up bugs and expanding the game elsewhere. Here's what's new in 1.3.0 "Robots & Rangers":

• New difficulty mode: Tourist - Tourist mode is easier than Rookie, letting you enjoy Wasteland 3’s story, with combat difficulty taking a back seat.
• New cosmetics! New Hair, Beards, and Pants have been added to character creation.
• The Handmade Wizard and Knight costumes will let you roleplay all your Robots & Rangers fantasies. Once players in have completed the quest 'Cornered Rats' they will find that a lootable crate has been delivered to Ranger HQ, outside of the base structure, near the transition waypoint that leads to Downtown Colorado Springs. Equip the costumes at the wardrobe in Ranger HQ or the clothing shop in Downtown Colorado Springs ... and attack the darkness!
• Intelligence now gives +1 skill point for every point of Intelligence spent, up from +1 every other point. This change applies retroactively to existing save games.
• The Book Learnin’ and Answering Machine achievements are now achievable.
  Note: The missing Book Learnin’ note becomes available after passing a Leadership skill check when first meeting the Patriarch and then speaking to Magistrate Silas Watkins in Downtown Colorado Springs.
  The missing cassette tapes "Kidnappers in Trouble" is in the Gett Family Homestead in a new container. "A Proposal" is in the Machine Commune, just west of Vivisecto.
• More actions are now able to be bound to keyboard and mouse, most notably camera panning. The game will also unmap double-bound keys to prevent input conflicts, and warn you about missing keybinds before you leave the menu.

There is quite a lot of additional bug fixes, a few improved animation and sound effects, a balancing pass, UI updates and the list of smaller details goes on that you can see in full here .

Note: for the Linux version, it's been reported that on AMD GPUs you may need to turn off Ambient Occlusion to prevent graphical glitches. Hopefully that will be solved in either a Wasteland 3 patch or a later Mesa driver update. There is an open bug report that needs more testing for AMD GPUs on the Mesa bug tracker.

You can buy Wasteland 3 from GOG , Steam or the Humble Store .