WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is a dark fantasy-horror FPS powered by the original Quake engine from publishers 3D Realms and 1C Entertainment and developer KillPixel Games.

The full release across all platforms (Windows currently supported in Early Access) has been delayed until "Summer 2021", this is due to COVID-19 as some of their team sadly caught it and needed recovery time. Even so, they've managed to push out a third content update.

“While delays are never ideal, we wanted to release one awesome final update before going heads down to knock this out of the park,” said Frederik Schreiber, Vice President of 3D Realms and Producer on WRATH. “Summer may seem far away, but we are working diligently to make WRATH the best game it can be.”

Watch video on YouTube.com

The good news is that direct Linux support is still planned, with 1C Publishing mentioning to us today that "The Linux version is planned for the full launch of the game in Summer.".

Until then you can either try with the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer, or perhaps even better is using the open source wrath-darkplaces game engine! The latter of which our contributor Samsai previewed in a previous article and it's looking really good.

You can buy WRATH: Aeon of Ruin from Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

How about a free game for the coming weekend? Humble Store has Bomber Crew going free during their new Winter Sale so you can pick up some other cheap games too. Bomber Crew is a really highly rated and enjoyable game too, so it's a pretty good pick to get free!

As for the new Humble Winter Sale, it's a big one with lots of publishers big and small joining in. Plus there's of course masses of fantastic indie games that deserve plenty of attention. If you want to look over what the bigger lot have take a look at the sales for SEGA , 2K , Deep Silver , Humble Games , Codemasters , THQ Nordic , Kalypso Media and also Team17 have an existing sale still on.

Need some suggestions? Here's a few games I consider essential purchases for a Linux gamer:

• XCOM 2 - Collection - 85% off. Easily my favourite turn-based strategy game, especially with the expansion and all the mods available. So much repeatable fun to be had.
• Spec Ops: The Line - 80% off. To this day it still has one of the best stories when it comes to a third-person miltiary shooter.
• Life is Strange - Complete - 80% off. A choice-based adventure with plenty of fun twists.
• Two Point Hospital - 75% off. The modern reimagining of Theme Hospital.
• Planetary Annihilation: TITANS - 75% off (has issues with AMD GPUs currently). Real-time strategy spread across multiple planets.
• Move or Die - 75% off. A highly amusing party game.
• Galak-Z - 75% off. Incredible deep-space 2D dog-fighting shooter.
• Overload - 70% off. One of the best modern 6-degree-of-freedom shooters.
• Iconoclasts - 70% off. A truly excellent pixel-art platformer metroidvania.
• 7 Days to Die - 66% off. Probably one of the most satisfying open-world survival games around that mixes first-person shooting, crafting, building with destructible terrain and at times a tower defence too with zombie waves.
• Dungeons 3 - 60% off. Build a dungeon as an evil overlord, with plenty of comedy sprinkled in. What's not to love?

Head here to get your free copy of Bomber Crew. The giveaway lasts until January 16 at 10AM Pacific time / 6PM UTC.

Also take a look at the Humble Store for tons of games discounted, with the sale going on until January 28.

Paradox Interactive and Double Eleven have announced the next expansion and free update for Prison Architect with the Prison Architect: Going Green DLC launching on January 28.

Seems like bit of a theme with Paradox published games. We had the Cities: Skylines - Green Cities DLC in 2017, the Surviving Mars: Green Planet DLC in 2019 and now prisons are going green too. You will be able to create a more environmentally friendly prison with farming and all sorts.

Here's the key features to expect from it:

• 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.

Have a look at the announcement trailer below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

As for the free update everyone will see, this will be called The Glasshouse which will bring with it "additional objects, quickrooms, community improvements and two new top-notch employees - K9 units Shepherd and Bowtie Bandit." additionally Wardens can "create a more sustainable prison with Recycling Systems and objects like recycling bins or solar lights" and improvements to sorting methods and dump / demolition tooling - all of which has been highly requested by the community.

“Going Green continues Prison Architect’s history of riffing off popular prison fiction seen in movies, TV, and other media. This will be the third Prison Architect expansion we will have launched since Paradox took over the IP in 2019 and we can’t wait to see your latest creations,” said Steacy McIlwham, Product Manager for Prison Architect at Paradox Interactive. “The Glasshouse also kicks off a series of updates we will make to the game’s interface, starting with the dump and demolition tools, making it more user-friendly. We understand this is something the community has been asking about for a long time and we want you to know your voice has been heard.”

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

After releasing in late 2020, the monster battling metroidvania mix in Monster Sanctuary was quite a highlight and it's getting bigger and better this year. Moi Rai Games have released a roadmap of their plans and it's quite exciting.

Naturally after any game is released that saw some attention, they've been given plenty of feedback from players. Seems it went well overall though as they said it was "quite a successful launch". The first update will be coming with two additional difficulty settings with "Casual" and "Master" to appeal to more players, with the ability to switch as you like during the game.

On top of that they're adding in a New Game+ mode where you get to keep your existing monster crew, for players who want that extra challenge. The online battle mode will also see some matchmaking improvements, like allowing direct challenges to your Steam friends.

Not seen it before? Check out the trailer:

Watch video on YouTube.com

As for what will come after this big 1.1 update? Lots more is planned and this is where it gets even more interesting. We can look forward to player customization, improvements to the minimap, speedrun options, various quality of life improvements to come too like:

• Be able to inspect all Monsters, not just the enemies. Additionally, inspecting will display all buffs/debuffs a Monster currently has.
• Sorting Monsters
• Possibility to take back assigned skill points while still in the skill menu
• Improved Monster donation (warning when donating Champion Monsters, be able to donate multiple Monsters at a time)
• Display the number of items already possessed when buying additional ones
• Option to increase all wild encounter levels

Sounds great. Monster Sanctuary is already a lot of fun as a finished game but this all makes it sound like it's going to be worth playing through again.

If you want to buy Monster Sanctuary you can do so on the Humble Store or Steam .

Another week another game bundle, a chance for you to build up that collection of games with the Humble Holiday in Space Bundle out now. Running for another 10 days, it does have a few nice picks. As usual, we shall highlight in bold text those that offer Linux builds.

For the lowest £0.75 / $1 tier you get two highly rated games:

• Tacoma
• Space Run

Dig deeper up to beat the average payment and you also get:

• Deep Sky Derelicts
• Rover Mechanic Simulator
• Siege of Centauri

There's two more tiers at £7.47 which offers:

• AVICII Invector

And then for the final £10.52 tier you get:

• Breathedge
• Moons of Madness

See the Humble Holiday in Space Bundle here if interested. The lowest tier is a steal for Tacoma at that price, a game I really personally did enjoy exploring.

While you're here, have a reminder of what else they have going that's interesting:

• Québec Indies Bundle - Aeolis Tournament, Jotun: Valhalla Edition, Castle Story and more
• Humble Codemasters Racing Rebundle - Overlord II, DiRT Rally, Dirt 4, DiRT Rally 2.0 and more
• Humble Winter Indie Bundle Mix - Deponia: The Complete Journey, LYNE, Butcher, Armello and more

Plenty of games to consider if you're currently on a budget and looking for something new.

Here's something to keep you busy over the holiday season! Stardew Valley, the awesome and relaxing farming life sim from ConcernedApe has the biggest update yet.

There's so much that's new it's going to take some time to find it all, and I don't want to spoil too much of what to expect from it. Safe to say though they've really been busy expanding what you can do. It now has local co-op support, a brand new Beach farm, new game options to customize things a bit more, there's a significant amount of "late-game" content added, new character events, tons of new items, fish tanks and you can even sit on chairs now.

Click above for big image of the Beach farm

Quick tip: the full-screen farm screenshot tool saves pictures on Linux into your "/.local/share/StardewValley/" folder.

Plenty more new apart from what's already mentioned like home renovations, the ducks actually swim now, new people to meet and so on. It is an absolute whopper of a patch to drop just before the holidays! Awesome. Think I will have to dive in and spend another bunch of hours exploring all the little new bits. Will you be doing the same?

If you want the full spoiler filled list of what's new it can be found here .

Pick up a copy on Humble Store , GOG or Steam .

Ready for some serious action-platforming with an awesome 8-bit inspired style? Cyber Shadow has been confirmed for release on January 26, 2021.

Coming from developer Mechanical Head Studios who teamed up with Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight), Cyber Shadow is a pulse-pounding 2D ninja action platformer that allows players to relive the authenticity of the classic 8-bit challenge (with an added convenience or two)!

Watch video on YouTube.com

They've confirmed it will be supported across Linux, macOS and Windows for the PC release.

"The world has been taken over by the evil Dr. Progen and his merciless synthetic army. A desperate plea for help sets Shadow, the sole survivor of his clan, on one last mission to uncover what started the path to perpetual ruin. Your robotic companion, L-Gion, is your only guide through the ruins of Mekacity. How far will Shadow go to protect his clan and the one he loves? Is there more to their bond than meets the eye? Only you can unlock the secrets to your clan’s ancient powers. Hurry before you run out of time! The road to redemption awaits!"

Features:

• Dash, slice, and leap through masterfully designed levels filled with sharply honed ninja platforming action.
• Authentic 8-bit presentation with hand-crafted sprites, a detailed pixel aesthetic, and perfect controls. Modern touches like fluid animation, multi-layered parallax backgrounds, and evolved game design.
• Take down more than a dozen apocalyptic bosses, from enormous war machines to your synthetic clan rivals.
• Relive the authenticity of classic 8-bit challenge or experience it for the first time.. with an added convenience or two.
• Rescue your clan to unlock permanent Ninjutsu skills and abilities, combining them seamlessly as only the warrior of legend could.
• Search for secrets as you explore the ruined world. Return to your old haunts to find supplies, items and upgrades.
• Experience the gripping story, told both in-game and through animated cinematic story scenes between the action. Who can be trusted? How far will Shadow go to protect his clan and the one he loves?
• Pulse-pounding soundtrack by Enrique Martin, produced by Jake Kaufman.

You will be able to pick it up on Humble Store , GOG and Steam for $19.99 on January 26, 2021.

As the last update of the year (and one we missed from last week), getting in one more turn in Civilization VI might be a little less annoying with the AI tweaks in the December patch.

With the tweaks aiming to make the AI a bit smarter, other civilizations should no longer constantly ask for demands when they're at a clear disadvantage. There's also new options like "Stop asking me" for friendship, peace and trade agreements. Even better though, is a don't ask again option for items requested by the AI - so we can finally shut them up. Firaxis noted some other additional AI logic improvements so games should feel better overall.

The other major addition with this free update is the City-State Picker, allowing you to further customize your games and select what you want to appear. Plus there's now a way to search for units in the World Tracker panel so you never lose anything again.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Sadly, it seems cross-play with Linux, macOS and Windows has once again hit some road bumps. Firaxis mentioned that they discovered a desync issue "around the mid-game point" so it's once again turned off while Aspyr Media (who did the port) investigate a fix for it. Once we hear more on that, we will aim to let you know. All platforms have the update and Linux / macOS can play together but Windows is again by itself until they sort it. At least this time they've noted it in the announcement clearly instead of us all finding out after it's live.

You can buy Civilization VI with Linux support from Humble Store and Steam .

A little repair and reconstruction while doing a space walk? That's now a thing in the latest free expansion to the spaceship building simulation game Kerbal Space Program.

With lots of other smaller features that were added in this update, the EVA Construction Mode and new textures are the biggest highlights. EVA Construction Mode especially, because it can change how you play the game entirely when mixed with the new inventory system that allows your kerbals to store and carry around objects of their own. Some Reassembly Required also boosts the customization possible with a bunch of new lights to stick on your craft, plus some deployable lights too.

Watch video on YouTube.com

When it comes to the texture overhaul they mentioned it's ongoing work with the Joolian satellite system of Bop, Vall and Tylo seeing major texture upgrades which make quite a big difference. The full changelog, as expected of a major upgrade, is pretty long and interesting full of smaller new details and quite a lot of bug fixes too.

Buy a copy of Kerbal Space Program from Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

Do we have any regular players here? Let us know what you think of all the changes in the comments.