Remember social games like Second Life? Vircadia, was created from a failed spiritual successor to it and it's free and open source too. Originally known as Project Athena, they've recently begun making some public announcements to bring more attention to it.

The idea is to have a big shared 3D social space that supports both normal and Virtual Reality PC hardware with support for Linux, macOS, Windows and Android. Unlike other social stuff, since it's open source it can't just be shut down and anyone can use it and it allows people to create their own avatar, their own worlds and much more.

As for the current status, they say it's "around an early beta". Functional, usable and stable enough with the core functionality there but it still needs a huge amount of polish and plenty of work ahead. They also seem keen to note how Linux is a properly supported platform, with some developers using it as their primary system.

What do you actually do? What's possible? A lot it seems. Socialise with friends, make games, watch movies, even use it for work meetings and more. It's not limited to any one specific thing and you can build / script it live in-game with others so you can shape it to your liking.

See more about it on the official site .

We'll be following this along a bit closer now to see what happens with it over time, could be great.

Inspired in parts by Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Puyo Puyo Tetris with its own unique spin on block-matching battles, Aloof has a demo up now.

What's interesting about Aloof, is that the blocks don't fall by themselves. You're not racing to find a position against a timer. You can move them down, to the side and back up to position them exactly where you want them. The developer said it's all about keeping up with your opponent, taking your time and thinking about what you're doing.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Available now so it's ready and waiting for the soon to arrive Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition which begins on October 7. It's quite a fully featured demo too with single-player, online play which is cross-platform for Linux / macOS and Windows plus there's even local multiplayer too.

Once released in full they're planning to have a full solo / co-op campaign along with matches versus an AI player, special rescue mission levels and boss battles too. From my own time spent in the demo, it has an absolutely wonderful atmosphere and it's really quite charming. For a block-matching battler, it looks like it's going to be great.

You can try it out on Steam .

Move or Die, probably one of the funniest party games around that supports both local and online play has a hit a huge milestone with 1 million sales.

That sales mark is just on Steam, which sounds like a lot but this is spread across quite a few years since it released back in 2016. Fantastic for an indie developer though, and well deserved because it's a genuine delight to play through. Move or Die is an absurdly fast-paced, 4-player local and online party game where the mechanics change every 20 seconds.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Spread across lots of different modes, where you can also pick various mutators - it's a game of fast-paced constant change. A game where the name describes it perfectly, if you stop moving you will quickly die. With the mechanics, it turns it into an absolute riot. Especially when the mutators really mess with you. For collectors it's a lot of fun too, with the progression system that allows you to continually unlock new character skins, game modes and all sorts.

It's an easy game to get into too, with wonderfully simple controls that you can blast through a few rounds during a coffee-break and have a laugh.

Note: if you have more than one monitor, be aware it has a few issues with resolutions. I don't recommend doing it in normal fullscreen there, stick to borderless or windowed. If you do need to manually adjust some settings, you can find the configuration file in "/.local/share/love/Move Or Die/startup.ini".

Try it free until September 24 on Steam , with a 75% discount too.

Available now in Early Access, the online platformer shooter Soldat 2 brings in the full charm of the original classic that took the early internet by storm and will continue to expand it.

If you played the original - right now it's very much as you expect. Fast paced, ridiculous, seriously easy to get into and really rather fun. You can't ask for much more in a military-style platformer shooter, it does exactly what it sets out to do. You run, you throw a grenade, you spray and pray and hopefully get a few frags along the way. Slightly prettier than the original but still just as insane.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Keeping in mind there's a lot that's unfinished, some parts of it don't quite work correctly or entirely and more - all the usual issues you expect in a fresh Early Access game. They're doing this as a properly early title too. This is not a mostly finished game looking for testing going into Early Access - it's being continually developed with feedback from early players.

What they said is already in it:

• Online multiplayer (with dedicated servers)
• Iconic physics-based movement
• Essential multiplayer gamemodes (capture the flag, point capture, battle royale)
• Procedurally generated and designed levels
• Realistic weapons and military equipment
• Ragdoll physics and over the top violence
• Singleplayer & custom battle sandbox
• Lo-fi mode for clarity or potato pc's
• Built-in gif recording!

Plenty more is to come including more of pretty much everything: levels, weapons, vehicles - you name it and it probably will get it at some point. The big idea with Soldat 2 is to be a platform for others to create, as much as it is a game itself so it's going to have full modding support for all sorts of community content.

Find Soldat 2 on Steam now. It's 10% off until September 29.

After buying the rights to the combat flight sim Heliborne from JetCatGames, the team at Klabater have updated Heliborne into an Enhanced Edition that's out now.

This new upgrade is free to existing owners and bundles all the DLC together into the game, along with a bump to the price of the game which now has no DLC as it's just one single edition and purchase. You can see the release trailer below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Doesn't look much Enhanced, even their own trailer shows clear stuttering.…

What's included:

• New Prototype Machines
• Fully Upgraded Game Engine
• New Day & Night Maps
• Updated in-game Physics
• Empowered Multiplayer Experience
• Refreshed User Interface

On the surface, it sounds like a good upgrade. Sadly though, it seems they've not taken it in a direction that players are happy with. Since the Enhanced Edition release, it's moved into a Mostly Negative user review score on Steam. It's been so poorly received that they've put the previous version up as an opt-in Beta on Steam under the "heliborne_original" tag which also contains all the DLC. You know you messed up when the community largely wants to play the original, doesn't seem very Enhanced does it? Klabater have a lot of work ahead if they wish to turn this around.

You can buy Heliborne on Humble Store and Steam .

Red Hook Studios have released an update to the free Darkest Dungeon: The Butcher's Circus DLC, which now includes Linux PC support too.

This is the brand new free DLC that adds in PvP battles to Darkest Dungeon, which are entirely separate to the main campaign. It brings the tough turn-based combat to an entirely new audience. Red Hook Studios are still tinkering with their idea and this is the start of a second Season of content for The Butcher's Circus. In addition to adding Linux and macOS support to the new mode they've also added an Offline Mode to practice against bots, Steam Rich Presence support, improvements to the Direct Challenge feature and more polishing.

Currently, it seems to be having some server issues as shown by reports on their forum from plenty of people unable to connect so it puts them into offline mode. I have also seen this issue, so hopefully whatever is causing the connection problems will be solved soon. It's clearly not a Linux-specific problem though. Once that's properly ironed out, we'll be taking a good look. From time spent playing against bots though, the idea does work quite well with the turn-based nature of the battles that lends itself well to online PvP.

The team originally said it might come to other stores (like GOG), depending on the reception. So far, that reception has not been good with a Mixed overall user review score and a Mostly Negative recent score on Steam. It will be interesting to see if they manage to turn it around.

The Butcher's Circus for Darkest Dungeon is currently only on Steam .

DDraceNetwork, originally just a mod for the platform shooter Teeworlds that eventually spawned its own game is now up and free on Steam. Giving new life to a classic game, one that's absolutely frantic, it's good to see it appear now after five years waiting.

This is not a shooter, instead it's something of a big online co-op game where you're all trying to reach the finish line of every map. It's not a Fall Guys situation either, you're not trying win over everyone else. Instead it's just about finishing. That can be together as you help each other or alone—whatever goes really.

Watch video on YouTube.com

You can play with a lot of people in DDraceNetwork, as each server can have up to 64 people online. It does require quite a lot of skill though, which is thankfully why it has some practice servers online and there's a few reasonable easy maps to get you going as well.

There's lots of jumping, swinging and laughing involved. It's pretty funny, since you all have a grappling hook which can hook into other people. Some sections really do need a bit of teamwork, which is interesting to try with complete strangers. In a game I played earlier, it worked quite well with myself and another using our grappling hooks to pull the other along through sections when the other player is unable to move.

Ultimately we both failed but it was still amusing. There's even a little emote wheel you can bring up, to give someone a bunch of hearts for helping you or other such speech-bubble styled emotes to convey what you need to other players. Especially useful, since they might not speak your language so it's a nice little touch to have.

Overall, it's a thoroughly unique co-op game that's worth a go. Especially since it's free and open source.

You can grab it now on Steam , the official site and see the source on GitHub .