After being in Early Access since February 2020, SouthPAW Games have now released their head-swapping rogue-lite action platformer Skul: The Hero Slayer.

Taking place in a world where it seems that things are a bit backwards. The heroes appear to be going on a rampage, enslaving other creatures to help with their dirty work and destroy the demons once and for all. Everyone has been taken prisoner, except for you, a little little Skul. With action comparable to the likes of Dead Cells which I adore, and Hollow Knight, this is a rogue-lite you're going to want to keep on playing.

You're no ordinary fighter though, as you can swap your regular boring old skul with another. When you do this, you gain some pretty impressive abilities and there's quite a lot of different skul's to find. This makes it quite unique because it can end up being very different on each run.

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Like a lot of games that work on repetition, it can get a little…repetitive. It all depends on how much you enjoy jumping around platforms, and slicing through every enemy possible while also unleashing some admittedly awesome abilities. At times you feel ridiculously overpowered, others it's like you're an ant and they're just a big shoe waiting to step on you. RNG can be an issue here though, as it can often depend on what skull you can find to help you progress.

The good news is that for all the repetition needed, the combat is absolutely brilliant mechanically. It feels so good! Swapping between heads which gives you an instant ability firing off (great in a pinch), and then unleash some abilities while you wait to be able to switch back. So much fun to the action and it's not bad looking either, some of the pixel-art that went into Skul is really pretty with lots of little details.

I should note that the current build on Linux has an issue of a black screen instead of the main menu, although all it does it get you to click a button to load back into the game which does work so it's not a big problem. I've let the developer know.

Overall though if you're up for a challenge and you love your pixel-art, rogue-lite action-platforming with plenty of character variation with all the skulls then it's an easy recommendation to go and pick up.

You can buy Skul: The Hero Slayer on Humble Store and Steam .

Skellboy Refractured, the new and fresh release from UmaikiGames is out with Linux support as an expanded version to the game that originally released for the Nintendo Switch. Note : key provided the developer.

"Sometimes, when there is nobody up to the task, old heroes have to rise from the grave to save the day! Crush your enemies and make good use of their guts - literally, as you can augment Skippy with your foe's body parts and weapons! Help Skippy, the cubic skeleton, to fight off Squaruman's endless forces of undead and vicious foes in this rectangular action packed cardboard adventure!"

A very charming game, and very silly too. What really sells it is the graphical style with the perspective. The world is 3D and you move around in a 3D space but the characters look flat and 2D. It's been done before (what hasn't?) but how they've done it here does look fantastic.

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I had a lot of fun play through different bits of this one, with some quite surprising scenes. It's supposed to be family friendly too, and with local co-op support it could be a good one to play with a significant other or a younger gamer wanting something a little different.

This is an action-RPG through and through, with you running across hacking and slashing your way through various different enemies. The fun part is switching between different body parts including you legs and skull on top of the weapon you're using. All of them have different effects so it's however you feel like playing. Some equipment, or body parts, have active abilities too like blocking projectiles or firing a seed at enemies (it gets weird) which makes it all the more interesting and often amusing. The description on some of the items was rather on-point too.

There's even boss fights, which I don't want to overly spoil but even they are a genuine delight in difficulty, design and weirdness. The first one for example, which happens quite early on, makes you fight off a strange creature that needs you to jab it in its many eyes.

Not particularly difficult, it even has a little platform on its back to help you jump up to it but it's so well designed like most parts of the game it's just lovely.

Feature Highlight:

• An expansive singleplayer experience across the interconnected Kingdom of Cubold full of square charming characters and edgy villains!
• A true action-rpg adventure that will test your skill and rewards exploration!
• Swap your bones for 100+ different body parts and items of friends and foes with (more or less) useful effects!
• 5 unique weapon types to clobber any foes you face!
• Special enemies and bosses that will truly test your mettle!
• A Vibrant 2d pixelart style that comes to life in a 3d world!
• Includes some rocking chiptune tracks and sounds!

As far as I could tell, the Linux version runs great.

You can buy Skellboy Refractured on Steam .

Shot in the Dark needs you to have good platforming skills, good point and click aiming skills and it's a whole lot of fun if you're up for the challenge. Note : key provided by the developer.

Released with Linux support on January 12 from developer Possum House Games, the idea of it is seriously great. It's an action-platforming that requires precision in more ways than one. Using a very simply and quite limited colour palette that's largely black, white and red - a lot of things blend together. You need to pick out the enemies from the background and take them down.

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Tougher than you think for a few reasons. You often don't see the enemies until they're up close, as you need to keep a real close watch on your surroundings - look out for those glowing red eyes coming at you. Not only that, you're using a trusty old revolver which only has 6 bullets at a time and you need to individually reload it. To make things even more interesting? You can't move while aiming. However, it balances this out a bit by letting you point and shoot pretty much anywhere.

After each shot you get a slight pause too while your character deals with the kickback from the gun, it's only short but that also needs thought due to your positioning if you're going to be taking out multiple enemies near you. Clearly a lot of thought went into the design of the limited mechanics here and all all works great together.

Some of it might perhaps feel a little bit unfair when you've died a couple times, however, a lot of it is all about taking it slow. It's not random, you learn enemy movements and placements and you do get checkpoints at each new section of the game so it's not overly punishing. Challenging for sure in places but fair I feel. On the flipside, some if it is about speed and precision too, as there's sections that need you to run, stop and shot and run some more.

Constantly surprising me with how it mixed up all these small mechanics from enemies that also aim and shoot at you in the same way, to enemies that only activate if you accidentally aim across them, enemies you only see in reflections or when lightning strikes and more.

Point and click shooting with platforming, where the enemies blend into your surroundings - great. Had a huge amount of fun blasting through it. Be sure to check this one out.

You can buy Shot in the Dark on Steam . and itch.io .

WHAT THE GOLF? A game created by Triband who clearly have no idea what Golf actually is and as it turns out, they created a game that's pretty amazing. Note : copy personally purchased.

Funded originally on the Fig platform back in 2018, it later turned into a timed Epic Games Store exclusive in late 2019 and eventually a Steam release happened in October 2020. Linux support came just a bit later but now I've had plenty of time with it to give it some thoughts.

So what is it, if not Golf? Well, that answer is somewhat complicate. It's hilarious though, thoroughly entertaining but deciding on what type of game it is has proven difficult. It's something along the lines of a physics comedy title that has a basic inspiration from the idea of Golf - to hit something across somewhere. Look, describing it is hard okay. It's completely stupid but oh so brilliant.

WHAT THE GOLF? is as if Triband said "what about Golf, if we added in mechanics from everything else and mashed it together as if you're in a Portal-like testing chamber". I couldn't help but constantly smile, chuckle and sometimes just laugh out loud at some of the levels. The various mechanics constantly mixed in and blended together are a real joy as are the constant little puns and joke level names.

You could easily go into WHAT THE GOLF? expecting something slightly silly that wears thin after an hour or two, but thankfully it's clear here that Triband put in a lot of effort to not be a gimmick game. It's fun from the start, and continues to grow on you as you ace the various challenges.

Sometimes you're a Golf ball, the hole, a club, a bouncy ball, a house, a chair and much more. Yes, you will be throwing around all sorts of things and it just keeps getting more ridiculous as time goes on. The list goes on for a while and some of it is seriously inventive, like a flower vase which you need to first gently tap onto its side so you can roll it along without breaking it.

There's also quite a few clear parodies included too. Super Mario Golf? Yep. Angry Bird Golf? There's that too. You even get a Lunar Lander parody included. WHAT THE GOLF? is a game that just keeps on giving.

Once you've got the basics down, you can go back to every single level and go through two extra challenges on each. Some are a genuine challenge, others just so completely ridiculous but it shows just how much attention the game has been given to be worth playing through. There's also co-op support, a level editor, daily challenges and more. Family friendly even, not that a younger audience would get half the jokes but they can easily enjoy the absurdness of it.

Back in December 2020 the developer also released a free snowy content update adding in a bunch of extra levels. Always nice to see post-release content.

WHAT THE GOLF? is a game that you need to play if you perhaps overlooked it.

If I had actually played it last year, it would have easily made my best 2020 Linux games list , I almost feel ashamed I left it this long. An easy recommendation to pick up. Absolutely brilliant. Go buy it. The Linux version has worked flawlessly in my testing both with mouse and gamepad - no issues.

You can buy WHAT THE GOLF? for Linux on Steam .

As 2020 comes to a close, here's a brief look over what games we personally thought truly stood out in 2020 that directly supported Linux.

Here's my own personal picks of games I personally enjoyed the most through 2020:

Spiritfarer

With all the terrible things going on in the world, Spiritfarer was a wonderful reminder to slow down and appreciate the little things and life itself.

Spiritfarer felt a bit like the antidote to 2020 that I needed. Take care of spirits, travel slowly around by boat, and eventually let everyone go into the next life. It's an easy game to recommend to pretty much anyone because it's just thoroughly wonderful.

Avorion

I am a space nerd. There, I said it. I really truly am. The final frontier - it's just so exciting and travelling through space in Avorion feels fantastic.

Mine asteroids and watch as they break apart, do a little trading and build up your fleet all while taking in the great atmospere. Not just that though, all the building systems in Avorion make it worthwhile as you build your own ships block by block like it's space Minecraft.

art of rally

A racer that needs no introduction I'm sure. art of rally is one of the best top-down rally racers. Tough as hell too! It's a very different experience to traditional rally games like the DiRT Rally series, and nice to see something a little more accessible and stripped back to just enjoy the ride.

A Monster's Expedition

We have another fantastic relaxing game here on top of Spiritfarer in my list. A Monster's Expedition is easily one of the best puzzle games I've played in a very long time, with an open-ended structure that allows you to explore different sections with a clever progression system that sees you knock down trees to access various different puzzle islands - it's simply magical.

CARRION

Absolutely brutal. Do I need to say more? Probably, but should I? Look, CARRION is absolutely insane. You control a big messy blob of anger and go around eating people.

If you feel like you need to let off a little steam, it fits nicely as you slide around a research complex, growing stronger and causing havoc as you go.

Amnesia: Rebirth

The scariest game of 2020. I definitely never ever want to play it again but I mean that in the best way possible. It was a serious experience, one you have to try but I don't think my body could handle much more from it. Incredible atmosphere and it shows how Frictional Games have still clearly got it when it comes to horror.

SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE

SUPER

HOT

SUPER

…you'll understand if you've played it. A first-person shooter where time is almost at a standstill until you move. A much expanded game compared to the original, and to me it was all the better for it. Much more replay value, and just amazing to play through. There's simply nothing else like it.

Superliminal

Not a particularly long puzzle game but I really appreciated the different way it forces you think.

It reminded me of my first time playing the likes of Portal and The Talos Principle because of how unique it is. It's all about getting the right perspective. Pick up an object, and how you look at it will change the size of it. Such a magnificent idea and I wish there was a whole lot more of it.

Disc Room

Love being frustrated? Want a different kind of dungeon-crawling experience? Disc Room is what you need to download. The name says it all, you run through rooms full of spinning discs trying to cut you up. Why are they here though, why are you exploring? Many questions, even more deaths and a whole lot of fun as you duck and dive through many disc rooms. Disc Room is absolutely frantic that you don't want to miss it.

Crusader Kings III

Where do I even start with Crusader Kings III? One of the most deep and complex items in my Steam library, a properly modern grand strategy game from Paradox that's…actually quite inviting and even an idiot like me can enjoy?

I was sold on CKIII pretty quickly. It's a story-teller, and an RPG as much as it is a grand strategy game and one you can play however you want. Not as complex in a few ways as the previous game sure enough, but it doesn't need to be, it's not the same game and it's better for it. Opening up grand strategy to more people and it's never dull.

Notes: I could of course make a much longer list as there's plenty that were awesome but these are just what stood out the most for me personally. Considering how many I enjoyed, this was a real struggle to cut down! There's also a large number I am still yet to personally go through. I decided not to list games on Stadia, since the service has only recently opened up to more people and is still locked away from many countries - it felt a bit unfair. GeForce NOW also doesn't count, since they don't actually support Linux yet but that is planned . Plus, as always, my personal focus is developers supporting Linux because there's already more than enough places focusing on AAA Windows games.

Our livestreamer, Sin, also played quite a lot of games through this year on our Twitch Channel . Here's what Sin thinks stood out the most from what was played:

Littlewood

Now I have put a silly amount of time into this adorable game, but I stand by my statement of this being the relaxing game we needed in the middle of 2020. Littlewood gave me massive Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley vibes and honestly who doesn't enjoy that.

You play a hero that has already saved the world and now it's time to rebuild the village, you also get to name yourself and the village, I am known as Mayor Sin of the village Hell. To rebuild the village, you collect resources, decorate homes, make new friends that will want to move in and hold cute pixel pets!

Littlewood stood out for me this year, because of the easy and yet addictive game play, that just makes you feel wholesome and happy after you play for 10 hours straight!

Children of Morta

Children of Morta was a game I honestly thought I wouldn't enjoy, but boy was I wrong about that. Not only is the art in the game stunning, the story is really beautiful too. Even within the sad moments of the game.

You play as the Bergson family and have to defeat the corruption that is now infecting Mount Morta. There are so many different characters and abilities to play and use within the world, I was a massive fan of Linda and Kevin.

Children of Morta is here purely because not only was the game stunning, but quickly sucked me in, because I needed to know what happened. And, well, because there is always time to do one more dungeon run before logging off for the day!

Hellpoint

So Hellpoint I only just completed, but it was an epic and rage filled adventure to defeat the final boss. Hellpoint is a souls like game that takes place in space! Pretty sweet combo to be honest.

Now Hellpoint was my first souls like game I have ever played, and I quickly learnt that you can't rush the game, and it’s not the best idea running into a boss fight, I will never forgive the cat boss. The areas were super fun to explore and the mobs were great to fight (except one mob that inflicts madness!)

There is so much to Hellpoint too, that on my first run I barely touched the surface. There are so many secrets, tons of weapons and a bunch of gear. That maybe a second run might be in order in the future!

Those are just released games but what about those still in development, like Early Access titles? There’s a lot to appreciate there too that arrived through 2020. Here’s a random five that are absolutely worth looking into that I’ve personally tried and enjoyed:

• DRAG
• Space Haven
• Tallowmere 2
• Urtuk: The Desolation
• Ziggurat 2

What have been your favourites that released in some way this year? Let us know in the comments and give over your top recommendations for other readers.

Love twin-stick shooters? Need a fresh modern take on retro classics with plenty of upgrades? Glitchangels is pretty much all you need and it's fantastic. Note : key from the publisher.

Developed by Pumpkin Games with a little publishing help from Puppygames, this is true fast-paced twin-stick arcade shooting at it's finest. However, it's not as basic as that. Glitchangels is all about the upgrades and there's a lot of them to go through as you blast through level after level of enemy hordes. It's pretty clever in what it does with the minimalist style too, including the fancy glitch effects.

"FIGHT, DIE, GLITCH, WIN!"

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Starting off nice and slow to teach you the ropes, it doesn't take long before you're glitch-deep in enemy territory facing off against lots of varied enemy types. It gets fun - really fun, frantatic as hell too as you're running around zipping through enemies with your various abilities.

What makes it exciting are the different Glitchangels you have access to at any time, as you can simply tap a button to switch between them and then have access to their weapons and abilities. You will need to do this quite often too, especially when you die as you then get to rewind time a little to pick a place you think you're safe enough to dive instantly back into the action. That is probably my most appreciated feature here, because I died a lot and often embarrassingly so too as I'm so focused on everything coming at me that I miss an enemy sneaking up behind me and —pop, i'm dead. Time to rewind, pick a different Glitchangel and spawn back a second or three to where I can turn around and blast that sneakily little devil.

Part of the reason you're going to die often though is how the game rewards you. Want more cash? Get closer, much closer. If you destroy enemies closer, you're going to earn more money towards upgrades. After each level, you then get to pick through the usual sort like firing faster, a more powerful weapon, increased range and more.

Additionally though, you also get special Glitches. These are more unique powerups on top of the normal stat boosters to make it even more entertaining. It spins through a bunch that you need to try and click for the one you want.

If you do prefer your game to be a little less retro, you can disable the CRT effects in the settings to get a bit of a cleaner screen but I think it looks pretty great with it on.

Overall, Glitchangels is pretty much perfect as a retro-fuelled arcade action shooter that's easily repeatable and enjoyable thanks to the masses of upgrades and the extra abilities on top of different characters to switch between. Challenging once you get further into it and leaves you with that satisfying feeling of needing to play through more.

You can buy it on Steam now and you definitely should.

Monster Sanctuary from Moi Rai Games and Team17 has now left Early Access as a finished game, along with a bunch of extra content in the 1.0 update.

Clearly and obviously inspired by the likes of Pokemon and other similar titles, Monster Sanctuary still manages to offer its own unique take on monster catching. It's blends together a side-scrolling platformer metroidvania with turn-based tactical battles, with the result being very good. With various monsters having different active abilities in the main exploration, you will need the help of this critters to get passed different obstacles and it's a lot of fun to try and hatch them all.

Much like Pokemon, it's somewhat engrossing and dare I say it…a little addictive. I really do just want to explore every nook and cranny to ensure I haven't missed any secret areas that might have another unique monster.

What's nice about Monster Sanctuary is the way you actually get the monsters. You don't catch them or force them into some magical ball, instead you get a chance to get an egg from your encounters - the rarity of which will depend on how you do in battle. Once the battle is finished, if you're lucky enough to get an egg you can hatch away and add to your growing collection.

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Visually, it's absolutely charming. Exactly what you want and expect in a metroidvania platformer. It's not as beautiful perhaps as some others but with the focus on the combat and the creatures, it's still great and thoroughly enjoyable. It's the audio work that really gets me though, I absolutely love the battles thanks to the fantastic sound effects across all the different abilities.

The actual monster system is great too, with a little depth to it even. Each monster has their own weapon and accessories they can equip to boost their stats, plus with the different elements they all have strengths and weaknesses too. Each monster can level up individually too, and you get to pick through different trees of skills to level up or give them entirely new abilities. There's a lot to love about building up a strong and varied team of creatures.

With the 1.0 release out now it adds in some extra content including: an Abandoned Tower to explore with new monsters, a new secret area with new monsters, post-game content that sees you try to become the Keeper Master and once done you then get access to the Eternity's End area with more combat encounters. On top of that a few new areas were added, that can only be accessed using some new late-game monster abilities.

Honestly, it's great. One to pick up if you love monster catchers.

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

Crumble from BRUTE FORCE is a fast-paced 3D physics platformer, one that released with Linux support on December 4 and it's pretty awesome. Note : key provided by the developer. A game I've kept an eye on for some time now as the demo and earlier footage was promising, thankfully it lives up to what I wanted from it and then some.

You control a funny little rolling face with a very long and sticky tongue. Not only are you rolling around these 3D levels with immense speed, you're also something of a Spider-Man — or Spider-Face? I don't know what to call them but it's so ridiculously charming that you need to play it.

As you progress through you will see just how varied and challenging the game actually is, especially if you're trying to go for speed and beat sometimes other players have set. For me, I'm just focused on not constantly falling off because sometimes you can almost feel the intense speed. You're going to need that sticky grapple-tongue for sure, as there's times where the world around you is breaking apart. It's a physics platformer, and it makes use of the physics systems rather well without completely overdoing it where it becomes a chore. Here, it's fantastic.

Quite chaotic at times too. You're going so fast you can easily miss where you might need to swing from, however there are some secret platforms or other props spread throughout to keep you going so you can cling on and propel yourself forwards some more. There's been quite a lot of times where I've been at the edge of my seat, as I swing from tree to tree and desperately try not fall.

The character is adorable too. What is it about sticking silly faces on things that we all end up loving?

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It brings back memories from the likes of Super Monkey Ball a little, along with Sonic, a sprinkle of Spider-Man and plenty of other classics wrapped up in a family-friendly visual style and tons of fun to be had. Possibly one of the most devilishly charming games I've played in 2020. An absolutely solid addition to the 3D platformer genre and well worth a look.

Buy Crumble on itch.io and Steam .

After releasing originally in 2016, it seems Tricky Towers is one game that I just seemed to have forgotten all about and that's such a shame.

During the recent Steam Autumn Sale, I decided to finally pick up a copy after it being in my wishlist for probably a very long time. As it turns out, this was a good idea because Tricky Towers is actually quite fantastic. Giving a warm blend of Tetris falling blocks, along with some physics and a touch of magic - it's a wonderful mix that keeps me wanting to come back for more.

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The thing is, I've never been big on Tetris. Sure, I've played it (and quite a lot when I was younger) but it never really had a staying power with me. Tricky Towers reinvented it a little and I love it for that. Spread across a single-player campaign of various challenges, you will be tasked with building a tower and fighting against gravity with the physics system to achieve different goals across each level. This might be to reach the finishing line high up in the sky in a certain time, to use all blocks without falling, puzzle levels where you have to figure out exactly how to stack in a small area and more. A lot of my time has been spent there and it is genuinely good, a real pleasure to sit back with and enjoy with a gamepad in hand.

Like any game though, it can definitely have some frustration too. You're not alone, oh no, there's a few pesky wizards flying around that want to mess with you. They might make some blocks suddenly huge or wrap one of your carefully placed pieces in a bubble so it starts flying upwards while you're trying to direct another to come down. It's challenging, and most importantly - it really grabs your attention.

There's a few other tricks these little wizards have too, one of the most annoying being to wrap an area you're building in clouds so you can't properly see. That really makes you need to pay careful attention. They can also lock falling blocks, so that you cannot rotate them and that's messed me up a good few times.

When you get bored of the single-player, there's also local multiplayer and online multiplayer of which I've had quite a few games in. I've managed to win a few but to be totally honest, the majority of my games have seen real humiliating failure but it's always good fun to see how impressive other players are at the stacking in it. Especially nice with the little powers you get to use to both help you and hinder your opponents. At various heights you get these powers which can be things like giving you an extra life, attach blocks together, make your opponent have a really slippery brick and much a few others. The developer even has a downloadable Tournament Kit which is a nice touch.

Tricky Towers is a game you can easily come back to often. I really wish I had played it sooner. Great game.

No problems at all with the Linux version, everything worked exactly as expected.

Did you miss out on Tricky Towers like me? You can buy it from Humble Store and Steam .