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 .

A little midweek Zombie hunting? Sure, why the heck not. 7 Days to Die has a big upgrade out with Alpha 19. 7 Days to Die has become, slowly, one of the best open-world survival games around. They've gradually built it up with some seriously great features and Alpha 19 has continued that effort.

Some of the highlights include:

• HD Zombie models (some quite terrifying)
• New Survival System & Critical Injuries
• On Screen Sprite System for things like: Air Drops, Quest Markers, Player Bedrolls, Traders and more
• Better gamepad support
• World and Location updates along with lots of new environment art
• New Weapons & Items like an automatic shotgun and a Tactical Assault Rifle
• Enemy Break-through System so enemies react differently when breaking through a door, plus the same for when they fall door

It sure is starting to look pretty at times too with all the new environment art and visual effects. They've added in cloud moon glow, specific moon phases, sun punching through fog, new anti aliasing options, interior ambient light scaling, underwater fog, a background cloud layer, animation improvements, new trees and much more.

Saving the best for last: the Food and Water Bars have been added back to the UI.

One issue we've already seen in our testing on some machines (doesn't happen on all), is that when you go to make a new character they might not have a face…just some floating eyes. Slightly hilarious but if you see this issue, removing all the configuration files and saves fixes it. Found in "~/.local/share/7DaysToDie" and "~/.config/unity3d/The Fun Pimps/7 Days To Die".

Full list of changes here . You can pick it up on Humble Store and Steam . Our livestreamer / Zombie slayer will be taking a look at it so be sure to follow us on Twitch so you don't miss it.

As a free and major upgrade for Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Edition, the Definitive Edition upgrade is out now and it's a pretty huge update.

"Pathfinder: Kingmaker is the first single-player isometric CRPG set in the world of a top-selling D&D type role-playing game by Paizo. Being a tribute to such classics as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Establish your kingdom to bring peace, hope, and prosperity to the land or take everything for yourself and drive it into darkness."

The biggest additions in the Definitive Edition are the ability to play it in a turn-based mode, which is a thoroughly different experience and you can also now hook up a gamepad. Apart from that, they attempted to address a pretty long list of technical issues both big and small.

It's the Console trailer below but it gives you a reasonably up to date idea of what the game looks like of course.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Pathfinder: Kingmaker has always been a bit of a mixed bag. It offered a lot of content, fun mechanics that mixes things up compared to other similar RPGs, an interesting story and so on but so many technical issues across all platforms made it a bit of a nuisance. Hopefully now it's a bit smoother for RPG fans. In my own testing of the Linux version, which they've kept up to date, both new major features work quite well. No issues with gamepad input at all, honestly, I might even like this a lot better with a gamepad in hand.

You can buy it from Humble Store , GOG and Steam .

TaniNani is a rather sweet puzzle experience that was released in early 2020 and now it's quite a lot bigger.

You've played plenty of platforming puzzlers by now I'm sure but what about when you control the platforms, not the characters? It's not a game mechanic that's done often and even less often done well. TaniNani is great though. As challenging as it is cute. You have two squishy little characters trying to meet, and it's your job to move tiles around to allow them to do so.

It was already packed full of levels with 120 originally, now it's a bit of a monster. Here's what's new:

• 36 new levels
• 6 new unlockable outfits
• Chapter 1 & 2 are re-designed
• Updated Challenge UI

Since the full release I briefly wrote about , it also added Mouse support making it even nicer, allowing one-handed play making it far more accessible than ever before.

If you're after a family-friendly puzzle game, with a simply charming idea full of levels then you definitely need to go back and take a look at TaniNani. With such a great game mechanic, it's so easy to get into but it really does make you think. Each level has a small set of challenges to do and getting them in the right order is difficult. I absolutely love it. TaniNani is on Steam . It's also 20% off until August 24.

Release trailer if you want a quick look:

Need a new fighter to join the ranks in your Skullgirls play through? Good news, Annie of the Stars has been announced and they're coming next year.

Cursed by the Skull Heart to never grow up, Annie has been alive for centuries. Over that time, she’s made it her personal quest to stop the Skull Heart once and for all. To that end, she has acquired numerous skills and items, including her remote parasite, Sagan. Even performing on television works to further her goals as she hopes to educate the world about the dangers of the Skull Heart.

Fiercer than she looks, bravest in the cosmos, she is ANNIE OF THE STARS!​

While Annie was designed initially for the Skullgirls Mobile, it's already confirmed in a post that Annie will also be coming to Skullgirls 2nd Encore (the enhanced version, available as DLC for the PC release). "All of us at Hidden Variable collaborated closely with the whole team at Lab Zero to help make Annie a reality. While we went into this process knowing that her mobile release was top priority, we also went out of our way to ensure she was ready to take the stage on 2nd Encore when the time comes."

Watch video on YouTube.com

As for the possibility of even more new characters coming? That's not out of the question. "We would LOVE to have Annie simply be the first of many new Skullgirls characters, but - frankly speaking - a lot will depend on how well her launch on mobile and 2nd Encore performs." and they mentioned if things go well, they might have more to share.

It's wonderful to see how long they've been upgrading Skullgirls for. With a crisp HD UI and much improved online play rolling out earlier this year it's easily on of the best fighting games on Linux.

You can buy a copy of Skullgirls from Humble Store and Steam .

A Short Hike is a game that doesn't need much of an introduction, or does it? Developer adamgryu crafted a ridiculously relaxing little adventure and it's still being updated.

It's all about the journey here. Hike, climb, and soar through the peaceful mountainside landscapes of Hawk Peak Provincial Park as you make your way to the summit. How about a little boating to go with it? It might be nothing to do with hiking but with plenty of water around, it's a fun addition to travel around.

Not played it before? You're missing out on a seriously wholesome experience. You get to explore however and wherever you like. There's actually a lot to explore and plenty of hidden secrets to find. No exact set goals either, while there are a few little quests you can pick up it's all pretty chilled out. Some areas do need you to collect Golden Feathers though, as these allow you to fly and climb higher. There's also a wonderful original soundtrack by Mark Sparling, with soothing tunes that expand with your progress.

Have a quick look at the trailer to get an idea:

Watch video on YouTube.com

With this new update out now, if you need a hint on where to find the boat rental shop:

A Short Hike is available on itch.io , GOG and Steam .

Team Fortress 2 Classic is the re-imagining of the 2008-2009 era of the original Team Fortress 2 designed as a casual mod that anyone can get into and enjoy a little FPS action.

It released properly back in July to much excitement in the TF2 modding community and it sounds like it's doing well. The release came with a few Linux issues and problems elsewhere, which have been fixed up with a new patch out now. On the Linux side, it should fix broken sounds and a crash involving the Capture The Flag game mode.

For the Linux version, you will likely need to add this as a launch option:

-steam -steam

Yes, twice. Otherwise it appears to launch in untrusted mode and you can't join VAC servers.

It's a fun mod and well made. Especially interesting timing now that Valve rarely do anything with TF2, so this could help bring back some of its former glory perhaps. To play it, you need to make sure you have the "Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer" installed and ready in your Steam Library. Then it needs some manual downloading of the full mod pack , to place into your "sourcemods" folder in your Steam Library. Hopefully they can eventually streamline the process a bit.

You can download and find out more on the TF2 Classic website . They also have a Twitter you can follow.

As the team at Firaxis Games continue to improve Civilization VI with the New Frontier Pass, they're also pushing out free game upgrades in between DLC releases.

The next of these is the August 2020 update, which will be going live on August 27. Here's the official video, with our overview highlights below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Some Highlights:

• With this update they're adding in new game options for playing with others, which includes a Natural Wonder Picker. There's currently over 30 of these that can appear on a map and this new option gives you the ability to remove them all, only add specific Wonders into the game and so on. You still won't know where they will appear but it does allow you to fine tune it a bit more.
• Also coming is a new mode called The Tech and Civic Shuffle. The idea here is that you don't know what you're going to get next in the research systems, so it makes it all a bit more eventful and there's far less planning ahead. It hides the positions of each tech and civic in the trees, plus it randomizes their prerequisites and costs. What's staying the same is what each actually unlocks, so even though the positions are different you still know what each once you get there. Each player gets the same randomized tree to keep it fair. Unlike some other new modes they've put in, this does not require you to have other expansions - which is awesome. It's a properly free addition.

Balance changes (based on feedback):

• Gathering Storm: forest and jungle fires will burn longer.
• Tweaks to government plaza effects

They're not giving out the full patch notes until release, that's just what was mentioned in the video.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI is for Linux PC is available on the Humble Store and Steam .

As a reminder, here's their full roadmap:

Do a barrel roll! Actually, now you can in Fugl, the shape-shifting bird flying sim just had another Early Access upgrade to improve their Vulkan API support and more.

Apparently being able to do a Barrel Roll has been requested for a long time, ever since the first showing of Fugl to the public. It's a nice little addition, giving you just that little bit of extra fun while you're flying around exploring. Not just that, there's a new procedural walking animation too which looks pretty sweet.

On top of new features, they're continuing to improve their use of the advanced Vulkan graphics API. This release adds in terrain culling and general Vulkan rendering optimizations. Additionally, plenty of bug fixes as well like giving all animals avatars, background blurring done correctly, a smoother underwater camera, improved level loading and so on.

Great little casual exploration and relaxation sim, wonderful to see it continue getting more impressive.

Find Fugl on Humble Store , itch.io and Steam .