Announced and highlighted back here in September , LEd is a modern open source level editor from the previous development lead on Dead Cells. Taking all that they learned actually creating and working on games, LEd is their attempt to make a modern cross-platform and free level editor for everyone.

Looks like they've started getting their Linux support into better shape too, with the 0.4.0 release that went out recently having their first attempt at a standalone Linux build with help from the community. This is why open source is great, anyone can get involved.

Pictured - LEd running on Linux with an included example.

Just some of the features it offers:

• Easy to use : modern UI with a strong focus on ease-of-use and quality-of-life features.
• Universal and agnostic : compatible with all languages (not only Haxe) and game frameworks in the world
• JSON : easy to parse file format for any game-engine out there (I promise it’s actually really easy). Haxe isn’t required.
• Customizable layers : Integer grid layers, Tile layers and Entity layers support
• Auto-layers : paint your collision map and see the grass, textures and all the small details being drawn automatically !
• Entities : fully customizable Entity with custom properties (ex: you can have a “Mob” entity, with a “hitPoints” field, which is an Integer limited to [0,10] bounds).
• Enums : you can define an enumeration (ex: an “ItemType” enum with “Money”, “Ammo”, “Gun” values) and use this enum in your entity custom fields.
• External enums : enums can be imported and synced directly from Haxe source code files (HX file)!
• HTML5 : LEd is built around modern web standards.

The 0.4.0 release also brings in plenty of new features, upgrades and fixes too. It's advancing pretty quickly based on feedback from people testing it. There's new hotkeys, the ability to easily select any element, you can now quickly duplicate any element in the level, the JSON you get is now at least 40% smaller thanks to optimizations and the list goes on.

If you're after a simple and modern level editor, be sure to take a look at LEd. See more about it on the website and GitHub .

Klei Entertainment continue expanding their incredible looking survival game Don't Starve Together, with the Return of Them: Forgotten Knowledge update out now along with a Halloween event.

This is the online version of Don't Starve that you can play with friends, and it's been going through something of an evolution. Return of Them is a series of big updates, each expanding the game in different ways and Return of Them: Forgotten Knowledge continues that trend. First up, check out another fantastic animated short:

Watch video on YouTube.com

What's new in the update:

• Lunar Grotto Biome
  • Lunar Mush Trees
  • Mush Gnomes
  • Naked Mole Bats
  • Bulbous Lightbugs
• Ancient Archive Biome
  • You'll have to explore
• Improved Host Game Screen
  • Unlimited save slots
  • Retroactively enable caves!

The Hallowed Nights event is back on right now too, although it's not a huge change from previous years due to the COVID19 pandemic and their ongoing work on major content updates.

As for what's next? Klei have confirmed they're working on the next content update for November, along with the Winter's Feast event in December. After that they're taking a break and then the Year of the Beefalo event will appear. They're teasing that the November update could be a big one too and "something a bit different".

I absolute adore Don't Starve / Don't Starve Together, the art style is just so incredible and you could easily say it's perhaps quite Tim Burton like or Burton-esque if you will.

You can buy Don't Starve Together on Steam .

Fancy sailing the seas and becoming king of the pirates? We're not talking about One Piece but Civilization VI wiuth the latest major free update out now.

Inspired by the classic Sid Meier's Pirates!, this freshly included game mode sees 1-4 players take on the role of a Pirate King. Across 60 turns, each player will go around pillaging cities, ships, build a big fleet, collect Relics to power up and attempt to become the true king. You lose by having nothing left, you win by having the most points at the end. It totally changes the gameplay, much like the Red Death battle royale mode did.

You're not alone either with four AI civilizations (Spain, Netherlands, England, and France) fighting to control the map, as well as Buccaneers, this scenario's version of Barbarians.

You can view their original explainer teaser of the pirate mode below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Right now, it seems the matchmaking may have issues for Pirates, as it just seems to stay on "retrieving host information" in the Pirates mode and then never progresses. Thankfully, the game / server list works as normal, so you can still setup and manually join games.

I think it's great that Firaxis Games continue expanding what you can do in Civilization VI, and this Pirates mode is actually quite a lot of fun. Too limited with the turn timer perhaps, one I hope they tweak in future to allow more interesting games. As each time I tried it, I felt like half the game was gone before I had really been able to enjoy it. It goes to show it works as a game mode though, if we're still asking for "just one more turn". Sail between ports to grab fresh crew and a new treasure map, sink a few ships on the way to increase your score, send people ashore to dig up treasure - easily enjoyable.

Quick tip: on Manjaro/Arch you may need this launch option on Steam to run it:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6 %command%

Fedora may need this:

LD_PRELOAD=/lib64/libfreetype.so.6 %command%

To do this:

1. Right-click on the game title under the Library in Steam and select Properties.
2. Under the General tab click the Set launch options... button.
3. Enter the launch option from above
4. Launch it

Sid Meier's Civilization VI is for Linux PC is available on the Humble Store and Steam . The base game is also on a Free Weekend on Steam so you can try before you buy.

They Bleed Pixels, a fiendishly difficult action platformer inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and classic horror recently released on the Nintendo Switch which gave the PC version a nice tech upgrade too.

While technically this has been out for a while, as the itch.io release of They Bleed Pixels back in June had all the upgrades it wasn't updated everywhere else. As of this week though, it's now live on Steam too. Much like the recent 64bit upgrade to Quadrilateral Cowboy , this tech upgrade was done by game porter Ethan Lee .

So what's new? Much improved and expanded gamepad support including hot-plugging, additional pad support, PS4 and Switch glyphs are now supported and the icons will correctly switch on-screen, the cut-scenes have been improved to fade properly, 64bit support Linux and macOS, checkpoint save/load optimizations and plenty of bug fixes.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Game Features:

• Extra tight controls: One-button attack system favors skilled combat over complicated combos and button-mashing. Super precise platforming controls let you stop and start on a dime while pulling off gravity-defying dashes and double jumps.
• Eleven massive levels to fight through and explore, each with unique visuals and music. Unlock additional bonus levels and guest levels from indie game developers based on their own creations: They Bleed Ponycorns, They Bleed Stardust, exp.
• Unique checkpoint system rewards fancy kills with a save spot you can carry with you. Hold on to it for extra points or drop it right away to preserve your progress.
• Becoming a monster stabbing master with individual level rankings as well as 150 skill-based achievements. There's lots to aim for after you've completed the game.
• Standard and Novice difficulty to match your skill level.
• Record, playback and share your best playthroughs with online leaderboards for speed and high score!
• Lush pixel art motion comics tell the story a young girl haunted by eldritch nightmares.

You can buy it on Humble Store , itch.io and Steam .

The weekend is just about here and if you're stuck for something to do, why not try out the cyberpunk adventure Quadrilateral Cowboy with the latest update.

"Quadrilateral Cowboy is a single-player adventure in a cyberpunk world. Tread lightly through security systems with your hacking deck and grey-market equipment. With top-of-the-line hardware like this, it means just one thing: you answer only to the highest bidder."

What's interesting with the latest update, is that game porter and FNA creator Ethan Lee upgraded the game engine used for Linux and macOS to be 64bit on both. Quadrilateral Cowboy is actually open source too, with the code under the GPL as it's based on idTech4, otherwise known as the Doom 3 engine. Lee gave a shout out to the dhewm3 and RBDOOM-3-BFG projects "who did an excellent job with their 64-bit updates" which saved some time for the Quadrilateral Cowboy update.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Wonderful to see more Linux games get updated to continue working far into the future with all that 64bit goodness. Ports done by Ethan Lee are always great.

You can buy it on Humble Store , itch.io and Steam .

Valve are trying to communicate a little more now, and they've announced some major changes for Dota 2 along with info on more to come. Here's some highlights of what's live and what's coming.

A new season has arrived that runs until the beginning of December 2020, and with it plenty of changes.

Firstly, there's a new Autumnal Treasure 2020 up that can be purchased with Shards, the in-game Dota 2 currency. Valve is planned to have a new seasonal treasure up every 3 months, with the next coming on December 1.

Features moved from the Battle Pass to Dota Plus:

• The Chat Wheel sound effects (e.g. Moo, Orchestra Hit) are now available by redeeming shards.
• The pull timers when holding ALT are now available to Dota Plus members.
• The post-game healing and gold breakdowns have now merged with the existing Dota Plus damage tab.
• The Battle Pass MVP feature is now available for all players, but Dota Plus customers can earn extra shards with a new Seasonal quest.

A much bigger change perhaps is that now anyone can earn Shards, as it's no longer exclusive to the Dota Plus subscription. Dota Plus remains the best way to get them, as they've added the ability for Dota Plus subs to grab 57,850 shards from a new season of quests. However, this is now open to all:

• All players can now reach up to Hero Level 5 without a Dota Plus subscription. Only subscribers can reach Silver tier and above.
• All players can now use tipping for shards.
• All players can now earn the weekly shard reward for winning 3 matches. Non-subscribers earn 500 shards per week, while Dota Plus members earn 1000.
• The Dota Plus Rewards store has been renamed to the “Shard Shop”, and the premium hero sets, legacy hero sets, and tools are now purchasable by everyone. The Seasonal treasure, Chat Wheel sound effects and Hero Relics remain Dota Plus exclusive.

The Guild System they added back into the game with the most recent Battle Pass has been tweaked, and they plan to keep it in place. However, the reward system has been redesigned to make sense outside of the Battle Pass too so that "you can enjoy playing with your guild all the time". Guild Levels are gone, instead you get a weekly leaderboard of guild points and once a week guild members can then claim a reward of Shards, with Dota Plus subs getting more. Anyone can join a guild, but creating one is still locked to Dota Plus.

Buried towards the bottom of the post, in the section addressing their lack of communication, they mentioned that multiple new heroes are on the way. The first is planned for the end of November, along with more that will be spread throughout next year. Their plan is to now spread more content out during a year, instead of focusing a lot of it on The International tournament like they usually do.

They're also continuing to attempt to address the toxic community behaviour, along with improvements to their "smurf" account detection, ramping up their banning of "booster" accounts along with improved detection there. On the subject of toxicity in Dota 2, they're working on a new Overwatch style system, similar to that in CS:GO.

As for the game itself, they're doing some "engine development" which should give us "moderate performance improvements on multi-core CPU’s" which should be out in a week or so.

You can play Dota 2 free on Steam .

Terraria fans rejoice, as not only has the Linux support improved but you can now show off your vanity items in all their glory with the 1.4.1 release out now. When the Journey's End 1.4 upgrade released, they did mention a patch would follow to clean up issues and they stuck to it. They're jokingly calling this patch "Journey's Actual end".

So what's in it? Quite a lot actually. There's new items, several of which focused on filling out the early/pre-hardmode Summoner options, also new Achievements along with new Princess NPC which they said you have to find out how to get them and what they do on your own.

It also brings with it some new Vanity items as a result of a design contest, and a wonderful and much needed overhaul to how such items are displayed on characters. No longer will you have to choose between things like Wings or a Cape - have both! Previously one would overwrite the display of the other but thankfully that issue is now finally solved.

With an upgrade to the cross-platform FNA tech developed by Ethan Lee , it should hopefully sort crashing / resolution issues players on Linux encountered. So you can properly enjoy the experience once again. They also mentioned these other QoL (quality of life) improvements for everyone:

• The Journey Mode duplication menu has been overhauled, with the addition of several new filters to break up some of the larger categories
  • Additionally, the Misc option in the duplication menu should more properly encompass items that do not fall under any other category
• Torch God now plays an Otherworldly track when that setting is toggled
• Bestiary now indicates if a drop is Wave-based/if it only drops after a certain wave in Frost Moon and Pumpkin Moon
• Plantero's Sombrero has made its triumphant return
• Reorganized menu settings for resolution/fullscreen/windowed borderless to all use the same sub-menu, to reduce confusion

Full update notes can be found here .

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

If you missed the huge Journey's End 1.4 release, see the trailer below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Ahoy, Me Hearties! Firaxis Games have announced the next free upgrade for Civilization VI is coming on October 22 and it sounds like it's going to be a lot fun.

Directly inspired by the classic Sid Meier's Pirates!, this free update is going to add in another brand scenario to play through, balance changes, AI upgrades and more. The full detailed notes aren't available yet but they did put out something of a teaser video to show it off a bit.

From what they said it's a 1-4 player mode that has you battle for treasure, and it will include new artwork to give off a more "tropical, piratey atmosphere" along with a dedicated map built for it and it sounds like a new map script to generate random maps for it is coming too. Much like the Red Death mode, it comes with unique sides to pick but here you also has to fight off AI navies from different nations.

Watch video on YouTube.com

We'll be giving this new mode a go and letting you know what we think when it releases as a free update on October 22. After that, we expect the next paid DLC to be available in November following their DLC -> Free Update cycle.

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

Plasma is arguably one of the prettiest Linux desktop environments around, and it's highly configurable too. The KDE team just released a huge upgrade with Plasma 5.20. This is a massive release that upgrades all parts of the Plasma desktop.

Fans of Wayland which is gradually replacing X.Org, compatibility continues being a focus and they've managed to make more steps as of this release. They mentioned that since 2019 they set a priority goal to adapt everything to support Wayland and it's "starting to pay off big time" now. As of this release middle-click paste with the Klipper clipboard app now works, plus the launcher/search tool KRunner now shows up correctly. Mouse and Touchpad support is getting close to being on par with X too, screencasting is now supported and more. Lots of steps taken.

That's just the under-the-hood stuff, tons of user-facing changes and improvements can be found across the whole desktop like the task manager being icon-only by default. A nicer default I think, as grouped icons look great and save precious space.

There's also new on-screen displays when you perform various actions like adjust volume, the system tray pop up now uses a grid rather than a list which looks a huge amount better, the digital clock widget is a bit more compact and has the date by default, the ALT keybind to hold and then drag windows around was moved to the Super key (also known as the "Windows" key) which is a nicer default with so many games needing the ALT key it was a common interference and the list of subtle improvements goes on for some time. Little things add up, and sane defaults are seriously important.

You can also find a newer Plasma Disks application which will add storage drive S.M.A.R.T monitoring directly into your System Settings — nice!

Check out their new release video:

Watch video on YouTube.com

See the release announcement here . Full changelog here .