Fantastic Linux Games and Where to Find Them

Brief: New to Linux gaming and wondering where to download Linux games from? We list the best resources from where you can download free Linux games along with premium titles.

Linux and Games? Once upon a time, it was hard to imagine these two going together. Then time passed and a lot of things happened. Fast-forward to the present, there are thousands of games available for Linux and more are being developed by both big game companies and independent developers.

Even though Linux isn’t an AAA(triple-A)-first platform, Steam Play has made it possible to enjoy some of the latest and greatest games. Gaming on Linux is real now and today we are going to see where you can find games for Linux platform and hunt down the games that you like.

Where to download Linux games?

First and foremost, look into your Linux distribution’s software center (if it has one). You should find plenty of games there already. Of course, you will not find any major video game title but some classics and fun games.

So, to find more exciting games, let me list you some websites to download or purchase Linux games.

1. Steam

If you are a seasoned gamer, you have heard about Steam. Yes, if you didn’t know it already, Steam is available for Linux. Steam should run just fine on any major Linux distributions. And if you are really psyched up about Steam, there is even a dedicated operating system for playing Steam games – SteamOS. It’s not that impressive though. We covered it in our Best Linux Gaming Distribution article.

Steam has the largest game library in general. You can find games from wide range of genres. As for Digital Rights Management, most of the Steam games have some kind of DRM.

For using Steam, either you will have to install the Steam client on your Linux distribution or use SteamOS. One of the advantages of Steam is that, after your initial setup, for most of the games you wouldn’t need to worry about dependencies and complex installation process. Steam client will do the heavy tasks for you. And, make sure utilize Steam Play to try Windows-only games on Linux as well.

2. GOG

If you are solely interested in DRM-free games, GOG has a pretty large collection of it. GOG is famous for its vast collection of DRM-free games.

Officially, GOG games support Ubuntu LTS versions and Linux Mint. So, Ubuntu and its derivatives will have no problem installing them. Installing them on other distributions might need some extra work, such as — installing correct dependencies.

You will not need any extra clients for downloading games from GOG. All the purchased games will be available in your accounts section. You can download them directly with your favorite download manager.

3. Humble Bundle Store

As the name suggest, the Humble Bundle store is popular for its bundled offers. Not just limited to games, but you will also find great resources in the form of e-books at affordable prices. Another thing about Humble is that when you make a purchase, some revenue from your purchase goes to charities.

Humble Bundle doesn’t offer any native clients for downloading games. You will have to redeem the games in Steam for the most part.

4. itch.io

itch.io is an open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on indie video games. itch.io has some of the most interesting and unique games that you can find. Most games available on itch.io are DRM-free.

Right now, you will find a lot of games available in their store for Linux platform.

itch.io has their own client for effortlessly downloading, installing, updating and playing their games as well. You can easily install Itch on Linux.

5. Game Jolt

Game Jolt has a very impressive collection of indie games for Linux under their belt.

Game Jolt has a pre-release client for downloading, installing, updating and playing games with ease.

6. Portable Linux Games

If you’re someone who just wants to have fun playing some games tailored for 32-bit systems, you can download a great deal of games along with their dependencies here.

You’ll find a list of interesting games — so do take a look!

Honorable Mention

LGDB (Discontinued)

LGDB is an abbreviation for Linux Game Database. Though technically not a game store, it has a large collection of games for Linux along with various information about them. Every game is documented with links of where you can find them.

As of now, there are 2046 games entries in the database. They also have very long lists for Emulators, Tools and Game Engines.

Others

There are many other stores that sell Linux Games. Also, there are places you can find free games too. Here’s a couple of them:

• Fanatical: Fanatical features a lot of games tailored for Linux and offers great deals as well. You have to redeem the games on Steam — but it’s decent website to look for Linux games.
• GamersGate: GamersGate is yet another interesting store to list Linux games, you cannot download it here but have to redeem the game on Steam.

App Stores, Software Center & Repositories

Linux distributions have their own application stores and repositories. Though not many, but you can find some fun and interesting games.

Wrapping Up

How do you prefer to get games for your Linux system? Did we miss any of your favorite website to purchase or download Linux games?

Let me know in the comments below.