Not everyone wants to spend their evening punching NPCs in the face or mowing down hordes of enemies after a long day. Sometimes you just want to chill, explore, solve puzzles, or build something cool.
For me personally, Euro Truck Simulator 2 hits that sweet spot perfectly. There's something incredibly therapeutic about cruising down European highways, listening to tunes from the likes of AURORA, Tame Impala, and Glass Animals.
Whether you're looking for creative sandbox experiences, thoughtful puzzle games, or just want to relax with some beautiful exploration, Steam has plenty of options for Linux gamers that don't involve combat.
Here are 13 of the best non-violent games you can play right now on your Linux gaming rig.
1. Firewatch [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Firewatch drops you into the Wyoming wilderness as Henry, a fire lookout trying to escape his troubled past. You spend your days monitoring for forest fires from your tower while building a relationship with your supervisor, Delilah, through radio conversations.
The game unfolds as a mystery involving strange occurrences in the surrounding forest.
The gorgeous hand-painted art style brings the wilderness to life in stunning detail, from golden sunsets to dense forest paths. Your choices in conversations with Delilah shape their relationship and affect how the story develops. While there are some tense moments and references to potentially violent events, the core experience remains peaceful and contemplative.
2. Transport Fever 2 [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Transport Fever 2 is all about building transportation networks across different time periods, from the 1850s to the present day. You'll construct railways, manage bus routes, establish shipping lines, and build airports to connect cities and industries. The game focuses on economic simulation and logistics rather than any form of conflict.
And if you're like me, you'll stick to Free Play mode and load up on mods to create the landscapes of your dreams, building a massive transportation network on procedurally generated or custom maps.
3. A Short Hike [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
A Short Hike is exactly what it sounds like: a brief, peaceful journey to the top of a mountain. You play as a bird visiting Hawk Peak Provincial Park, helping other visitors and exploring the area at your own pace.
The game can be completed in about an hour, but you're encouraged to take your time and enjoy the scenery. The pixel art style gives everything a cozy, nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic handheld games.
You can collect golden feathers to increase your flight stamina, find hidden treasures, or just wander around talking to the various animal characters you encounter.
4. Portal 2 [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle game where you use a portal gun to solve increasingly complex spatial challenges. The game takes place in Aperture Laboratories, where you navigate test chambers while being guided (and mocked) by GLaDOS, one of gaming's most memorable AI antagonists.
The puzzles start simple but gradually introduce new mechanics like light bridges, laser redirection, and various gels that change surface properties. The cooperative campaign adds an entirely different set of challenges designed specifically for two players working together.
5. The Witness
Steam Deck Status: Playable 🟡
The Witness places you on a mysterious island filled with line-drawing puzzles that start simple and gradually become incredibly complex. Every puzzle follows the same basic mechanic of drawing a line from start to finish, but the rules change constantly as you discover new symbols and mechanics.
The island itself is gorgeous, with distinct areas that each focus on teaching you different puzzle concepts. The game never explicitly explains the rules; you learn through experimentation and observation.
6. ABZÛ
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
ABZÛ is an underwater exploration game that feels more like interactive art than a traditional video game. You play as a diver exploring vast ocean environments filled with marine life, ancient ruins, and mysterious technology. The focus is entirely on peaceful exploration and discovery.
The art direction is absolutely stunning, with vibrant underwater environments teeming with life. Schools of fish react dynamically to your presence, creating living, breathing ecosystems.
7. Euro Truck Simulator 2 [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Euro Truck Simulator 2 transforms long-haul trucking into a surprisingly engaging and relaxing experience. You build your own trucking business, delivering cargo across a meticulously recreated Europe while managing fuel, rest stops, and traffic regulations. It sounds mundane on paper but becomes genuinely addictive.
The driving physics feel authentic without being overly complex, and the European highways are recreated with impressive attention to detail.
The game's genius is in making routine activities feel meaningful. Planning efficient routes, managing your driver's rest schedule, and building your transportation company from the ground up create a surprisingly engaging loop.
8. Journey
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Journey is a wordless adventure where you traverse a mysterious desert landscape toward a distant mountain. The game can be played solo or with anonymous online partners who might appear and disappear throughout your playthrough. Communication happens entirely through musical chimes and movement; no voice or text chat is available.
The visual design is breathtaking, using a unique art style that makes every scene look like a painting in motion. The sand dunes shift and flow realistically, cloth physics create beautiful flowing scarves, and the lighting creates magical moments throughout the journey.
9. Planet Coaster 2
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Planet Coaster 2 is the ultimate theme park building simulation, giving you complete creative control over every aspect of your park. You can design custom roller coasters, create detailed themed areas, manage park operations, and watch guests react to your creations in real-time.
If you've played RollerCoaster Tycoon, then this is basically that concept taken to the next level with modern graphics and way more detailed building tools.
10. Cook, Serve, Delicious! [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
Cook, Serve, Delicious transforms restaurant management into a fast-paced, addictive arcade experience. You prepare orders by following on-screen prompts, with different dishes requiring different key combinations and timing.
As your restaurant gains popularity, orders become more complex and numerous. The game starts simple with basic sandwiches and salads, but eventually you'll be managing elaborate multi-course meals while handling special customer requests.
A remastered version of this is due in Q4 2025, so keep an eye out for that.
11. GRIS
Steam Deck Status: Verified ✅
GRIS is an adventure about a young woman dealing with loss and trauma, told through gorgeous hand-painted visuals and expressive animation. The game starts in a colorless world that gradually gains vibrancy as you progress, with each new color representing different emotional stages.
The platforming mechanics evolve alongside the emotional journey. You begin barely able to move, but gradually gain new abilities like transforming into a heavy block to break through barriers or collecting stars to create constellation paths to progress.
The art style is absolutely breathtaking, resembling watercolor paintings brought to life through fluid animation.
12. Cities: Skylines [Native Linux]
Steam Deck Status: Playable 🟡
Cities: Skylines lets you build cities from scratch, starting with empty land and growing into whatever kind of metropolis you want. You handle the basic stuff like zoning residential and commercial areas, laying down roads, and making sure everyone has power and water. It's basically SimCity but way better.
The traffic simulation is decent (needs mods to be better), so if you design terrible road layouts, you'll definitely feel it when everything grinds to a halt during rush hour. Citizens actually have individual routines and will complain if you screw up their commute or don't provide enough parks and services.
With this game, you can spend hours just tweaking traffic flow, trying different public transit setups, or downloading community-made buildings and assets.
Suggested Read 📖
Sourav Rudra
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