Late October, I went through the list of what we could expect to be released on Linux by the end of the year, and so far we have been pretty lucky, while there are still a bunch of titles missing at this stage.

Already Released in late 2014:

Metro 2033 Redux : it has just come out a couple of days ago, together with an updated version of Metro Last Light.

: it has just come out a couple of days ago, together with an updated version of Metro Last Light. Football Manager 2015 : you may not care about it, but it’s a management game selling relatively well and it has been out since November 7.

: you may not care about it, but it’s a management game selling relatively well and it has been out since November 7. The Talos Principle: this puzzler a la Portal from CroTeam was just released on Dec 11th at the same time on all platforms.

Unexpected Releases in late 2014:

Empire Total War : Feral had kept a tight secret around their work on that one – that was a nice December gift to the community. Note that this is the first port of a SEGA / Creative Assembly game.

: Feral had kept a tight secret around their work on that one – that was a nice December gift to the community. Note that this is the first port of a SEGA / Creative Assembly game. Geometry Wars 3 : Aspyr released this port out of the blue, and while there are still some issues (resolution limited to 720p for example on Linux) they are actively working on patches to fix the situation.

: Aspyr released this port out of the blue, and while there are still some issues (resolution limited to 720p for example on Linux) they are actively working on patches to fix the situation. War Thunder : this MMO shooter/simulation landed on Linux in November.

: this MMO shooter/simulation landed on Linux in November. Counter Strike: Global Offensive : it took a long time to come to Linux but one of the most played multiplayer games on Steam finally made it. It’s a quality Valve port that should run pretty well on most configs.

: it took a long time to come to Linux but one of the most played multiplayer games on Steam finally made it. It’s a quality Valve port that should run pretty well on most configs. Dead Island: nobody expected that port and it came out of nowhere all of a sudden. While the port is great graphically speaking, there are some game breaking bugs (the loot is not working like in the Windows version) and we hope for some fixes down the road.

Still Expected in 2014:

Civilization: Beyond Earth, is really close to be released, as Aspyr has submitted it for approval in the past week. The good news is that while they had game breaking bugs with AMD and Intel GPUs in the first place, they managed to fix them and the game should now work with all GPUs on Linux, not just nVidia ones. We still expect this game to hit Steam before the end of the year, but as far as we know now, it’s out of Aspyr’s hands.(EDIT: it was confirmed on the 16th of December that it would be released on the 18th).

Likely or Officially Pushed Back to 2015:

Divinity: Original Sin was planned for Linux in 2014 but was pushed back to 2015 because of delays due to the Mac version (Thanks Beta Version for the tip).

was planned for Linux in 2014 but was pushed back to 2015 because of delays due to the Mac version (Thanks Beta Version for the tip). Darksiders I & II : while we thought the game was progressing well, the original dev responsible for the port left the project and transitioned to someone else from Nordic Games. We have no idea when it will be released – it now seems unlikely we will get it in 2014.

: while we thought the game was progressing well, the original dev responsible for the port left the project and transitioned to someone else from Nordic Games. We have no idea when it will be released – it now seems unlikely we will get it in 2014. Raven’s Cry has been pushed back to January 28th. So far we still expect it to be released on Linux at the same time as the other versions.

has been pushed back to January 28th. So far we still expect it to be released on Linux at the same time as the other versions. Hotline Miami 2 : Steam still says it will be released in 2014, but the Wikipedia pages indicates Q1 2015. There have been no recent news about an upcoming release, so it would safe to assume it will be missing the holidays.

: Steam still says it will be released in 2014, but the Wikipedia pages indicates Q1 2015. There have been no recent news about an upcoming release, so it would safe to assume it will be missing the holidays. OddWorld New’nTasty : It could still be released in 2014, I guess, but there has been no noise about any upcoming release even though it was said to be very close to be finished a while ago. Note that this is not just about the Linux version, but the PC one as well.

: It could still be released in 2014, I guess, but there has been no noise about any upcoming release even though it was said to be very close to be finished a while ago. Note that this is not just about the Linux version, but the PC one as well. Rome Total War II : Now that one episode of Total War was released on Linux, we can expect the next one to hit should be Rome II. Still no release date in sight, so we may have to wait for a while.

: Now that one episode of Total War was released on Linux, we can expect the next one to hit should be Rome II. Still no release date in sight, so we may have to wait for a while. Endless Legend : the Linux port was announced a while back, but it’s still not out so it’s safe to assume this will not see the light of day before 2015.

: the Linux port was announced a while back, but it’s still not out so it’s safe to assume this will not see the light of day before 2015. Age of Wonders III : this turn-based strategy game a la Heroes / Civilization is coming for Linux (the devs confirmed the port in June) but since then there have been no news of an upcoming release date, so 2015 it is, if not later.

: this turn-based strategy game a la Heroes / Civilization is coming for Linux (the devs confirmed the port in June) but since then there have been no news of an upcoming release date, so 2015 it is, if not later. The Banner Saga: 2 months ago the devs mentioned they were working full time on the Linux port. It seems that they are not done yet. (EDIT Dec 17th)

Newly announced for 2015:

Bioshock Infinite : 2K has announced that it would be coming to Linux very soon, probably in the first quarter of 2015. We know neither Feral nor Aspyr are working on it, so this either means it will be a wrapper, or someone else is working on a native port.

: 2K has announced that it would be coming to Linux very soon, probably in the first quarter of 2015. We know neither Feral nor Aspyr are working on it, so this either means it will be a wrapper, or someone else is working on a native port. Warhammer Quest: a PC version (for all OSes) of this tabletop game has been announced for early January. (EDIT from Dec 17th)

There are obviously a number of other unannounced titles planned for 2015. We know Aspyr has other cats in the bag, and Feral several others to disclose as well. We can also expect some other publishers to voice out their support for SteamOS during the GDC 2015 (since the Steam Machines will be shown at that time, not at the CES). The CryEngine is still under development for Linux as well and should make a number of games possible when ready.

Overall, 2014 was great so far for Linux gaming, and we can only expect 2015 to be just as good or even better, provided SteamOS and Steam Machines are not delayed further.

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