Last year, Headliner was released and allowed players to make major decisions as part of an in-game TV station. You could play as a variety of characters and interact with entertaining NPCs while getting your stories ready to go. Now, its sequel is out and greatly expands upon the concept and overall scope of the original. Headliner: NoviNews has you heading up the NoviNews station and picking its editorial voice. Each day, you will get a series of pitches and you can choose to cover things like genetically-altered drugs, police brutality, international stories, or consumer-friendly things like drones and their overall legality in day to day life.

Headliner: NoviNews blends a bit of adventure gaming with a simulation - allowing you to change your relationships with people based on your choices. You can be a sympathetic ear to co-workers, or rally against them in an effort to make yourself seem bigger. You will also encounter regular everyday people whose lives you have the power to influence based on your newscasts. For example, if you choose to push a new medication on the air, you can wind up giving it exposure and helping someone with their anxiety after they take the drug. This allows you to see the sheer power that comes with being in control of a news channel.

It is often said that responsibility comes with all news, and you can choose to push that aside a bit if you want in an effort to get better ratings. If you do this, you could lose credibility with views and that can result in more hostility from townspeople. Being a more trustworthy source of information may not be as flashy, but can result in you having a more loyal and devoted audience in the long-term. Some people like to ask about you - your history, and how you like your job. You can also take a keen interest in their lives and see how their lives are affected by things that could be influenced by your broadcasts. A local drugstore owner laments high medical bills and hopes that as a mom and pop store, he can survive in this world of big box stores - the very kind that you will generally have to promote in some form or fashion.

You can buy things from him and even outfit your house, which can now be fully interacted with and that adds a nice sense of reality to what's going on. There is a cause and effect to what you do and while you could just buy things to help him out, it makes the game's world seem more alive when you see those items in your house. This is a very unique blend of simulation and adventure, and something that fans of either genre should keep an eye on. Headliner: NoviNews is available now and is playable on Linux via Proton - but is made for Windows natively. The game itself is reported to run without any issues using Linux so far, and you can also use Steam Play for it as well.