• Incredibly quirky exploration adventure 'MoonQuest' is out now - adds Linux support

  After being in development for 8 years, plus 18 months of that being in Early Access, MoonQuest from developer Ben Porter of Wizard Mode is now officially released.

  With procedural generation, each game you jump into gives you something new and weird to explore including wild forests, giant mountains and ancient ruins. Your quest? Bring light to a darkened world. Harvest resources, find treasure, and forge the weapons that will help you on your journey. A little Terraria-like in its presentation, with a destructible world too but the overall feel is vastly different and unique in its own right.

• Take your chicken on a wild adventure in 'Edgar - Bokbok in Boulzac' - out now

  Take control of the outcast Edgar, a rather quirky individual who wears a tin hat and talks to their Chicken in 'Edgar - Bokbok in Boulzac' and it's out now. Note: Key provided by their PR team.

  Developed by the French team La Poule Noire, it's not particularly long game with the developer saying it takes 2-5 hours (my run through was about 2 hours) but it positively oozes charm. I actually fell a little bit in love with it when I completed the old demo previously, with this silly protagonist who calls their chicken "Precious" and things just continue getting more weird as the story goes on—what do you expect with a city where an 800 year old fire rages beneath the surface? Cultists, probably.

• Upcoming strategy game 'Radio General' has you yell orders down a microphone

  Sitting in a tent during WW2 and all you have is a map and a radio, it's time to shout some orders and hopefully win. You quite literally do shout your orders too, you need a microphone for this as it's using speech recognition.

  While not a unique idea, a few others have done it, for it to be in a strategy game like this definitely is a bit more unusual. It's real-time too and as you get verbal reports back you then need to act fast and start making some decisions.

• Golf With Your Friends to leave Early Access in Q2 this year

  Blacklight Interactive and Team17 have announced that their amusing multiplayer golf game, Golf With Your Friends, is leaving Early Access.

  They've not actually given an exact date yet but we at least have a release window now, with "Q2 2020" being mentioned. Blacklight did say we can expect plenty more content to be added in before the full release, and they only recently introduced some big updates too like a whole Worms-themed set and a Museum set too.

• Stardew Valley turns 4, more free updates on the way

  Gamers can have a little extra farming, as a treat. Stardew Valley is confirmed to be getting another free content update as it just recently hit four years since release.

  After the release it's had multiple big updates already, with the 1.4 update going out last November so it's not exactly been long. That update was huge too adding in tons of new customization, a big farm screenshot feature, big multiplayer enhancements, gamepads improvements and much more.

• Working on games and need some interface sounds? Kenney saves the day again

  Kenney is well-known for creating high-quality reusable art assets, they've done a huge amount you can buy and quite a lot are also public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license so you really can do anything.

  They're also now doing audio assets! Giving developers in need something a little extra, on top of everything they already do. Just recently, they released the Interface Sounds pack which contains 100 public domain sound effects that anyone can download and use free (you can also donate). All high quality too—wonderful!

• "Doosk" is a crossover mod that brings the weapons and gameplay from "Dusk" to "Doom"

  Considering we already have several mods of this type for Doom, that aim to mix elements from different popular FPS's (see GOL articles for BlooM, BorderDoom and DaggerHell Overkill as references), it was only a matter of time until someone decided to bring the insanity of Dusk as well…

• Clean up a filfty spaceship in 'Out of Space', now out in full with Linux support

  Out of Space from developer Behold Studios (Chroma Squad, Galaxy of Pen & Paper) just recently released, and they added Linux support just before leaving Early Access.

  It's an odd and quite amusing game, where you and friends are basically space janitors cleaning up your spaceship. With support for local and online multiplayer (matchmaking and invites possible), as well as Steam Remote Play, there's plenty of opportunities to team up with someone to play.

• Dead Cells: The Bad Seed now available for Linux on GOG

  DRM-free your thing? Shop on GOG regularly? Good news, Motion Twin/Evil Empire have now sorted the DLC situation for Linux on GOG with Dead Cells.

  Now even more people can enjoy the awesome looking and brilliant combat in Dead Cells, with the expanded content in the recent Dead Cells: The Bad Seed DLC which is absolutely worth picking up. It's helped me personally enjoy the game for quite a few more hours as it nicely mixes up with early game and the extras are excellent.

• Quiet survival adventure 'Aquamarine' is fully funded and on the way to Linux

  Some good news to share today, as Aquamarine from Moebial Studios has managed to push through the noise and get fully funded on their Kickstarter campaign.

  This means another sweet looking game is on the way to Linux, plus with their funding level they managed to hit a few of their special stretch-goals to work on more features. With the campaign now over, they ended on $18,763 in funding so the game should be more lively thanks to the $15K goal of more animations and the $17K goal of an expanded soundtrack and audio effects.

• Children of Morta still heading to Linux, developer Dead Mage confirms

  After a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2015, Dead Mage went onto launch their story-driven action RPG to a lot of positive reviews last year but so far Linux has been missing.

  It was a confirmed platform for release on their Kickstarter but since release, things have been a little quiet. The publisher, 11 bit studios didn't reply to our messages and the developer has been practically silent about it on their Steam page.

  Thankfully, Dead Mage themselves did email me early this morning to say "We are working on the Linux version and we are doing this because we love what Linux is all about .". A short, sweet and to the point message. Not much to go in since the last reply in October 19 but good that it's happening.

• Alternate-history WWII Story-driven tactical RPG 'Broken Lines' is out

  Set in an alternate version of WWII, Broken Lines from developer PortaPlay and Super.com is a story-driven tactical RPG and it's out with Linux support.

  A squad of soldiers crash land in the middle of enemy territory. With no leaders alive and no available orders, the group must find a way to deal with their situation and internal conflicts, before a mysterious fog engulfs them and enemy forces hunt them down. Broken Lines is a game about a group of soldiers under immense pressure, losing hope and directions, while still trying to put up a fight.

• GOG update their refund policy giving gamers more time to decide

  Today, the DRM-free store GOG announced a few changes to how they will handle refunds for games purchased through them.

  In short you will now get 30 days to refund a title from GOG, which includes games currently in development which previously only gave you two weeks. Even if you've downloaded it and played it, GOG say if it's within 30 days of asking they will give you a refund.

  A good policy, 30 days is a pretty good amount of time to refund a game. However, it can be open to abuse of course. Sounds like they will keep an eye on people doing it often though, as they said "we reserve the right to refuse refunds in individual cases".

• Speculation: porting studio Feral Interactive could be in some trouble (updated: they're fine)

  Feral Interactive, the porting company that has made many games available on Linux (as well as macOS and mobile) may be in a spot of trouble.

  Reported first on Phoronix, as found out from the UK's Companies House, they're being given a "First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off" which is not exactly a good sign for any company. What this means, is that they have a few months before they might cease to legally exist. There can be a few reasons for this, like not sending in their accounts or an annual confirmation statement. Looking at Feral, it seems theirs are overdue as they should have been done by 31 December 2019.

• Game Porting Firm Feral Interactive's Days Could Be Numbered With Compulsory Strike-Off

  Prominent Linux and macOS game porting firm Feral Interactive looks like it may be dissolving, (edit) but fortunately turned out to be an accounting error.

• Stadia gets GRID, SteamWorld Dig 2 and SteamWorld Quest for March Pro subs - Spitlings is out

  Another round-up is here for the Stadia game streaming service, going over some recent news and new games available.

  Google have announced that for Stadia Pro subscribers in March you're getting three games which are: GRID, SteamWorld Dig 2, and SteamWorld Quest. We already knew the SteamWorld games would be available for Pro subs, since that was mentioned in the announcement about them coming to Stadia but we didn't know it was so soon. GRID is quite a nice surprise though, that might even pull a few people back in since the initial Pro time for most people is now up. Farming Simulator 19 Platinum Edition will be leaving Stadia Pro, so if you do want it make sure you claim it before February 29.

• The T'au invade Warhammer 40,000: Gladius in a new expansion out now

  Proxy Studios and Slitherine yesterday released a big new expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Gladius focusing on the T'au race, as they've joined the fight for the domination of Gladius Prime.

• Valve make some needed improvements to the Steam Search

  After testing out a bunch of changes to the way Steam Search works in a Steam Labs experiment, Valve has now rolled it out for everyone with new features.

  Steam Labs is the area of Steam where they experiment more, let people opt into new features and they also pull in outside developers to do some prototypes. This expanded Steam Search is one of such experiments. Valve said the improvements to it started as "an exploration of new ranking algorithms, but based upon user feedback it expanded to include the many quality of life improvements in today's release".

• With clever cloth simulation the cyberpunk platformer 'Lazr' is funded

  With a campaign that had quite a dicey ending, Lazr, an action platformer with some really fun use of cloth physics/simulation has now been funded on Kickstarter.

  Against the goal of $10,000 they ended with $10,432. Sadly, right before it ended they had a sudden drop in funding from other $12,300 which means two stretch-goals didn't make it and the campaign as a whole almost didn't make it.

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive adds the first Agent customization with Patches

  Valve are pushing out more customization options to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with the ability to add Patches sewn into Agent's outfits.

  Customization is big of course, it's part of the reason other games (Fortnite) are so popular. Looks like Valve want to get a bigger piece of the pie too. With the new Battle Pass system introduced with the Shattered Web Operation, it brought with it new Agents so you don't have to just have the standard look.

• Hearts of Iron IV's espionage-themed expansion, La Résistance, is a fun addition to a hard-fought war

  You could be excused for thinking that the latest expansion for Hearts of Iron IV is all about the plucky resistance fighters and partisans that fought various occupying forces and oppressive governments during the Second World War. While they certainly feature in new mechanics, there they’re not the main attraction of this sizeable expansion. Instead, La Résistance’s major features can be split into two broad camps: the introduction of espionage and skullduggery and unique focus trees and content for Iberian nations and France.

  The new espionage system adds a new layer of strategy to the game. Its fundamentals are simple: spend resources to establish an agency, recruit agents and then send them off in missions to further your aims. It’s a system that’s rather intuitive and offers a degree of flexibility in how you choose to grow your spy agency. In the various games that I played I found that it didn’t require much micromanagement and that I was able to approach warfare in slightly different ways each time around thanks to the help of my agents.

  The types of missions available are plentiful and, honestly, slightly overwhelming when it comes to actually deciding what I wanted to go for. This is in part because of the very long time it takes to infiltrate other countries, crack their codes or plan some of the more useful operations like winning over potential quislings so that future occupations are smoother. For typical aggressor nations, like Germany, it’s simply not worth the bother to send your two or so agents to France in the early years to destabilize them. By the time that you’re able to do anything useful in these infiltrated countries, you’re likely already on the verge of overwhelming them militarily anyways. The spy game plays best for long-term calculations, against foes who you have the luxury of time to undermine thoroughly.

• First gameplay teaser for Spiritfarer, a 'cozy management game about dying' is out

  Spiritfarer has me so extremely curious, coming from Thunder Lotus Games (Sundered, Jotun) it's a 'cozy management game about dying' and a short gameplay teaser is out.

  This is one I actually missed, when it and others had a short demo up for The Game Awards recently (I was too busy enjoying CARRION) so this is the first proper footage I've seen of it. In Spiritfarer, you play as Stella, a ferrymaster to the deceased. It's your job to care for their spirits before they get released into the afterlife. A highly unusual setting for such a sim although it has the usual mechanics like mining, farming and so on but the setting definitely hits a new spot.

• Half-Life remake 'Black Mesa' will finally hit 1.0 on March 5

  After a very long 14 year development cycle (yes really) and almost 5 years in Early Acces, the Half-Life remake Black Mesa is finally going properly release on March 5.

  In an announcement on Steam, they mentioned how hard it has been and how they nearly quit multiple times but they're just about at the finishing line now. They even mentioned how their first game industry job came as a result of their free work on Black Mesa, which did eventually turn into their actual job and they feel Black Mesa is "the best, most polished, and most fun version of the game yet" and that the "anticipation and excitement around our project is beyond flattering.".

• The new 'ΔV: Rings of Saturn' hard sci-fi space sim trailer has me itching to play

  ΔV: Rings of Saturn, a top-down hard sci-fi space simulation game backed up by real physics and science has a rather explosive new trailer out.

  Currently in Early Access, and something our contributor Scaine talks about highly, ΔV: Rings of Saturn from Kodera Software definitely seems like something a bit special. It's been through some huge updates in the last few months too from a major Godot Engine upgrade with improved performance to a bunch of new visual effects.

• Norbert Preining: Gaming: The Turing Test

  In a world without Portal and The Talos Principle, The Turing Test would have been a great game. Fortunately there is Portal and The Talos Principle, which leaves The Turing Test as an interesting clone with a lot of (sometimes) challenging levels, but no real innovation.

Sometimes our field of vision or limited experience restricts us from seeing worthy alternatives. That’s especially true when it comes to desktop Linux; there is no shortage of quality Linux operating systems to test out. So when I argued here that System76’s Pop!_OS is perfect for gamers and produced this video demonstrating it, there were two passionate camps in the comments section. One side voiced cheerful agreement, but the other side basically said “Clearly you haven’t tried Salient OS.”