Games: Quake, SteamOS, LIFTED, and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 20, 2026

• Tom's Hardware ☛ $10 Quake shareware CD locked copies of all id Software games behind a flawed encryption scheme — pay-over-the-phone system only held up for 39 days after 1996 release, leaving developer with 150,000 discs it couldn't sell

  id Software included locked versions of its entire game library on the $10 Quake shareware CD it released in 1996. But the system meant to allow gamers to pay for and unlock those titles over the phone proved vulnerable to crackers who discovered a way to unlock every game on the disc for free.

• Geeky Gadgets ☛ Valve’s Free SteamOS Runs Arch GNU/Linux for Daily Desktop Use

  Valve has made SteamOS freely available, drawing attention from both gamers and GNU/Linux users. Built on the Arch GNU/Linux framework, SteamOS emphasizes gaming performance and includes a default “Game Mode” for direct access to Steam’s library.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ Cinematic puzzle-platforming comedy LIFTED is a delightful short adventure | GamingOnLinux

  LIFTED is a family-friendly and quite funny cinematic platforming adventure that recently released with Native Linux support. Created by Adventure Works L.L.C., founded by Disney Imagineer Jeffrey Ashbrook. Disclosure: a key was provided to GamingOnLinux.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ Roguelike assassination game 'Gone Feral' sounds hilarious | GamingOnLinux

  Playable solo or in co-op, you will improvise and use anything you can find to assassinate your targets of revenge in this roguelike game. Hunt across iconic horror locations such as a summer camp, small town, farm, and a sprawling mansion.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ SiN Reloaded from Nightdive arrives September 24 | GamingOnLinux

  SiN Reloaded from Nightdive Studios / Atari is now set to arrive on September 24th bringing with it more upgraded retro shooting goodies. It arrives with enhanced visuals, modernized control schemes, and includes the Wages of SiN extra mission pack.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ It's time to enter the Torment Hexus for some roguelike match-3 battling | GamingOnLinux

  I'm a bit of a sucker for match-3 games and Torment Hexus has style oozing out of it, so it was a must-played for me and it's great. It's now in Early Access, and it works great on Fedora KDE 44 with Proton 11 - no issues encountered at all. Disclosure: personal purchase.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ TFC2: The Fertile Crescent 2 - Collapse of The Bronze Age is one to check out for RTS fans | GamingOnLinux

  TFC2: The Fertile Crescent 2 - Collapse of The Bronze Age just entered Early Access with Linux support, and if you love RTS games you need to check it out. Disclosure: personal purchase. A good thing about it is that you don't need to know anything about the first game, it's entirely standalone. The first game was good, but this already feels much bigger and better. So what is it? A classic base-building RTS game set during the fall of the Bronze Age. It includes some of the game modes you might expect like offline and online skirmish battles but it also brings with it a full narrative campaign.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ RetroSpace will bring disco-punk space horror on October 1 | GamingOnLinux

  RetroSpace is an upcoming immersive sim that really looks like one to watch blending the worlds of disco-punk and space horror. In space, no one can hear you groove!

• GamingOnLinux ☛ Turn neighbourhoods into car parks in Car Park Capital - confirmed to arrive October 9 | GamingOnLinux

  Car Park Capital allows you to live out your grey dream of bulldozing entire neighbourhoods as you've convinced everyone they need another car park. A satirical tycoon building-sim like no other where you literally pave the way towards a brighter, oilier future.

• GamingOnLinux ☛ Proton Experimental brings fixes for Company of Heroes 3, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Arma 3 and more | GamingOnLinux

  Valve just launched the latest Proton Experimental update to improve gaming on Linux / SteamOS, Steam Deck and Steam Machine - here's all that's changed. The last update we covered was on August 8th.

• Positech Games ☛ Challenge UI for Ridiculous Space Battles

  If you played the original Gratuitous Space Battles game about 500 years ago, you will recall that the online challenges were a very popular part of the game. If not, let me explain: GSB was the first autobattler, so its a game where you set up a fleet of space ships (that you designed), give them orders, and then use that fleet to defeat the enemy in a mission (which I called a skirmish) that was designed by me (the developer). HOWEVER, there was also the option to just design a fleet that you thought was a good all-rounder against all foes, and submit a ‘challenge’ to another player (or everyone) and let them fight against your fleet.