The distribution service has started to provide Linux Support

Jul 24, 2014 12:29 GMT  ·  By

The digital platform GOG.com now offers a number of Linux games and this event marks the entry of this new distribution service into the Linux market.

GOG.com representatives said a few months ago that they also planned to provide Linux versions of their games, but the promise was made with a launch date set for the fall of 2014. It looks like they managed to get things done a little faster than anticipated and a number of 50 games now also have a Linux counterpart.

“We've put much time and effort into this project and now we've found ourselves with over 50 titles, classic and new, prepared for distribution, site infrastructure ready, support team trained and standing by, and absolutely no reason to wait until October or November. We're still aiming to have at least 100 Linux games in the coming months, but we've decided not to delay the launch just for the sake of having a nice-looking number to show off to the press” reads the announcement from GOG.com.

It's very good to see that so many old games have received Linux support, even if they were never designed to work on the open source platform to begin with. GOG.com brought a number of Linux developers to help them with the packing and to port some of the games. It's likely that Wine was used, but the titles are old and users won't notice a drop in performance.

“The first 50+ titles we've have in store for you come from all the corners of our DRM-Free catalog. Note that we've got many classic titles coming officially to Linux for the very first time, thanks to the custom builds prepared by our dedicated team of penguin tamers. That's over twenty fan-favorite GOG.com classics, like FlatOut&Flatout 2, Darklands, or Realms of the Haunting we've personally ushered one by one into the welcoming embrace of Linux gamers,” also say the GOG.com representatives.

Some of the newer titles in the collection have native clients, as it was to be expected. Users will find tar.gz archives that should technically work on any platform, but there are also .deb files already compiled for Ubuntu and Linux Mint systems (other Ubuntu-based Linux distributions might work as well).

If you already own some of these titles, the Linux version will be provided free of charge, just like it happens on Steam.

Here is the list of Linux games on GOG.com, which are also available with various discounts. Enjoy!

Anomaly Warzone Earth Ascendant Bionic Dues Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold - first time on Linux! Blake Stone: Planet Strike - first time on Linux! Bloodnet - first time on Linux! Braveland CLARC - first time on Linux! Darklands - first time on Linux! Darwinia Defcon Don't Starve + DLC Dragonsphere - first time on Linux! Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition FlatOut - first time on Linux! Flatout 2 - first time on Linux! Fragile Allegiance - first time on Linux! Gemini Rue Gods Will Be Watching Hammerwatch Hocus Pocus - first time on Linux! Kentucky Route Zero The Last Federation Legend of Grimrock Litil Divil - first time on Linux! Long Live the Queen MouseCraft Multiwinia Normality - first time on Linux! Pinball Gold Pack - first time on Linux! Pinball World - first time on Linux! Pirates! Gold Plus - first time on Linux! Realms of the Haunting - first time on Linux! Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender - first time on Linux! Rise of the Triad: Dark War - first time on Linux! Shattered Haven The Shivah HD Sid Meier's Colonization - first time on Linux! Sid Meier's Covert Action - first time on Linux! Sir, You Are Being Hunted Slipstream 5000 - first time on Linux! Space Pirates and Zombies Spacechem Stargunner - first time on Linux! SteamWorld Dig Super Hexagon Surgeon Simulator 2013 Sword of the Samurai - first time on Linux! Teslagrad Unrest:Special Edition (Linux build on the way!) Uplink VVVVVV