The indie game community and the Linux community have lots in common. They both live happily outside of the mainstream, they’re both forward-thinking, and they are both created and maintained by small communities of developers. So if you like indie games, there’s a good chance that you might also like Linux. If you’re considering making the switch, here are ten indie games you can play on Linux right now.

1. Minecraft

Minecraft is not only the best indie game for Linux, it’s one the best indie games ever made. It’s almost certainly the most successful. Minecraft’s success makes it easy to forget the game’s humble beginnings, since it began as a solo developer project.

Minecraft has its own culture, and it’s probably the most watched game in history. The variety of custom maps and building projects makes it just as fun to be a spectator as a player. If you haven’t yet played this game, you’re denying yourself the most important game of the last ten years.

Click here to find out more about Minecraft.

2. Faster than Light

In Faster than Light you journey across space on an important mission. You move from sector to sector and each area of space contains a new problem which you will need to deal with. This often means fighting other spacecraft.

The fun lies in upgrading your ship and seeing how it fares against the range of enemies you encounter. Will the shields hold out? Will you run out of oxygen? Will your new laser destroy the opposing ship’s hull? You’ll escape from certain disaster time and time again, and each time you’ll have created a new story. Read a full review of Faster than Light here.

Click here to find out more about Faster than Light.

3. Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is the kind of game I’d have expected to play on Linux before I knew about Linux gaming. It’s complex, forbidding, and geeky. But once you get past the ASCII graphics you’ll see why so many people are willing to sit through tutorials to learn how to play.

In Dwarf Fortress your goal is to survive. This normally means creating a fortress for your dwarves and helping them to find food and drink. They’ll be attacked by a range of mythical beasts so you’ll also need military protection. The game is very difficult, and embodies the phrase “losing is fun.” Each time your fortress falls you have the opportunity to create a new one, and the fun begins all over.

Click here to find out more about Dwarf Fortress.

4. Kerbal Space Program

What’s more fun than flying a rocket? Crashing a rocket! At least, it is for the first few attempts. Kerbal Space Program lets you build and fly space craft around a fictional solar system. It accurately simulates the physics of spaceflight, which makes it difficult but rewarding. Eventually you’ll have to complete missions to earn money for ship building. For now there’s a sandbox mode, which lets you create as many crazy ships as you like. That mode is ideal because you may well be crashing quite a few of them. You can read a full Kerbal Space Program review here.

Click here to find out more about Kerbal Space Program.

5. Dungeons of Dredmor

Character creation is often the most enjoyable part of RPG games. When you make a character, you are free to theorise about what will or won’t work, before being tied down by the realities of the game.

Dungeons of Dredmor realises how fun character creation can be, and lets you experiment with your choices. The game sees you attempt to reach the end of a randomly generated dungeon. The combat can be repetitive but the options for character progression keep the game interesting.

Click here to find out more about Dungeons of Dredmor.

6. Super Hexagon

Games don’t get much more simple than Super Hexagon. You control a small triangle and your goal is to move left or right to avoid incoming lines and shapes. The addictive appeal of Super Hexagon lies in its difficulty. To get it right you’ll need to react quickly and achieve a state of ‘flow’ . The simple controls, throbbing visuals, and heavy audio mean that it’s easy to fall into a trance and forget everything apart from beating your high score.

Click here to find out more about Super Hexagon.

7. Warsow

Warsow is one of many Quake style FPS games released for Linux. The game-play is fast paced, and focuses on smooth and fluid movement.

Of the FPS games for Linux, there isn’t any one particular stand-out. Warsow just happens to be my favourite. It works well and the graphics are relatively unique for the genre. You’d get a very similar experience from any of the indie FPS games on Linux such as Nexuiz, Open Arena or Red Eclipse.

Click here to find out more about Warsow.

8. Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Defenders puts you in control of an adventurer who can run around, attack enemies, cast spells and summon towers.  Your goal is to prevent enemies from destroying your crystal. You can play on your own, or cooperatively online. Dungeon Defenders doesn’t bring too much new material to the genre of tower defence – this is simple, wave after wave fun.

Click here to find out more about Dungeon Defenders.

9. Battle for Wesnoth

Battle of Wesnoth may be the best strategy game you’ve never played. Despite being relatively unknown, the game has an established  and dedicated community. Gameplay wise, there isn’t anything especially revolutionary, but Wesnoth is polished and fun. There are a variety of add-ons to download, including a variety of single player campaigns. If you’re a fan of strategy games, give Wesnoth a try.

Click here to find out more about Battle of Wesnoth.

10. Anodyne

Anodyne is a top-down action/puzzle game. If you’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Game Boy this game should feel familiar. The graphics and gameplay are a very clear nod in the direction of Nintendo’s classic dungeon explorer.

Anodyne is far from a clone, however. It’s much simpler, with hardly any items to acquire and only one weapon – a broom. The majority of game will have you searching for keys to progress through various areas. This can feel repetitive but the main appeal of Anodyne is it’s strange atmosphere, and interesting locations. The core of the game won’t take you long to get through, but there are a number of hidden extras to keep you exploring.

Click here to find out more about Anodyne.

Why you should switch to Linux

With all these indie games on Linux, and more to come, Linux has never been more tempting for gamers. It’s easier than you think to make the switch – you can even keep your Windows installation.

If you’re already a Linux user, do you think there are any games missing from the top ten? Leave a comment below and let us know which games people should be playing on Linux.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Failure arrives in many forms when you play Kerbal Space Program, surprising you when you least expect it. You can run out of fuel, land too fast, or simply build a rocket that is inherently doomed to rip itself apart. Watching rockets crash into things at high speeds is fun, but it’s heartbreaking to have your flight end in disaster after committing time to the rest of the journey.

Luckily the ship building system is easy to use so you should be able to put together something which is vaguely flyable. Parts clip neatly together, and there are a range of fuel tanks, thrusters, and cockpits from which to choose. The two main types of vehicle are space planes and rockets, but you can also build wheeled vehicles, space stations, and satellites. You build rockets in stages, so that you can jettison fuel containers as they are emptied. Carrying dead weight into orbit is likely to doom your mission, so you’ll need to design your stages carefully.

Kerbal Space Program is still in development, but already there are a variety of scenarios and training missions. The training is useful to give you an understanding of the less self-explanatory parts of the game, such as adjusting orbits. The scenarios put you into difficult situations and let you try and get out of them, and this is good practice for when you get to your own missions.

Eventually the game will contain a mode where you need to create your own space program. The costs of building rockets will presumably be offset by making money from missions, and this should make the game feel more directed. Crashing ships might be fun, but it does grow dull, and the real substance of the game is found in building efficient spacecraft and attempting to reach other planets.

Kerbal Space Program isn’t just for people who are interested in spacecraft. It’s a simulation, but it’s rarely restrictive and dull. You have the freedom to create your own designs, and when they fall apart you can laugh and try again. The game brings a sense of humor to the world of scientific simulation. Kerbal Space Program can be bought right now, and it’s recently been made available on Steam and Linux (I played the gabber on Ubuntu). There’s even a free demo. It’s still in development, but it’s already very playable, and I’d recommend that you give it a try.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this rating mean?

A review copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.