This week’s interesting bits and pieces in Steam Deck / Linux and general gaming that I have found, all compiled by me :)

One reminder is that these pieces of news I’ve spotted are just those that made me smile, or made me interested, so I thought they’d fit in nicely here. I’m not here to share the things you’ve most likely spotted (though I’m sure they’re in here, too), more the ‘little things’.

My aim is to phrase this in a more personal manner than most gaming sites do now. My ever-lasting inspo is the old, old video game sites, blogs and magazines that I never had the privilege of being alive for:

  • image/gif/link heavy
  • personal voice (no hard news here!)
  • mostly news or articles or points you won’t find on the ‘big’ gaming sites, these are the smaller, lesser things that I’m drawn to

This is a warning though, Boost has trouble displaying so many images per post. I am told however that the dev has fixed this, or is fixing this. I can say that Jerboa and Thunder have no issue scrolling these (same with the website)

And one more thing. Each of these I write makes me quite nervous. I’m never sure people will like what I write, or more importantly how I write it - these posts aren’t meant to be taken like they’re a new source, it’s just…me having fun. So I hope you might grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy them alongside me?

GOG / Epic Games News:

You’ll no doubt know I like to at least try find some fun GOG and Epic bits and pieces. Far from the typical Steam Deck user I find 90% of the library of games is via GOG, and even the odd Epic (or Amazon too, I’m that kind of weird girl) game too.

What I use to play these is:

Junk Store on my Steam Deck (I love the interface and UI being so unobtrusive and almost feel it is a part of the native Steam Deck)

Heroic Games Launcher on my desktop PC

GOG:

vangogh & theo:

A user called boggydigital has dropped the first release of vangogh and theo - a ‘local library of DRM-free games’ for your GOG library + for the Steam Deck. A link to the GitHub page is here if you want to read an overview of what it does. But further:

https://github.com/arelate/vangogh https://github.com/arelate/theo Nice to see a new option provided to the community!

DOOM

Obviously you have all seen the DOOM news: 2016’s FPS title has been brought over to GOG after nearly 10 years. Selling on GOG at -80% off for their ‘launch’ on GOG, I’m looking forward to playing it when I clear a few games from my current-and-what-I’m-playing-next list. There’s a lot of reviews already on GOG’s page for DOOM, and to no one’s surprise they’re all good ones.

One caveat to getting it on GOG is that it does not come with the multiplayer option, since that is built with DRM. But you do get an amazing campaign, which to me is the point of DOOM, anyway.

Right now it is leading the recent ‘bestsellers’ list on the site.

Bestsellers:

Just to make it easy to see exactly what’s been selling best with GOG’s recent sales, here’s their bestseller list here!

  • DOOM (2016)
  • Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete
  • Heroes of Might and Magic 4: Complete
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – GoTY ed
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete ed
  • Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate ed
  • DOOM (2016) + OST Bundle
  • Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Ed

Further, their top wishlisted games on GOG in the last 30 days are:

  • Croc Legend of the Gobbos
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance II
  • Silent Hill 4: The Room
  • System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster
  • Sudeki
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Resident Evil Bundle (1, 2 & 3)
  • Dino Crisis Bundle (1 & 2)
  • F.E.A.R. Platinum

World of Goo 2:

The release has been confirmed for GOG to launch there on the 25th of April

Epic Games:

Chuchel:

This week’s freebie on Epic Games is the second Amanita Design game in a row, being Chuchel - available on the 24th of April.

Assassins Creed:

Assassins Creed Shadows has added Epic Achievements to the title, a link to which his here if you’re interested on Epic’s own site

Update:

There will be a EGS Session this Unreal Fest in June which will touch on the “new social ecosystem”

You can read more about what they’re planning for 2025 with this link: the 2025 roadmap for Epic

2 pt

Finally, Two Point Campus has been added to the Epic Store

General News:

Selaco:

Selaco is maybe my fav FPS game in recent years. It’s a beautiful little game made with the GZDoom engine, and I’ve poked people quite a few times over the previous instalments of my news to go and get it.

What caught my eye though is a user (Red_SnowflakeMX) who has created their old-style ‘big box’ PC game box for the game:

I’m not so good with handywork or designing on computer, but for myself it’s okay. Hope you like it and maybe someone else here gets inspired and makes a better one, would love to see that :) Almost all of the art and artworks are from the game and the press kit. the only thing I “designed” is the ArachnoCola can in paint, which I think is very noticable ;) Just want to show my appreciation here, hope the use of your art doesn’t offend you, if so, I would of course delete this post. Thank you!

Here’s a few (okay, a lot ‘coz I adore this) photos of the project:

One of the devs found this and has shared it themselves, I spotted it afterwards on bsky which was nice to see!

Virtual Boy Rediscovered:

Did anyone see the recently discovered Nintendo Virtual Boy photos? They are of the canceled Mario game they’d made for the abandoned system.

Called Mario Smash, only a few shots exist (they’re nice, high quality!) Super interesting seeing something that just ended up shelved, but still a nice footnote in the history of gaming. The photos are here (but only 3 of them exist!):

SEGA Model 2:

Major Sega Model 2 improvements are coming to MAME soon.

You can find a nice video detailing changes and improvements and what the heck I mean here on YouTube

Hadrians:

Hadrian’s Wall is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadria.

It’s also where someone stuffed a SNES console. I think it might be bricked?

Photo from the user SKEEMON

Donkey Kong Country 3:

Also loved this physical recreation of DKC3’s cover in diorama form.

Seeing the care and attention someone put into this, making it a piece of art for a game they adore makes me happy to see. I find that retro games can have such a bright, cheerful and happy atmosphere to them (like that ‘beachy’ setting so many old early 2000’s games have!) - DKC3 is the perfect example of it.

There is also a little YT clip of the process here:

Devolver:

Devolver Digitial themselves shared a pretty little graph (which is pretty surprising to me) of revenue figures for several of their franchises.

Cult of The Lamb is their highest earning, with the revenue exceeding $90M USD. (I think this is probably because it’s a beautiful little cozy gaming gem of a game? I sank a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 of time into that one on my Steam Deck) Astroneer too is a high-high number. Fun way to show how the games you support are doing, though. Talos seems a lil low though?

Anyway, the graph itself is here:

Bazzite 42:

Bazzite’s new version has launched, but the changes are extensive and I’m too lazy to summarize them. So, you can go here and read about them from the dev himself: Kyle!

https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/bazzite-42-is-now-available/7861

Intravenous:

Intravenous 2 is celebrating over 100,000 copies sold, with over 2,000 reviews now.

It’s a great little stealth game, and you might remember the first being given away everywhere like GOG and Steam some months back!

There’s a lovely announcement made on Steam you can read here if you’d like (and the game is on sale on GOG and Steam right now)

Anbernic and shipping:

Anbernic, a company known for making Game Boy clones (which has a rather dedicated following and fandom), has suspended all shipments from China to the US due to potential tariff changes. The company advises customers to purchase products from its US warehouse instead, as those shipments aren’t affected by import duties. Anbernic had already warned buyers last week about possible high customs fees, but it has now halted Chinese shipments entirely, joining other companies like RetroTINK that are uncertain about how tariffs will be enforced. While customers can still add items from the Chinese warehouse to their cart, they can’t complete the purchase.

Anbernic’s affordable retro handhelds, often priced around $70, may become significantly more expensive if the proposed 245% tariffs take effect. For now, the devices remain available through US third-party sellers like Amazon, though these often include preloaded ROMs, raising legal concerns. The company’s decision reflects broader uncertainty around how new tariffs will impact Chinese imports, with Retro Handhelds noting that Anbernic is the only manufacturer so far to completely suspend US shipments. The situation leaves the future of affordable retro gaming devices in question.

Predictably there’s been a lot of comments I’ve seen defending this brilliant negotiating tactic from the orange slob, so we’ll see how much fun those gamers are having in the coming months.

A link to an article going into detail is here (The Verge)

Ayn and shipping:

AYN, the company behind the popular Odin 2 handheld, is joining Anbernic in pausing shipments to the U.S. due to new tariffs on Chinese goods. Unlike Anbernic, AYN hasn’t made a public announcement but instead shared the news via a customer service email in its Discord server. The company plans to halt shipments after April 25th for a week while seeking alternative shipping methods, aiming to resume by May 5th. The move comes as Hongkong Post will stop accepting U.S.-bound airmail packages starting April 27th, affecting other Chinese manufacturers like GoRetroid as well.

If AYN finds a new shipping solution, U.S. customers can still order its products, but prices may rise due to the end of the de minimis tariff exemption on May 2nd.

Retroid and shipping:

Finally, Retroid is also stopping shipments to the ‘States, sharing a similar statement on their Discord server, stating that this coming Friday will be the last they’ll ship out.

Hand of Hexes:

This beautiful art is called Hand of Hexes – made proudly with entirely free software. And its hand-drawn, too!

Made by emmdieh, I found the video they shared and it looks incredible. I’m hoping it will be able to be added to this post, but I’m not sure if the size is too big, or if Lemmy will host it at all in the format it is in.

(edit - GIF too big to attach here!)

𝘜𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝟤 𝘪𝘯 𝟣 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦

This is the kind of gaming I love - the little things with heart and soul!

The Steam page is here, if you want to see more

DREADMOOR:

Looks like there’s a new Lovecraftian fishing game which copied the homework of DREDGE but this one is in first-person.

This one looks okay, but I’m curious how much of their trailer is pre-rendered and whether it can stand on its own fishy legs since it really seems to have left out the ‘cozy’ aspect of DREDGE’s horror.

It’s very much just…copying DREDGE, and they recently posted a little ‘AMA’ but I can’t for the life of me find it now (since they had a handful of questions, and the one which was highest was that of whether it is pre-rendered in the trailer), anyway, time will tell.

For someone who is terrified of horror, I’m weirdly looking forward to seeing more. I hope it plays nice on Steam Deck.

The trailer is here with a link to YouTube

DREDGE

…also just wanted to share this lovely art. I saw Black Salt Games shared this, which is by kelgrid

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

…has a new update! The 7.0 ‘Trygon Update’ has gone live. Luckily this image has all the information, so I don’t have to fumble with the words to make this little post sound interesting, you can just read it!

007 + Nightdive:

Nightdive Studios (known for higher-quality remasters like Turok and Star Wars: Dark Forces), pitched a full remaster of GoldenEye 007 but was blocked by Nintendo.

Despite securing approval from James Bond rights holders MGM/Eon, Nintendo refused to allow any third-party studio to work on its properties, shutting down the project. This isn’t the first time a GoldenEye remaster was canceled—Rare had also developed an enhanced Xbox 360 version that was scrapped due to licensing issues.

While GoldenEye 007 is now available on Xbox and Nintendo Switch via emulation, it lacks the modern upgrades Nightdive had planned, such as improved graphics and controls. Nintendo’s strict policy on third-party remasters means fans may never get the definitive version they hoped for, though the abandoned Xbox 360 remaster has surfaced online for those willing to seek it out. Nightdive’s experience highlights the ongoing challenges of reviving classic games tangled in complex licensing disputes.

You can an article on this here – videogamer.com

Game Boy DMG:

A user (Pleasant_Waltz3041) has modded up an original Nintendo DMG to be as close to the style and look of the original packaging’s depiction.

I bought the new case at Retrohahn for 30€ some time ago. Unfortunately, it was sold out very quickly (understandably). It is a UV print that goes over the D-pad and A and B. Start and Select are rubber transparent. In addition, there was an IPS mod and an LED backlight mod for the buttons. I’m infinitely happy with the end result

The photos of their efforts are as follows:

Tomb Raider Anniversary Remake leaked renders:

Crystal Dynamics & Virtuos Shanghai’s cancelled remake of “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” is resurfacing, with very early assets from its development (dating back to 2019) which have been leaked.

There’s a couple of photos, and also a link if you want to read more which is this sentence here!

Oblivion

No, not the Tom Cruise film (though I’ve always adored Olga Kurylenko. Did anyone else watch Magic City? Not super popular…I guess it was a bit of a copy/paste to Mad Men at the time?), but the remaster we’ve seen ‘shadow dropped’ (to the surpirse of noone, since it was leaked)

But what I want to share is how nice it is seeing older gamers sharing their game guide books they’ve had for a long time. I love physical things, and modern games see far too few of these, sadly.

Anyway, these two made me smile:

Denuvo:

Just some titles here which have Denuvo news:

Denuvo has been removed from Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

Denuvo has also been removed from Nikoderiko: The Magical World. What made me giggle was seeing they had 145 all-time reviews on Steam before removing Denuvo. Whatever they paid for their Denuvo subscription was…far too much.

Super Robot Wars Y will be implementing Denuvo DRM in their game, which is due out 27th August, 2025.

Me:

First, I’ve had some users asking me how to find my news posts. I’ve had recommendations for having my own site, or making an easier-to-spot resource to find them. I understand that this makes total sense, too.

My typical reason why I wouldn’t, and haven’t is that I work too much, Being primarily a social engineer who works as red team on pen tests, my work really does take a lot of time. But…as of a few weeks back I’ve been on a rather unexpected and self-indulgent escape from ‘real life’. I’ve now been to Rome, Tokyo and Phuket in my desperate attempt to avoid the world.

Why are you telling us this? No idea really, but the real reason behind the ‘no time’ reason for me not hosting my posts on a site is that I don’t really want to take something away from Lemmy.

It sounds arrogant, but I do like to think my posts bring some value, and since I believe so strongly in FOSS, I like that they are available in their entirety here on Lemmy.

Second, which is actually just like a bit more of the first, is that I’ll link them for you so if you’re curious about my previous news entries, you can find them here:

What are you playing?

Now…my fav thing is asking you all what you’ve been enjoying lately! I’ve been playing a bit of The Last of Us Pt. 2. Again, since I am travelling I am using my Steam Deck (and can see that this isn’t giving me the best look at how the game can be) I’m ‘making do’, but this is my first time playing it, and I love it.

It’s actually given me an appreciation for single-player experience and narrative driven games again. I’ve been playing this, and Death Stranding (my obsession).

What have you been enjoying? On any platform you’re using, what games have you been enjoying? Something AAA? Or an indie? Emulating something fun?

Share!!!

Mastodon

If you want to follow me on Mastodon, I’m posting there every single day (typically), so come join in if you’d like:

If I made any errors, they’re all mine. If a link is not working, do tell me (there always seems to be just one I don’t format correctly in there! Every single time!) – all the crazy little rants and opinions are just me.

I hope you enjoyed this though, because I love writing them and sharing them!!!

  • smokeymcpott@feddit.org
    6·
    2 days ago

    I wish for ubisoft patching Denuvo out of Anno 1800. I don’t want to play it with that crap still in it and it’s been so long. I’ve waited like 6 years or something.

    Nice newsletter. Thanks for that.

    I’ve been playing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (gog) on my deck. It was a pain in the ass to get the controller working 😄 but now it works