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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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For someone new to gaming, I'd recommend Outer Wilds. It isn't "addictive" in that you can play it endlessly, but it's something easy to get into for someone new to gaming and one of the best games ever made. It's also only $15 right now.
If you end up sucking at flying, like many players do, just remember it doesn't matter how pretty your landing is if you can walk away from it. Even if you can't, no big deal.
Battle for Wesnoth is my go to Linux for a decade at this point. Free fantasy turn based strategy game with fun campaigns.
Probably check out Batman series, they run quite well on Linux, just been working my way through them myself. Otherwise Red Dead Redemption 2 I found difficult to put away once I started.
Most games will run fine through Steam, as long as you check of the compatibility box in steam settings. Otherwise there is Heroic Launcher, and Lutris as different launchers.
Yes! That was my advice too. Most things work well, I'm using a 1060 and 4th generation i5 on a cheap 10+ yr old SSD.
Lutris really simplifies things too, I was able to easily install Battle.net and the Epic store too through it.
Most of these have been mentioned already, but it all depends on what do you like, of course that's difficult because most people know what type of game they like because they've played other games before that they can use as reference. So instead I'll go the other way around and suggest addictive games if you think you would like certain mechanics/types of games.
Are you an engineer? Do you like Rube Goldberg machines? I have just the game for you. In Factorio you create your factory from scratch, first gather some coal and iron by hand, but before long you'll have a fully automated overly complicated factory.
Do you think you would like to instead build a base, starting with some colonists striving to make it through the winter but then growing into a huge settlement? If you like sci-fi RimWorld is about exactly that, with a small team of people who crash-land on a planet on the edge of the Galaxy and now need to build their base. If you prefer fantasy, Dwarf Fortress is a (more complicated) game about Tolkien types dwarves building their new home.
Do you have a controller and like to play games with it? Do you like being challenged? If so Dead Cells might be interesting. It's a game where each time you die you go back to the beginning, but the entire map has changed so it's never the same, and you'll unlock new things to explore different things and discover new paths.
Do you like Strategy? There are a series of games from Paradox Interactive that take place in different time periods, so choose what you prefer, they're all great and all have somewhat different mechanics (e.g. the game that's set on the middle ages has genetic traits so choosing who you marry is very important, not just because of what you'll inherit from them but also for their genetic traits for your sons). Going chronologically, if you want a game about the time of the Roman empire then Imperator: Rome; if you prefer a game about medieval times Crusader Kings (the current one is 3, but 2 is also very good); if you prefer colonization period Europa Universalis (EU 4 has an interesting mod where you can carry over your save game from CK2 into it to keep going from how the map looked there); If you prefer industrialization Victoria is a great game (current game is Victoria 3, although I haven't yet played it, most bad reviews usually compare it to Victoria 2, so I assume Victoria 2 is better but might be more difficult since it's quite old); if you prefer World War 2 then Hearts of Iron is an excellent game about grand strategy of war instead of how the games usually deal with this period, if you would prefer a more focused, i.e. control soldiers in a battlefield, I recommend the Company of Heroes (this is very different from the others here, but thought it would be worth mentioning because of the same time period but very different gameplay); If you prefer galaxy exploration then you might want to look into Stellaris.
Team Fortress 2 has native support and is very addictive and has a large active community despite the game being over 15 years old now.
...just don't play in casual servers. It's filled with bots
The multiplayer classics:
Some single player gems:
BeamNG.Drive, and go wild with the destruction.
Here's a couple based on the vibe you're feeling. You'll need some compatability stuff like play on Linux to play some of them.
I've completed all of these and had a blast with all of them. :)
N++ is a very fun puzzle platformer. Vvvvvvv is a very fun puzzle platformer with cool music Hades is an excellent isometric fighter game with cool music 2048 is a very simple puzzle game that's very very replayable. It's like solitaire with simple addition Unreal tournament is three gold standard first person action game period. The npc enemies are no fucking joke and is fun and fast
It depends on what kind of game you like. Here are 2 video games I play on Linux:
Minecraft is a sandbox game with a survival aspect, where you can be as creative as you want while still having fun challenges. There are many different playing styles. It costs about $30 and requires a Microsoft account to play legally. Minecraft: Java Edition officially runs on Linux. Minecraft: Bedrock Edition (the one with console cross-play) does not run on Linux by any official methods.
Mindustry is a techy/industrial game, I've heard some say it's like if Factorio was a tower defense. It is free and open-source (under GPLv3), requires no account.
For purchasing or acquiring games, I'd recommend Steam. It has lots of games and many of them work on Linux. There's also Heroic Games Launcher for Epic and GOG games.
With Lutris + Wine-ge you can play practically any game you want. My recommendation is the games I have enjoyed playing since I got my PC a few months back, in no particular order.
The best game of all time: dungeon crawl stone soup. Open source dungeon crawler that has been developed for 20 years. It is free and you can play in your browser. And since deaths are permanent, it is an easy game to walk away from since game sessions tend to be short (because it is easy to die).
Another classic is Dwarf Fortress.
I think other peoples suggestions are great already, so I want to contrast them.
I'll suggest some of the good old free software games that got me into Linux way back before steam even ran on it:
Like other posts, Factorio. You will lose sleep. Set timers...
Proton and Vulkan make most things easy-ish if you are using Steam. Note that there is a little properties button on the game page that you probably need to use to force it to use Proton so it will install. Proton DB is your friend. Lutris + Wine is pretty good too. Proton is just Wine with enhancements.
You may find Helldivers a lot of fun too, especially if you can play with friends. It is suitably ridiculous in the best way and is sort of human vs aliens/robots. All of the humans (us) play on co-op teams to bring Democracy to the universe. There is a game master from the company that makes it that is leading the war against us. Like I said, suitably ridiculous. Most of my friends are playing it nightly and it will be a big part of our LAN party this weekend.
Going on a limb here but... it's basically the other way around, which games CAN'T you play on Linux. Basically games with actively prevent it via bad anticheat or DRMs.
Otherwise check ProtonDB.
My favorites being Baldur's Gate 3 at the moment but also, not addictive but really excellent Half-life: Alyx and more casually Viewfinder.
Not really sure what would be your type of game but here's some that I've played that I found addicting, from various genres. All of these are on Steam and I've played on Linux.
Definitely look at Portal 2. Great game that's easy to get into.
If you played and liked Portal 2, also take a look at Portal, The Talos Principle, and Q.U.B.E. (I probably can't go wrong recommending puzzle games)
Maybe also Mirror's Edge (2008).
Baldur's Gate 3 is one I've put a lot of time into recently.
Chill exploration game that I couldn't put down and am still obsessed with: INFRA
If you think you could like base builder games: RimWorld, Factorio, Satisfactory
And then some absolute PC classics: Half-Life (1998, or you can also play the remake Black Mesa), System Shock (play the 2023 remake), Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
Beyond All Reason was recently recommended to me in an ask Lemmy Thread. Can confirm it is a great game if you're into real time strategy (Free and Open Source). Naev and Endless Sky - Single player 2D open world space exploration, trading with some interesting storylines (Both are also FOSS and inspired heavily by the Escape Velocity series of games), I have spent ma y hours playing these games. Mindustry is another fun one people are recommending, takes elements of Factory Building games and Real Time Strategy (FOSS).
Venturing into the non-foss side of things, most games seem to work, check protondb before purchasing for Linux compatiblility. Steam is pretty good on Linux. I've found Terraria to be quite addictive which natively supports Linux. Starbound is also pretty good but I haven't touched it for a few years because the storyline is rather a cliche and just not interesting at all to me (I did finish it).
Another option for games is emulation.
If your gaming laptop has an NVIDIA GPU as well as integrated (usually Intel) you may need to launch your games with certain environment variables incase they default to the integrated graphics. In my experience with hybrid graphics Wayland works quite well as the desktop will be run on the integrated graphics.
Stellaris on Steam has a fully-native Linux executable.
FTL
Surprised no one has said it, but Minecraft. I love it as much now as I did when I was 12. It can be as simple or as complex as you want it, especially if you start playing with mods. Then there's servers such as Hypixel which for all intents and purposes are an entirely separate game in and of themselves.
I'm sure part of it is nostalgia, some of my fondest gaming memories were playing Minecraft with friends, but I still find it to be an excellent way to relax.
(Tangentially related, anyone else remember when waiting 3 months for 1.2.5 > 1.3 was an absurdly long update time for the game? Different times.)
If you want addictive, try Stardew Valley and Factorio. I think both have Linux-native releases on Steam. I've got 182 hours in Factorio. The factory must grow.
(edit) ah fuck I fell back into Factorio again
If you're going to be on Steam, and become a gamer, the other suggestions over here are good.
However, if games aren't really your thing, and you just want a casual gaming experience, then I'd suggest a few Linux native games, that exist in all distro repos: gweled, ltris, lbreakout2, lgeneral, frozen-bubble, gnome-mahjongg, gnome-tetravex, xye, kobo-deluxe, aisleriot, powermanga, open-invaders, supertux, pingus, berusky, opentyrian (requires data from the dos game, which are also free to download elsewhere).
Then there are some more heavy hitters (still native linux games), like freeciv-gtk3, opencol, 0ad, tuxracer, lincity-ng, simutrans etc.
Download steam to buy and play games first: steampowered.com