Saints Row 2 and 3 have just been released yesterday on Linux/SteamOS ! We had known for a while now that they were coming along following the release of Saints Row 4 last year. All ports are made by Virtual Programming using their eON technology. However, quality-wise the ports are not that impressive at this stage. I have played Saints Row 3 for about 4 hours since its release and it’s not bad on my hardware in maximum details (GTX970 + i5), but there are many cases of frame rate stutters here and there even though the game is very playable. I have even encountered a crash while playing a mission (not sure yet if I can reproduce it).

So, while it’s not super smooth at this stage after the release, it’s probably on par with Saints Row IV in terms of performance (sadly not better). Game-wise it’s really fun if you like GTA-like games and the whole parody that goes with the Saints Row series.

I have not spent as much time on Saints Row 2 but the port quality is worse. Frame rate is really bad on the same hardware even though it’s a much less graphically intensive game. Not sure why it’s so bad this time around, and I really hope VP is going to do something about it - on such hardware it’s far from being enjoyable.

Both games are discounted at 66% right now on team, so it’s a good chance to get them in case you did not pre-order them or already owned it on Steam before.

And let’s not forget there are hints of Sleeping Dogs making its way on Linux as well in the future. I did it on Windows a long time ago - it was not that good though, the fist fights were well done but the overall plot was cheesy (while the game took itself seriously, not like Saints Row) and cliche. But more AAA games are better than none, and it’s a good sign that more and more open-world games are making their way on our platform. More games in certain genres are needed to cover gaps in the Linux gaming offering.