Below is our list of the best Linux games available to install as Snap apps from the official Snapcraft store.
All of these great games are free to install on Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other distributions.
There are no PPAs, no shady repos, and no tar.gz bundles to grapple with here, just 7 top games packaged in the simple-to-use sandboxed Snap app format.
Although this list is a touch light on the latest AAA blockbuster game releases it packs in plenty of awesomely open source titles that are just as entertaining!
7 Great Games for Ubuntu
1. Live for Speed
A serious racing simulator with a steep learning curve. Many say the experience of racing in Live for Speed is the nearest thing to sitting in the actual drivers seat of an actual car in an actual race!
Released for Windows, though playable on Linux thanks to Wine, which is what the Snap here uses, Live for Speed features a realistic physics engine, great visuals, and even a degree of online gameplay.
The game is best played with a steering wheel controller, though you can use a keyboard and/or mouse.
Although this game is free to download you will need to buy a Live for Speed license if you wish to unlock additional vehicles and tracks.
sudo snap install wine-platform
sudo snap install liveforspeed
2. TrackMania: Nations Forever
Considered one of the most popular online PC racing games of all time, TrackMania: Nations Forever is now readily available on the Snap store.
TrackMania: Nations Forever is another Wine-based game neatly packaged as a Snap app, but don’t let that put you off: both graphics and gameplay are on point.
For unadulterated arcade racing action with a variety of racing environments, cars, tracks and even online players to compete against, TrackMania: Nations Forever is the kind of game you’ll go all-in on.
sudo snap install tmnationsforever
3. Warzone 2100
If racing isn’t for you, but galactic conquest is, snap install open-source real-time strategy game Warzone 2100.
In Warzone 2100 you take charge of The Project, a force battling to rebuild the world after a devastating nuclear fallout.
With campaign, multiplayer and single-player skirmish modes, a diverse array of technology available, and some seriously strategic thinking needed, Warzone 2100 is a game you’ll keep coming back to.
sudo snap install warzone2100
4. Oh My Giraffe!
For a game that’s a little less demanding on the ol’ reflexes, the cute, fast-paced, giraffe-packed challenge of Oh My Giraffe! will suit.
The game has a simple premise: you’re a giraffe, you like to eat fruit, but you need to outrun some sleepy lions.
A perfect way to fill five minutes of time as you wait for something to render, download or install. Simple to play, slightly addictive, and something kids will surely dig.
sudo snap install ohmygiraffe
5. SuperTuxKart
If you use Linux there’s a good chance you’ve at least heard of SuperTuxKart if you haven’t already played it.
Arguably the best kart racing game outside of consoles (where Mario Kart and the Crash Team Racing series rules supreme).
And the best bit is that it’s absolutely free!
Great graphics, masterful gameplay, diverse set of tracks, and a canny collection of characters and karts to choose from make SuperTuxKart a game no-one should miss out on enjoying:
snap install supertuxkart
6. Xonotic
Fast-paced first-person shooter Xonotic is a classic within the free software community. It has easy-to-master gameplay, tonnes of weapons to choose from, and a diverse set of game modes — including online play — to help keep things interesting.
A genuinely standout open-source classic. For fans of FPS games in particular, it’s totally worth braving annihilation in the arena for…
snap install xonotic
7. Minecraft Installer
Okay, so this Snap isn’t technically a game at all: it’s a downloader for a game.
But it’s a game that needs no introduction, Minecraft.
The Snap is possibly the fastest, fuss-free way to get Minecraft and its densely inhabited sandbox up and running on Ubuntu.
Mc-installer is a fork of the Minecraft-NSG installer Snap, only it doesn’t use the Oracle version of Java and instead rolls with the freely available OpenJDK.
Once installed, just launch mc-installer to trigger a download the Minecraft .jar files. The installer then lets you play it on your Ubuntu (or other Snapd-supporting distro) — go build, dig and chase sheep!
sudo snap install mc-installer
Honourable mentions
Other games on the Snap store that are definitely worth checking out when you’ve got some down time include historical strategy game 0.A.D., 3D FPS Urban Terror, C&C: Red Alert 2 Yuri’s Revenge, and 2D space shooter M.A.R.S..
Naturally a list of the ‘best’ anything is going to be subjective to a degree. So if not all of you reading this agree with my choices I’ll understand.
Although Ubuntu lets you install Snap apps out of the box you don’t need to use Ubuntu to install Snap apps. All of the games in this list can be installed on any Linux distribution that supports the snapd tool.
That said, you’re free to use the comments section below to share your personal top Linux game picks — the only requirement is that they must be available on the Snap store!