I’ve been getting really into Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and Redemption, old school Runescape, Ragnarok Online, Arcanum, Diablo II, and other old classics lately, and I’m looking for more 90s/early 00s PC games that will run on my new Thinkpad E15 G4 running Arch Linux.
I highly recommend looking into Spiderweb Software games. They’ve been pumping out top down turn based tactics rpgs for years now. I am not sure of the viability on Linux, but I’m sure there is a workaround if anything.
The Avernum series in particular is great if you’re into detailed character building, exploring, and high difficulty optional quests/bosses!
Planescape: Torment is a classic from that era
I’d add Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 to this as well, may be the best crpgs ever imo! Planescape and Baldurs Gate both use the infinity game engine if I recall correctly.
If you’re looking for something a little more modern but with a very similar feel to those, I really like Pillars of Eternity.
Have you played the old LucasArts SCUMM adventure games? Full Throttle, Monkey Island, The Dig, and Grim Fandango are masterpieces.
If you haven’t played them the original Fallout 1 and 2 (the Fallout 2 Restoration Project is a big recommend) and Arcanum are classics as well.
I wholeheartedly second Fallout 1 & 2. Arcanum somehow avoided my notice back in the day, but I’m planning on playing it soon.
Caesar 3 is a fantastic city builder that will run on just about anything. https://store.steampowered.com/app/517790/Caesar_3/
Augustus is a great remake of the game engine to add some quality of life things to the game and make it run easier on more modern systems
Morrowind is still a lot of fun for some some of that classic Bethesda goodness and runs great in OpenMW
