From video gaming to card games and stuff in between, if it's gaming you can probably discuss it here!
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Stardew Valley is really lightweight and Linux native.
Since you mentioned battery being an issue and that you just switched to Linux, have you looked into using TLP or Powertop to try doing some tweaks to squeeze out a bit more? It's been years since I've used Linux on a laptop, but that's what I used.
All Steam Deck verified games should play just fine on that laptop. While Intel Xe graphics are not the greatest, Steam Deck is restricted to 15W and you laptop is not.
This is what I have from Steam on my Linux laptop, similar HW, a bit older:
Baba Is You, The Binding of Isaac, Celeste, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Darkest Dungeon, Dicey Dungeons, Enter the Gungeon, FTL, Hollow Knight, Into the Breach, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Monster Train, Opus Magnum, Slay the Spire, Spelunky.
And traditional roguelikes are always good: Crawl, Brogue, Nethack.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's free and open source available as a download or in browser here. Not sure if your familiar with traditional roguelikes, but it's basically a permadeath turn based rpg. I finally picked it back up recently and have been addicted. Finally got my first won today after some 300 games.
OpenTTD is an open source game based on TTD (Transport Tycoon Deluxe). Basically you just connect cities and industries with each other by different forms of transport like trains, busses, airplanes, etc.
Might be a bit off topic here. I really suggest to have a check at https://www.protondb.com/
Many Win-only steam games are performing great on Linux now.
Besides, I've played https://vita3k.org/ for a while. There are countless decent old games which can be played via emulators on linux
I wouldnt limit yourself to native linux. Check out protondb.com. You can even use non-steam games through steam for use with proton (or if you're feeling more technical you could use other tools that are more hands on).
Absolutely! Currently running Diablo 4 on the SteamDeck using Proton Experimental. Runs perfectly on medium-high settings at 45-50 fps. It's insane how far we've come. When I first started using Linux over ten years ago, running Windows games was nigh-impossible. And Valve finally released their Steam client for Linux, the selection of games was ... very limited.
Yeah, that's part of the reason why I didn't re-install Linux until recently. I would install it every few years, but it was only recently that I decided to keep it.
I didn't quite know about ProtonDB and what it could do, but I did know that a lot more games are compatible lately so I thought I'd try it out. Linux is doing great it seems!
Small list from me: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Caves of Qud, Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, ADOM, Reigns, SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition, King's Quest, Liberal Crime Squad. The old Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall are also currently available for free. I see Daggerfall is playable with DosBox/Lutris, I assume Arena is as well.
Suikoden I and II are great PSX RPGs, if you can emulate. Shadowrun (Returns, Dragonfall and Hong Kong) are great and Linux native.
Not related to your stated interests, but Minecraft will work better on Linux than Windows due to Java optimizations.
itch.io client works well on Linux from my tests, but I have no specific recommendations for you because it has been some time.
I mean, if you install Steam, you're not that limited in terms of ports, are you? Just about any game being solidified for the Steam Deck to run through Proton will also have the same effect on other Linux distros.
Of course, if it's a low-end laptop, you'd aim for relatively simple, 2D or old games, but they don't explicitly have to be ported to Linux.
Slay the Spire is pretty cool.
Rimworld is pretty resource light and runs native on Linux. Has the benefit of being one o of the greatest games ever, too. If you're into to that kind of game (colony resource management and light war crimes)
Factorio works well (at a smaller scale).
Same boat! Here are some i picked up;
Edit; formatting
If you want an old classic, I've been playing rollercoaster tycoon 2 recently and there is an open source engine for it (openrct2) that has native linux compatibility. The controls take some getting used to, But I think that artstyle looks totally amazing.
While it may not exactly match up with the body of your message, I think this would fit the subject line rather well:
Try Factorio great automation simulator but this game shoul come with a warning it is practicly a full time job or if you want something to play for hour daily i love Deep Rock Galactic. Both games are quite easy to run and doesnt take much disk space especially DRG have like 5GB i dont know how.
The Battle for Wesnoth is one of those oldies but goldies when it comes to Linux gaming.
I'd also heartily recommend trying out OpenMW (not just because I'm part of the team there) as a modern way to play Morrowind, though the upcoming release is not entirely finished, there are a few blockers being hammered away at still.
Hey, DOSBox is available on Linux! There are some hidden gems from the DOS era.
Minecraft is often a good time and can run well on low end machines.
Text based and RPGs you say? Maybe it's time to explore some MUDs?
For the King is also a nice chill game with a great system reqs:fun ratio. Currently on sale too.
I've seen OpenMW mentioned (and it's fantastic), but you might want to check out Daggerfall Unity as well. The game's available at no cost, and you can find a zip of the necessary game files on the install guide in the dfworkshop forums.
It's way better than the old DOS version, and it supports mods, too.
Alright so I was a little confused on OpenMW but it appears that it is, in fact, complete enough to play? Nice. I now finally have an excuse to play.
I completely forgot about Daggerfall existing. I'm just reading through the wikipedia article. "Daggerfall consists of 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons for the character to explore." I am intimidated, yet intrigued.
Veloren is inspired by games such as Cube World, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft.
You can play single player or multi-player, standalone or use an online server, or even host your own server in a Docker container, or on a Raspberry Pi. Plenty of options!
You start by creating your character, you can collect items for your inventory, you can craft items, there are weapons and combat, you develop skills, can tame creatures, you can trade with merchants, you can socialise, and lost more. There is no single, specific goal or focus, and the idea is to keep exploring and have adventures.
The game is community driven and actually updates quite regularly.
It is clearly no clone of Minecraft. It is fun and adventure!
Vampire Survivors. It's dopamine in digital form.
Nuclear Throne. It's a fun Roguelike dungeon crawler. A run from beginning to "end" (last level before looping) can take 15min and I've spent 100s of hours playing over the years.There' are so many characters you can choose to play, each with its own unique special ability.
Not exactly text based, but the old sierra style games are still a blast to play. Leisure Suit Larry, Maniac Mansion, Thimbleweed Park. They sure don't need many resources to play.
RimWorld is great and runs on my toaster
Garry's Mod, Super Tux Kart
If you want try Minetest - opensource "Minecraft" clone.
You need mods it is more game engin to build mods on so lots of Minecraft like games.
Omori, if you are into Motherlike games. More story based if that's your thing
Not an answer to your question but when you say " I find that it has battery issues trying to play anything fancy like Skyrim" do you mean that the battery drains while plugged in or that you are mainly playing while not plugged in and your battery life is really short.
If it is the former then you might just need to buy a higher wattage power adapter to sustain. The power draw.
With the blackout, I see the Gaming community will be assimilated into the LinuxGaming community and I'm here for it.
Into the breach is a pretty underrated game to try out
And FTL. Amazing games. Slay the Spire also great.
Here you can find a bunch free software RPGs: https://libregamewiki.org/Role-playing_games
Also you can install MAME and download like 5000 arcade games from the 70, 80, 90, 2000.
Deus Ex, the first game. Easy to run, a lot of rpg elements. Half-life 1 and 2 are obvious choices and I think have Linux ports. Emulation is definitely a good route to go as well. A lot of good RPGs on consoles that are easy to emulate.