Hi all, since I got my Classic Reform (RK3588), I’ve tested a lot of games from my steam and GOG libraries, and also a bunch of native games (installed either from the package manager or from flatpak’s flathub), and compiled a list of 60 working games right now.
It does appear that the Reform is quite capable of running a lot of games. As you can see below, I’m a huge CRPG and Roguelike fan, but there’s also some strategy / 4X games in this list, and even a platformer (FEZ, great game) and a space simulator (Pioneer Space Sim). I’ve not added emulators in this list, although the Reform is also quite capable on this topic.
Note: By “running” I mean “running decently”. By “decently” I mean 30FPS or more.
Tested games and instructions/setup:
- steam games installed through steamcmd.sh, not through the steam official client, manually launched.
- When needed, steam arm64 client used.
- Installed Wine AMD64 per henesy instructions here: < Guide for BOX86 and BOX64 with wine on the Pocket Reform? - #24 by henesy > .
- Only tested on RK3588, with box64-rk3588 when needed (amd64 only games).
The list!
| Game | Genre | Type | Install Method | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angband | Roguelike | Native | Package Manager | Well known roguelike, quite punishing |
| Arx Fatalis | ARPG | Native | GOG + compile engine | Arx Libertatis, built from source, just follow the instructions in README.md. Buy the game from GOG, `innoextract --gog setup.exe`, copy data where it seems fit for you. Smooth gameplay in medium settings - 30FPS limit without vsync for low temp. |
| Avadon: the black fortress | CRPG | box64 | Install from steam | Smooth as butter. Nice RPG from Spiderweb software. Sequels not tested - yet. |
| Baldur’s Gate 1 | CRPG | Native | GemRB, GOG | some crashes |
| Baldur’s Gate 2 | CRPG | Native | GemRB, GOG | runs really nice |
| Barony | Roguelike | Native | Compile from source, get data from Steam | Compile without sound (no openal, nor FMOD) needed. running the amd64 executable with box64 fails. |
| Blades of Exile | CRPG | Native | compile from classic blades of exile repo | build needs SFML2 compiled and installed beforehand. Editor won’t compile - yet. Need to copy datafiles in build dir. |
| BRogueCE | Roguelike | Native | Flatpak | Great roguelike, interesting ASCII graphics |
| Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead | Roguelike | Native | Flatpak | Great post-apocalyptic zombie roguelike. The debian package does run but has some bugs, whereas the flatpak version runs good. |
| Caves Of Qud | Roguelike | box64 | Steam | works really well, and an amazing game! |
| Conquest of Elysium 3 | Strategy | box64 | Steam | runs perfect, fun game with lot of replayability |
| Convoy | Roguelike | box64 | Steam | FTL but in a Mad Max setting |
| Crossfire GTK | MMO Roguelike | Native | package manager | Old school “real-time” multiplayer RPG with heavy roguelike elements. More complex than it seems |
| Cultist Simulator | CCG | box64 | Steam | Card game centered about building a cult. |
| Daggerfall Unity | ARPG | box64 | Download from website | Works OK, low FPS (<30 FPS) in big cities and in specific rooms (palace in daggerfall for e.g (15FPS)) |
| Darkest Dungeon | Roguelike | box64 | Steam | runs perfect. Trinkets and baubels! |
| Delver | FPS/Roguelike | box64 | Steam | runs well. The engine (in java) can be built from their github repo, not tested yet. |
| Disgaea 2 PC | Tactical RPG | box64 | Steam | Runs really well. Well known tactical RPG. You need steam running (steam arm works). If installed through steamcmd in a non-steam folder, put a steam_appid.txt file in game folder, containing the game ID (the same you used to install game with steamcmd’s app_update). |
| Dominions 5 | Strategy | box64 | Steam | runs well, small bug with wireframes during battle (just put mouse pointer in the sky). Amazingly complex strategy game. |
| Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup | Roguelike | Native | Flatpak or package manager | Well known great roguelike |
| Dungeons of Chaos | CRPG | box64 | Steam | Old school top view/tiles CRPG, initially made for touchscreens (smartphones, tablets). Deeper than it seems at first glance. Runs well, except that you need to `kill -9` the game upon exiting it. you need steam running (steam arm works). If installed through steamcmd in a non-steam folder, put a steam_appid.txt file in game folder, containing the game ID (the same you used to install game with steamcmd’s app_update). |
| Eldritch | FPS | box64 | Steam | Smooth gameplay. Low on CPU. |
| Endless Skies | Space | Native | Flatpak | runs great, amazing game |
| Fall of the Dungeon Guardians | CRPG | box64 | Steam | disable bloom and SSAO for better performance (from 30FPS to 55/80, fast graphics settings) |
| FEZ | Platform | box64 | Steam | Great platformer with a tridimensionnal twist! |
| FreeOrion | 4X | Native | Flatpak | 4X in space |
| FTL | Roguelike | box64 | Steam | runs perfect, great space roguelike game with great replayability. |
| Heroes of a Broken Land | CRPG/Roguelike | box64 | Steam | Procedurally generated dungeon crawler/roguelike game, quite oldschool but some interesting mechanics, especially with 2+ groups. Can become repetitve, especially if you generate huge world maps. smaller maps are funnier. You need steam running (steam arm works). If installed through steamcmd in a non-steam folder, put a steam_appid.txt file in game folder, containing the game ID (the same you used to install game with steamcmd’s app_update). Runs perfect, low on cpu, and thus battery. |
| Heroes of MIght and Magic III | Strategy | Native | Flatpak+GOG | Install VCMI, get game data from GOG, disable scaling in settings, profit. |
| KeeperRL | Roguelike / Strategy | box64 | Steam | building from source fails, sadly. Need some investigation. in the meantime, playable via box64 if you disable network features (encryption and x86_64 → ARM64 translation are kinda hit or miss) |
| Knights of Pen and Paper +1 | RPG/roguelike | box64 | Steam | runs perfect. Fun little game with an interesting take on roleplaying computer games and tabletop RPGs. |
| Legends of Amberland | CRPG | box64+wine | Steam | Great little CRPG inspired by Might and Magic, runs well. |
| Legends of Amberland 2 | CRPG | box64+wine | Steam | Nice little RPG/dungeon crawler inspired by Might and Magic series. Works great. |
| Legends of Amberland 3 | CRPG | box64+wine | Steam | 3rd installment of the Amberlands series, dungeon crawler with open world, inspired by Might and Magic. Runs great. Cap it at 30 FPS for long battery life (\~4 hours of gaming). |
| Luanti | voxel sandbox | Native | package manager | Runs well with view distance at 100 units. |
| Might and Magic I | CRPG | Native | GOG + ScummVM | One of the dungeon crawler with open world precursors. Great game, there’s a pack with better graphics. I’m more fond of its sequel (MM2) because it was the first CRPG/dungeon crawler I ever played when I was young  |
| Might and Magic Sword of Xeen | RPG | Native | GOG, ScummVM | Included in GOG Might and Magic 6. Fan-made World of Xeen scenario. |
| Might and Magic VI | CRPG | box64+wine | GOG | Install game (or `innoextract --gog` it), install grayface patch, wine MM6.exe, profit. |
| Might and Magic World of Xeen | CRPG | Native | ScummVM, data from GoG | Get MM6 from GoG, comes with all Might & Magic games from I to VI. Great blobbers (World of Xeen is the combination of Might and Magic IV and V) |
| MMapper/MUME | MUD | Native | Flatpak | great MUD in a middle-earth setting and a nice graphical client (with 3D map!) |
| Moria | Roguelike | Native | Package manager | Ancestor of Angband, old school roguelike from the 80’s |
| Nethack | Roguelike | Native | Package manager | Does it really needs an explanation? |
| OpenEnroth | CRPG | Native | compile from source, get MM7 on GOG | random segfaults, probably linked to sound |
| OpenMW | ARPG | Native | Debian repos, get Morrowind via GoG or Steam | Works with `MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink`. OpenMW default settings, 35FPS limit, vsync disabled gives a smooth gameplay and low temp. can push in the 40s and beyond without limit. |
| OpenYAMM | CRPG | Native | Compile from source | Once compiled, either use demo assets, or get the real MM8 from GOG. Game runs OK, still in its infancy. No segfaults contrary to OpenEnroth but full game(s) not yet fully playable. |
| Pioneer Space Sim | SpaceSim | Native | Flatpak | works OK, low/medium details |
| Planescape Torment | CRPG | Native | GemRB, GOG | runs good. |
| Shamogu | Roguelike | Native | download and compile from github | Seems fun, not played much, works well at first glance, needs more testing |
| Slash’em | Roguelike | Native | Package manager | Descendant of Nethack, quite good in its own way |
| Slay The Spire | Roguelike/CCG | box64 | Steam | Excellent game where you build your deck to fight enemies with cards. Quite punishing if you mess your deck. you need steam running (steam arm works). Runs quite well, limit FPS to 30 for less heat/more battery. If installed through steamcmd in a non-steam folder, put a steam_appid.txt file in game folder, containing the game ID (the same you used to install game with steamcmd’s app_update). |
| Star Crawlers | CRPG | box64 | Steam | Dungeon Crawler but in space, with corpos, psykers and conspiracies. Nice game. Runs well (disable antialiasing/anisotropy/fog/etc, keep beautify). |
| Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic II | CRPG | box64 | Steam | you need steam running (steam arm works). If installed through steamcmd in a non-steam folder, put a steam_appid.txt file in game folder, containing the game ID (the same you used to install game with steamcmd’s app_update). Use `MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink box64 KOTOR2` to launch game (witout it, you’ll get a psychedelic gaming experience :D). Works quite well, need to adjust config file in `~/.local/share/aspyr-media/kotor2/swkotor2.ini` if you want windowed mode. No videos (sound, but nothing else, due to zink). Can become quite choppy/slow, save, exit game and restart game in this case. |
| SystemShock | ARPG? | Native | compile from source | mouse problem? |
| TangleDeep | Roguelike | box64 | Steam | Nice and cute little roguelike but don’t think it’ll be easier because of its cuteness! Runs perfect, 30FPS cap for more battery life and <50°C cpu temp! |
| ToME 2 | Roguelike | Native | Compile from source | Old Tales of Middle Earth Roguelike, precursor of Tales of Maj’Eyal. runs well. |
| UFO Alien Invasion | TBS | Native | package manager | XCOM clone. Runs great. |
| Unciv | 4x | Native | Flatpak | 4X, civ-like, great game |
| Urban Assault | RTS | Native | Compile from source (UA_source) | You can get data files from UA_source forums. Buttery smooth. Really hard game. RTS where you can “jump” in your units and control them in first person view. Historically developed on an Amiga 3000 before the studio got bought by Microsoft. Multiplayer doesn’t seem to work. |
| Veloren | ARPG, voxel | Native | Flatpak | Install Airshipper, then the game from airshipper. launch game, select Minimal settings, ugly but playable (30FPS if you want battery life/not much heat). |
| Xonotic | FPS | Native | Flatpak | Great FPS, smooth with good detail level (60FPS capped with medium settings). Quite fun to play with a trackball, but use a mouse if you want to play with humans |
And that’s all for the moment. I’ll try to mantain this list as I test more games in the future. I was quite amazed by box64: being able to play classics like Knights of the old republic 2 (and probably its first installment, which I sadly don’t have - yet - in my game libraries), or modern indie games like Slay the Spire or more demanding games like Darkest Dungeon is really impressive.
And of course, a lot of cult classics can be played with ScummVM, like Might and Magic World of Xeen, or via Dosbox or emulators.
Have fun!
edit: this list is also available on https://arkham.lidstah.info/reform-games.html where it might be easier to read