Linux & ARM First
We design for Steam Deck, PinePhone, Raspberry Pi and ARM desktops before anything else. If it runs well there, everything else is a bonus.
About Ghost Citadel
We turn the impossible into reality.
Then we do it again.
When no dedicated Linux gaming studio existed, we decided to create the world's first!
Kicked of by Swedish entrepreneurs and forged in Tallinn — in the same district that once produced semiconductors for the Soviet lunar programme — now incorporated in the UK.
A global team guided by open-source principles and a resolute commitment to Linux and ARM.
Three focused divisions: Games · Observatory · Scriptorium & Forge
Founded
2025
Focus
Linux · ARM
Tracks
Games · Observatory · Scriptorium
Offices
0
From Tallinn With Voltage
Ghost Citadel was sketched at the same site in Tallinn where semiconductors for the first Soviet lunar rover were manufactured — a strange, perfect backdrop for a Linux game studio.
Our founders come from cybersecurity, physics research and fintech crime-prevention. We’ve chased fraud through data, reverse-engineered phone bootloaders and built tools for people who don’t get second chances if they’re wrong.
That mix of innovation, curiosity and engineering discipline now flows into games, teaching tools and analytics engines — all tuned for real hardware.
From Idea to Success
Ghost Citadel isn’t a sketch on a whiteboard anymore. It’s a working studio — small, fast, and brutally focused on real hardware.
The instincts that kept us alive in cybersecurity and hardware reverse-engineering now drive everything we build: Linux-first, ARM-first, hardware-first. If it doesn’t behave on Steam Deck, PinePhone, Raspberry Pi or a cheap laptop, it’s not done.
Today we operate as a three-track studio:
- Games — our frontline experiments. Every title is a testbed for input latency, physics, netplay and power draw.
- Observatory — our analytics engine, turning logs and traces into something designers, engineers and analysts can actually use.
- Scriptorium & Forge — our tools and teaching track, where hard-won experience becomes blueprints, interfaces and workflows others can learn from.
Together they form our current stage: a full-stack Linux game and analytics studio with its own lab, its own data refinery and its own teaching arm.
Our Foundation
Systems + Story
We love complex systems — netcode, telemetry, physics, tooling — then wrap them in worlds people actually care about.
Open by Default
Open-source tooling, inspectable telemetry and clear write-ups. If we can’t explain how something works, we don’t ship it.
Evidence, Not Hype
Every build throws off logs, frame times and battery curves. We tune games and tools from real telemetry—not vibes or buzzwords.
Three Tracks
Under the hood, all three tracks share the same obsession: latency, stability and clarity, from code to dashboards.
- Games — classic, tight-feeling games for Linux phones, handhelds and desktops. Prototype fast, then do the slow work: controls, pixels, frame times, battery.
- Observatory — Python and WASM engines that turn raw logs and telemetry into explorable worlds for tuning games and understanding real systems.
- Scriptorium & Forge — interactive teaching tools and an R&D lab for AI, rendering and hardware experiments, all running on the same foundation.
HOW WE WORK
We run on flow efficiency and no-estimates: decisions belong to the engineers closest to the code, information is fully open and searchable, and any process that doesn’t directly accelerate shipping is eliminated the same day.
Absolute ownership, courage over consensus, commits over credentials, T-shaped skills in action. Async-first culture, meetings only when truly necessary, platform-engineering discipline at the core. That’s how a small, distributed team keeps delivering what the entire industry once called impossible.
In practice
- Clear objectives – everyone knows what we’re solving and why.
- Direct access – no unnecessary layers; people go straight to the source when they need answers.
- Lightweight planning – just enough structure to guide, never enough to slow.
- Protected focus – uninterrupted time is treated as critical infrastructure.
- Fast validation – build, test, adjust; no theatre, no overhead.
- Fast Tech Adoption – new machine learning model released? Great! We will test it same day.
Where We Stand
Standing with Ukraine
We strongly support Ukraine in its fight against invasion and occupation. A free Europe and a free internet both depend on it.
Defending an Open Internet
We oppose software patents weaponised against small teams and users. We back open standards, open protocols and tools people can actually inspect.
Hardware Freedom & Unlocked Bootloaders
Your device belongs to you — not the manufacturer. We stand for unlockable bootloaders, repairable hardware and the right to run your own code.