Have you tried out Steam on there? I don’t know if there are any workarounds to running Steam games that require Windows; otherwise I’d probably switch one of my last Windows machines over.
Don’t some games have a “Windows only” logo on them? Are you saying it will use Wine to launch Windows only games?
I haven’t tried it yet out of sheer laziness, since I already have several Linux bare metal/VM instances running. Right now I have a Windows machine mostly dedicated to Steam. I have sometimes launched Steam on my macs.
Yes, that’s right. Steam can play windows-only games via Proton, which is the exact same thing they are doing on Steam Deck. Steam Deck is what really motivated a lot of work in this area, and why the situation is so good these days.
It sounds like you’ve already got plenty of Linux machines, so perhaps try it for yourself and see.
Well, damn. I might have to get a low-end “gaming” machine and use Linux on it. Windows is so frustrating to use - I don’t want to have my identity managed by their stupid fucking cloud just for a low-end gaming machine. They try to hide the local user path and they seem to keep trying to further enshittify everything about trying to use an OS for the way I want to use it. (Reminds me: I need to read Cory’s book)
I’ve used Windows off and on for years - I mostly stopped paying much attention to MS once I was able to use Mac/Linux for my work daily driver, and only use it in anger for things like gaming and mining.
Just note that (unless they’ve changed the default), you need to enable a setting in Steam to make it always use proton, or it will look like reality matches up with your previous expectations. I believe the setting is under compatability in the steam global settings.
Also be aware that the steam deck compatability icon cares about two things that might not apply to a linux desktop: it loses points for keyboard/mouse centric games (which work fine if you actually use a kb/m instead of controller), and it also cares about how that game will perform on steam deck hardware, though if your gaming PC isn’t very strong, that one might be useful for you.
Protondb has the more accurate compatability info, though it’s crowd sourced, so might not have up to date info on more obscure titles (though it does seem kinda like every single game has at least a small community obsessed with it that consider it the greatest game).
Don’t forget Lutris. It may take a bit more tinkering than Steam, but if you have loose games or use multiple games launchers, Lutris can combine them all into one neat and tidy launcher.
Thanks. Appreciate the info. I’m kinda jazzed about this, TBH. I might buy another low-end gaming machine - this one was one I had specced out in late 2020, but it’s running out of disk space as gave it a very small drive - throw Linux on there, and start migrating over…I don’t want to play high-end games, mostly Metroidvania type of things and my kids play mostly the same types of things - stuff like Undertale, etc.
Linux is always such a pleasure to use. I’d love to remove yet another Windows machine from my life…
Yes Steam is the main tool Im using to run games, even non-Steam games.
Bazzite also comes with Lutris which will set up some wine wrappers for you, which work fine, but Steam gives you things like Steam Input. I’ve never seen a controller mapper as good as Steam Input.
I don’t know what the performance comparison between Valve’s Proton and current FOSS variants of Wine is.
My current workflow is to use Lutris to manage games from GoG (no GoG Galaxy on Linux). I install them via Lutris, and then add them as non-Steam games to Steam, which lets me use Proton and Steam Input. The only game I’ve installed so far that I’m not running through Steam right now is Minecraft.
The only loss is I can’t run Destiny 2 on Linux due to its invasive anti-cheat, but I was on the verge of quitting D2 anyway. Note that some games with invasive anti-cheat can still be run through proton, it depends on the specifics.
About Minecraft - what launcher(s) are you using on Linux? One of my kids is going through and playing all the old versions of the game, but I don’t know if that would work on Linux?
I use prism launcher for Java edition Minecraft both on windows and Linux. (Good for modded setups and pinning versions as well much better than stock)
Have you tried out Steam on there? I don’t know if there are any workarounds to running Steam games that require Windows; otherwise I’d probably switch one of my last Windows machines over.
Steam is absolutely the EASIEST way to run games on Linux.
It abstracts Wine, Proton and all the other dependencies so you don’t have to think about it much.
You just install it, download and play exactly the same as you would on Windows.
There is also Heroic launcher, which is a similarly streamlined experience for Gog. (And Epic and Prime Games, if you’re into those)
Don’t some games have a “Windows only” logo on them? Are you saying it will use Wine to launch Windows only games?
I haven’t tried it yet out of sheer laziness, since I already have several Linux bare metal/VM instances running. Right now I have a Windows machine mostly dedicated to Steam. I have sometimes launched Steam on my macs.
Yes, that’s right. Steam can play windows-only games via Proton, which is the exact same thing they are doing on Steam Deck. Steam Deck is what really motivated a lot of work in this area, and why the situation is so good these days.
It sounds like you’ve already got plenty of Linux machines, so perhaps try it for yourself and see.
Well, damn. I might have to get a low-end “gaming” machine and use Linux on it. Windows is so frustrating to use - I don’t want to have my identity managed by their stupid fucking cloud just for a low-end gaming machine. They try to hide the local user path and they seem to keep trying to further enshittify everything about trying to use an OS for the way I want to use it. (Reminds me: I need to read Cory’s book)
I’ve used Windows off and on for years - I mostly stopped paying much attention to MS once I was able to use Mac/Linux for my work daily driver, and only use it in anger for things like gaming and mining.
Just note that (unless they’ve changed the default), you need to enable a setting in Steam to make it always use proton, or it will look like reality matches up with your previous expectations. I believe the setting is under compatability in the steam global settings.
Also be aware that the steam deck compatability icon cares about two things that might not apply to a linux desktop: it loses points for keyboard/mouse centric games (which work fine if you actually use a kb/m instead of controller), and it also cares about how that game will perform on steam deck hardware, though if your gaming PC isn’t very strong, that one might be useful for you.
Protondb has the more accurate compatability info, though it’s crowd sourced, so might not have up to date info on more obscure titles (though it does seem kinda like every single game has at least a small community obsessed with it that consider it the greatest game).
Don’t forget Lutris. It may take a bit more tinkering than Steam, but if you have loose games or use multiple games launchers, Lutris can combine them all into one neat and tidy launcher.
Steam is honestly your best shot for getting a game to run, they’ve worked pretty hard on their compatibility layer.
I’ve been using Steam on Linux for a few years. Check out Proton DB for game compatibility.
Thanks. Appreciate the info. I’m kinda jazzed about this, TBH. I might buy another low-end gaming machine - this one was one I had specced out in late 2020, but it’s running out of disk space as gave it a very small drive - throw Linux on there, and start migrating over…I don’t want to play high-end games, mostly Metroidvania type of things and my kids play mostly the same types of things - stuff like Undertale, etc.
Linux is always such a pleasure to use. I’d love to remove yet another Windows machine from my life…
Yes Steam is the main tool Im using to run games, even non-Steam games.
Bazzite also comes with Lutris which will set up some wine wrappers for you, which work fine, but Steam gives you things like Steam Input. I’ve never seen a controller mapper as good as Steam Input.
I don’t know what the performance comparison between Valve’s Proton and current FOSS variants of Wine is.
My current workflow is to use Lutris to manage games from GoG (no GoG Galaxy on Linux). I install them via Lutris, and then add them as non-Steam games to Steam, which lets me use Proton and Steam Input. The only game I’ve installed so far that I’m not running through Steam right now is Minecraft.
The only loss is I can’t run Destiny 2 on Linux due to its invasive anti-cheat, but I was on the verge of quitting D2 anyway. Note that some games with invasive anti-cheat can still be run through proton, it depends on the specifics.
About Minecraft - what launcher(s) are you using on Linux? One of my kids is going through and playing all the old versions of the game, but I don’t know if that would work on Linux?
I use prism launcher for Java edition Minecraft both on windows and Linux. (Good for modded setups and pinning versions as well much better than stock)
Its in Flathub on Linux (mint in my case)
Another good one to have is the Heroic launcher. You can add your Epic store games there as well.