this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2025
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Linux Gaming
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Are you serious? Most games can be played on Linux? I don't care about the kernel anti cheat games, since that shit is not going on my pc anyway
I haven't found a game that isn't riot owned that doesn't let me play on linux
Proton is basically magic. I've got 1960 games on steam and I have a chunk that are listed as 'untested' but less than 10 that are listed as incompatible. The games listed as untested also usually end up just working. You may have to mess with proton or winetricks sporadically, but even that is very rare in my experience. It is nearly always an issue in a multiplayer game with anti-cheat when it just doesn't work.
@BarbecueCowboy @madcaesar That's basically my experience as well. Usually, the developers need to add a flag in their anti-cheat builds, and they'll just work; however, developers are frequently not interested.
If you aren't playing games with a kernel anti cheat, legit 99.99% of games will work. Nearly every broken game is due to an anticheat. ProtonDB lists only 4% of the top 1000 Steam games as "borked", and the majority of those are due to anticheat. Any that aren't will likely be fixed by Proton updates.
If you also want to avoid any games that might not be super smooth, filtering Bronze ranked games are another 3%. Silver is another 8%, but I've never had an issue running a Silver rated game.
My issue is I only play multiplayer games and most have KLAC.
Then there's nothing wrong with staying on Windows. I play nearly exclusively competitive multiplayer games, but all the ones I play work with Proton.
I’m sure there are exceptions… I haven’t tried every game. But most games in my Steam library work with 0 tinkering, and the rest usually just require setting a few launch options.
The only games I haven’t been able to get working at all are Riot games (vanguard anti-cheat is a b*****) and the VR mods for HL2.
I played enshrouded and path of exile and Diablo and Elden ring coop and bg3 coop all with zero issues except on like the first few days of release if there are any.
The worst thing right now about Linux multiplayer gaming with anticheat is the release day experience. Or if it's a AAA title with heavy graphics expectations, odds are they use some weird directx fuckery that's not available in vulkan immediately and needs patching.
All of that gets fixed when Steam deck compatibility at launch day becomes more of a thing, so it's just a matter of time tbh. I've been using Linux dual-boot since Hardy Heron and as my sole OS since 2018, 2025 may be honestly the year of the Linux desktop no joke.
I haven't had a problem running anything yet, currently playing fallout 4 with f4se and a few mods using a ds4 controller over bluetooth.
That's probably one of the buggiest games out there so that's saying something. It's the first game I've had to tinker with the launch settings though
Seems more like about 20% of games. It’s definitely improving but still a long way to go.
Steam Deck compatibility has a much higher standard since it requires the performance being good, gamepad support, etc, and even that's at 40%. General Linux can't be less than 95% for games that don't require kernel level anticheat. Try checking a random sampling on https://www.protondb.com/.
I appreciate it; seeing more than a couple of people recommending protondb. I'll have to investigate it on my next day off from work that's not a weekend. Thank you.
20% of games are broken or working? That's way off either way.
Yea... you're probably right. Maybe it's just the games that I want to play. Those tend to not be Linux compatible (if they're in steam), and for the games that aren't even in Steam, I don't bother trying to make them work in wine or anything like that. Just dual boot and call it a day.