Gaming on the GNU/Linux operating system.
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I use Proton Experimental to play my games and they all work without exception. I'm in my late 30s, so I no longer play competitive games that have a kernel rootkit, I mean kernel anti-cheat.
Basically, Linux gaming is like this: If you want to play competitive games with anti-cheat, stay or play in Windows. For all other games, play in Linux.
Are you me? I used to play some online multiplayer games, but switching to linux (some 3 years ago?) and being less competitive came hand in hand. Now I enjoy single players only (with sprinkle of Path of Exile and World of Tanks (well, not really anymore)) and can't understand why should I even consider going back to those toxic waters of competitive play... Am I officially old?
Haha. we're officially old. I was an extremely competitive gamer back then. I played Quake 3, UT 99, Tribes 2, America's Army, etc. I was even in a Tribes 2 squad and we basically practiced for tournaments every day.
But now that life is stressful enough with the responsibilities I have, I just can't play competitive games anymore. I just want to enjoy the story. I no longer have the stamina and the reflex for competitive games anymore.
This has generally been my experience as well. The sole exception: Distant Worlds. I've never, ever gotten it to run with any version of Proton.
this rarely happens, but when i run into a game that doesn't work i - check protondb.com to see if someone else has already found a solution. trying different proton versions can sometimes help as well
The PCGamingWiki is also another good resource especially for older or more obscure games. Most fixes are Windows specific but they can be used on Linux. For example here is the page for Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit where it links fan patches and an open source engine recreation.
If someone is really desperate there's always the option of searching GitHub issue pages like dxvk to see if it has been documented, if there is a temporary fix, if a fix is on the way, or if it's going to remain a constant issue (ex. FiveM).
Absolutely this. It is becoming increasingly rare to find a game that doesn't work in linux (excluding stupid copy protection/anti-cheat implementations). We haven't reached the works-out-of-the-box stage but the combination of proton-ge/wine-ge with lutris or heroic provides a solid alternative to games not on steam.
aside from leaving them behind
Why are we conforming to fit the software's needs instead of vice-versa? Fuck the devs who can't be assed to make it work for proton at the least. This isn't my job, I'm not being paid to use software that goes against my values. There's tens of thousands of games out there and I'm gonna let myself get so hung up on the few hundred that don't work that i just go back to m$?
Fuck. That. They deserve to get left behind. No piece of media is worth compronising on my values to consume.
It has been my experience that avoiding games with shitty features like microtransactions and whatnot, or where the studio treats its staff poorly, that kind of thing, also virtually guarantees Linux compatibility. Funny that.
First things first: This hasn't happened to me in ages. I even stopped looking at ProtonDB. Stuff just runs.
However, if a game I buy really wouldn't run on Linux, I would just refund it (if possible) and play something else. I have a pile of shame that could fill a hundred lifetimes, I really don't need to play this one particular game.
Dual boot, although I usually prefer to drop it rather than go to the trouble.
I wouldn't recommend virtualization, not only do you lose performance when you need it most, but (depending on the devices and system) setting everything up properly can be very tedious.
I have a dual boot partition, but honestly the games that don't run are so few and far between that I really don't bother..
It's like if you bought a Playstation, how do you play Xbox games? Unless it's really worth it, you just don't.
This might come off as an easy way out to your question, but very simply I just don't bother with games that don't run on linux. There's enough really great titles that run great on linux, especially with the help of proton.
I can't be bothered with using windows anymore. It's so bad. It's very very bad, I rather do something else than have to play games under windows. I'll only use windows if I absolutely m must, like for when I'm at work.
I switched fully to Linux on my main gaming PC about 18 months ago. Honestly Proton has become so good that I really haven't had to dual-boot Windows or run a VM or anything. I even bought a licence for CrossOver when I first switched but ended up not needing it.
For the few games that really won't run (after trying what I find in ProtonDB and PCGW) I really do either A) wait for fixes, or B) just leave them behind. With a library of like 2500 games it's not hard to find something else to play.
These are the only games I recall not working at all for me:
I like how you accidentally (edit: or maybe not) donated Wine devs by buying CrossOver license :D
It was intentional 🙂
It's nice to meet someone with a bigger pile of shame than mine. How do you pick the next game to play from that pile? And do you still add games to it? :)
I prefer to stand by companies that support my OS of choice. If they support me, I will pay them back. Otherwise I would be supporting them in ignoring my choices, so I put my money where my mouth is.
I do without.
no way am I bothering with installing windows, in a VM or elsewhere.
I used to have a second partition with Windows for such cases, but over time I just stopped bothering with those games.
Now I just refund if it doesn't work and move on in my to-play list.
I still have a Windows VM for some applications and for doing firmware updates but I never bothered to set it up for playing games.
Mostly same here, but (I have an SSD with W10 on it. I haven't booted into my Windows drive since 2023. I only had a a few games installed on that drive, but it was also useful for the rare instance that I needed to some some propriety configuration utility.
Generally, Proton is enough for gaming.
I use Tiny11 when I have to use Windows to run games.
This modified Windows edition has no ads, no Edge browser, no forced online microsoft account, and no forced updates, so it’s a tolerable Windows edition.
Tiny 11 comes in two variants:
Tiny11 Core is not suitable for use on physical hardware as it outright disables updates. It's best used for short-term VM instances.
Tiny11 also has problems with updates. The advantages gained through Tiny11 will erode with applying Windows updates. The installer is more tolerable than Windows 11 by not forcing an online account (but still needing to touch telemetry settings). Components like Edge and One drive will inevitably rebuild themselves back in with cumulative updates. If this is something that coerces you to not update your system, don't subject yourself to using Tiny11. Additionally Tiny11 fails to apply some cumulative updates out of the box, which could be a further security risk.
I recently tested the main Tiny11 in a VM based on a different user recommending it in a now deleted thread. I was skeptical knowing the history of Tiny10 onward that 11 would actually be able to update properly, and NY findings backed up my initial skepticism of functional updates.
Nowadays I just play something else, so many games out there that work flawlessly (thanks to wine/proton). I also did virtualization successfully for some time but it can take a while to get it right. The best and simplest solution is to get a separate SSD just for windows and dual boot.
Dualbooting is the easiest, IMO.
I had a shrunk down windows partition and a tiny portion of HDD space to install the couple games that only worked on windows.
I've since nuked both partitions, as some of the games now do work on Linux, and the rest were no longer enough to actually make be boot into windows to play.
(aside from leaving them behind)
I do leave them behind. Same as with console exclusives or games for Macs (if they exist). If they don't run on my system, I play some of the hundreds of thousands of games that do.
If I actually care about the game, I submit a ticket, asking for portability. This isn't really a thing anymore though, as usually the games that are incompatible with wine are games I don't want to play anyways (anticheat, cancerous drm). As for installing Windows, there is no game, and will be no game that is important enough to me to make me install corporate malware to play it, even in a VM, purely out of spite.
I usually go on protondb and try whatever people tried until it works. Right now I'm playing on nvidia geforce 1050 ti with proprietary drivers on Bazzite and somehow it just works. For games that run badly natively on Steam I switch to Proton.
You might have a different experience than I do since I only play games that are at least 3 years old and never online competitive games.
When I had to worry about that,I dual-booted. It's the simplest solution. I don't really play multiplayer PC games anyway, and multiplayer anti-cheat is 90%+ of the reason games won't run on Linux nowadays with the advancements made to Proton, so I don't really have that problem anymore and I haven't had any Windows on my system in a few years.
Everything I want to play that doesn't work on Linux is available on GeForce Now.
I still have some games that I can only run on my PS3, but I don't really use it much.
My solution is "have a large game collection, and move on to the next game". The odd bad game will likely get better in a future version of Wine. Proton 9-something even picked up support for some of the fussier Japanese VNs (but not well enough for IMHHW, alas).
Then there's the ones that actively block Linux and will ban you if you actually manage to get it to work (*cough* Destiny 2 *cough*)
When somebody tells you "fuck off, I don't want your business", believe them.
Oh, believe me, I do
If it doesn't work I try a few things from protondb I try lutris then I give up and refund the game.
If it doesn't work in Wine (the only reason I've encountered so far is DRM), I just run it in a Windows VM. I play mostly visual novels, so it's not that much slower. For Anti-Cheat games, I boot into my Windows 10 installation. I still haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do with that installation come October 2025.
I suspect October will not be a huge deal. If a nasty exploit does pop-up in the wild I strongly suspect MS will back patch it for the next year probably.
What games are you playing? I have not encountered anything so far that has needed more than proton-ge, and even then it's only a couple of games that don't just work out of the box. I guess I primarily play indie games though, nothing that would have like anti-cheat which I understand is a hurdle.
I also have a dual-boot, with fresh install of Windows I debloated as much as possible, that I use for games that I can't get to run even after trying protondb.com. However, it has only happened one or two times since I switched more than half a year ago, and I usually just give up on and refund games that I can't get to work on Steam. I have a lot of other things to play, and usually I wasn't that much dead set on playing that particular one. I do make sure to post on the forums of the game when that happens, though.
I've also recently stumbled upon https://windowsxlite.com/24H2ProV2/, which should be a debloated and minimized Windows (4Gb installed size is mindblowing, considering that all my Windows VMs have like 40Gb freshly installed). The site looks shady, but it was recommended to me by my coleague who works in cybersecurity, so I hope he knows what he's doing. I haven't got the time to test it yet, but it does mention that it should work for games, so who knows.
Not the answer ya want, I RARELY play AAA games. Honestly haven't run into a game that wouldn't run so far.
All of them i've actually wanted to try out I was able to stream via the xbox game pass website in a browser. It is not a perfect experience, but it is "good enough" on a decent internet connection. I understand that if you physically have an xbox you can also run the game on that and stream it to your linux desktop for much better performance and latency, but I have not tried this myself.
That said, it is pretty rare. The only ones I've tried that with were fortnite (a friend wanted to play the lego game mode, but it was short lived - starved for content, lol) and starfield (it was free on game pass and I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it).
All games run perfectly. if it doesnt it bc if the anti-cheat the devs dont enable. I just dont play their games. simple as. Fuck them