How to Play Windows Games on Linux

Linux might not be the most popular operating system but it sure is one of the best for a number of reasons. It comes with consistent updates that are way better in terms of performance and use compared to Windows for many users. And that is one of the reasons why so many people prefer Linux over Windows.

However, being the most popular Operating System, Windows comes with its own perks and one of them is a massive library of games that are simply not available on any other platform. Fortunately, with the rise of technology, it has become easier than ever to run a Windows game on Linux without much hassle. 

So, if you are looking to play your favorite Windows games on Linux and don’t know where to start, we have a complete guide for you right here.

Get Started with Proton

Linux has come a long way with constant updates and improvements and Wine definitely was one of the best things that happened to this Operating System. Wine allowed users to play Windows games on Linux, it did require some work but it massively helped.

But the real change came with Proton which was the result of combined work by Steam and Wine developers. Valve modified Wine and now it’s directly built into Steam for Linux, which makes it all the more accessible and a lot less complicated. Proton is also known as Steam Play and it is super easy to get started with, here’s how:

• The very first thing that you need to do is download the official steam for Linux on your system. You can get the download file from the official steam page. 
• Once the file is downloaded, you can proceed to install it by following the simple instruction given on the screen.
• After the installation is completed, you should see Steam on your app launcher.

Play Windows Games on Linux

Once Steam is installed on your PC, you can go ahead and open it up. Steam Play allows you to play most Windows games without having to fiddle around with any setting. These games are pre-verified and certified by Steam before being available to users.

However, you can also run other games that haven’t been certified by Steam yet. Will they work? Well, that totally depends upon the game, many Windows games do work with Steam Play but some of them just don’t. So, it’s a matter of trying but the ones certified would surely work.

To play Windows games on Steam, you would have open up Steam, go to settings, and open up Steam Play settings from the sidebar. Now if you only want to play games that are officially verified by Steam, you will have to leave the “Enable Steam Play for Supported titles” checked. But if you also want to try out the non-certified games from other cheap gaming websites, you would have to check the “Enable for all other titles” as well.

That’s pretty much all you need to do in order to set things up for Steam Play. After that, you can go ahead and continue browsing games on Steam and you will find games for both Linux and Windows. You will see Windows Games marked with “runs on this computer via Steam Play”.

Lutris 

Now another way to go about playing Windows Games on Linux is by using Lutris, which is an open-source gaming platform that uses a Wine compatibility layer and acts as a front-end for Linux users to directly download and play their favorite windows games.

Lutris is free to install and can be used to play games from a number of different platforms including Retro games, SNES games, and even DOS games by directly downloading them on your pc from a variety of sources including GOG and Steam. It’s a one-stop-shop where you can find all your favorite video games under one roof. But before doing all that, we need to install Lutris. 

You can do that by following these few simple steps:

• The very first thing we need to do is make sure we have Wine installed on our system.
• With Wine out of the way, we can install Lutris by adding Ubuntu’s PPA repository by using the command below:
• $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lutris-team/lutris
• After that update the apt and then install the Lutris 
• $ sudo apt update
• $ sudo apt install lutris

Lutris automatically detects games that are available on these platforms and give you an option to directly download them on your device. Both the options are great but Lutris seems to be much more versatile and useful for a variety of reasons.