There's currently somewhere around 92,000 games on Steam and so it's going to take a long time for Valve to check them all on Steam Deck but here's some recent picks.
I’ve been very confident for awhile now that I can just buy games on a whim and not have to check if their compatible. I just assume they are. So far haven’t had any issues, and if I did, then Steam let’s you do an easy auto refund so there’s no risk at all.
Even the online game I play that I had to keep Windows around for (Genshin Impact), they randomly made their anti cheat compatible with Wine so I have zero reason to use Windows now. I have no more games anymore that don’t work on Linux.
There’s just a few super popular shooters with aggressive anti cheats that don’t really work. Its always the anti cheats that demand direct kernel access! Which people really underestimate how massive of a security flaw that is, even if you don’t care about Linux.
People said “never buy 1st gen”. But I thought the steam deck has been completely solid since launch with no major problems or flaws. (Unlike the ROG Ally with the microSD slot overheating).
I see this type of comment all the time on here. I tried switching over completely a week ago and had nothing but problems.
I went with Kubuntu after hearing success stories of gaming on Ubuntu and the great GUI of KDE. R5 5600X and 3080 Ti.
Framerate on Arma 3 was abysmal. It’s mostly CPU locked so NVIDIA drivers aren’t as critical. Max 30 FPS in a location I’d usually get 75+.
Lutris was unable to install the blizzard launcher. It was giving me an error about using a 64 bit version of WINE instead of 32 despite Lutris pulling the dependencies. I manually installed the supposed packages and had no option to manually select them in the installation process. Lutris automatically selected the wrong one and I gave up after that - about an hour of trying to install it.
Gaming on Linux is nowhere near ready for most people. There’s just too much troubleshooting and frustration.
If you only tried two games, one of them was launcher problems on Blizzards end (fuck Blizzard), then you can’t really comment on much. ArmA is notoriously CPU entensive, and it may not work well with Linux. Is it marked on Steam as Linux compatible?
It’s still not click and play, but most of the time it is. I wish companies stopped shipping game launchers, I’ve been pulling hairs with 2K, tweaking here and there to be able to launch a game.
Do it. I did it years ago, never looked back, and it’s only gotten better since then - Proton has been off like an absolute rocket lately, and publishers considering the Steam Deck a ‘first class’ target should mean an end to them bundling the broken anticheat that stops 100% compatibility.
That’s just Steam Deck. I’ve noticed for a few of my games, protondb having reports that they don’t work well on the deck but play fine on other Linux devices.
Well, steam deck is pretty limited in terms of GPU compared to a regular desktop and even then tons of games that would work on it weren’t simply tested yet.
I’m close. I was looking at SSDs the other day so that I can install Pop!_OS and dual boot. I used to be at least somewhat interested in the latest version of Windows but I have zero interest in 11.
I had the same idea, though I’m a bit apprehensive about it. I’m not that technical, so it’s kinda difficult for me. Do you have any resources you care to share?
I don’t have any. I’m technical enough that I’m confident I can figure it out. For me it’s more about finding the time and energy. There’s only one application that may give me trouble and that’s the cloud backup solution I use.
I did it a few years ago. Haven’t looked back. Once you embrace and get used to using the workspaces and window tiling and you won’t be able to go back to Windows clunky window management.
The future is running Windows in a VM under Linux for the few Windows programs you need. No need to reboot into Windows except for very few exceptions.
This was totally my plan for when I inevitably switch to Linux as a daily driver.
It’s a solid plan if you just wanna play older PC games and don’t want to go through the hassle of trying to get them to install using a program like WINE.
I guess if everything just worked, that would be fine, but as of now they don’t have drivers for wireless Xbox controllers, so you are stuck installing them manually after each software update. Plenty of software just plain isn’t available via flatpak, so you have to reinstall it every software update as well, since anything you do via package manager gets deleted each time it updates.
I just don’t think they can predict everything that someone might want to do, which is why additional software exists.
Well SteamOS is Arch based but running a LTS kernel with backported changes in a ummutable way with everything sandboxed in Flatpak so it’s quite unique but idk why anyone would want to run it on their desktop, if the immutable aspect is so interesting ro you you can try Fedora Silverblue, Vanilla OS and co. but none of those is in a state that I would recommend as “just works” for a desktop experience, if that’s the majore goal Debian or Fedora with Gnome are probably your best options.
Seems like this could really be a long term hit for Valve, and well deserved considering the effort they’ve put in to make it happen.
I generally avoid praising any company, but they deserve credit for what they’ve done for Linux gaming as a whole, and not trying to lock things down to the degree that other companies would’ve.
Absolutely. I preordered partially because I wanted to support them for everything they’ve done for desktop Linux gaming (I almost never preorder anything), but it ended up being a better product than I expected so I don’t have even a little buyer’s remorse.
I’ll probably preorder the Steam Deck 2 as well.
Valve has earned my business, and they get most of my gaming money. I started using Steam when they released their Linux client, and I really started buying a ton of games when they released Proton. I’ve been with them every step of the way, and they’ve earned every penny I’ve given them.
11000 games aren’t nearly close to the total games on steam. I have a large library of 1,000 games and some aren’t playable. The original Max Payne is listed as unsupported.
I am not knocking valve’s progress here but I am saying that they aren’t nearly done yet.
It’s explicitly marked as unsupported. I wonder why though. Maybe I’ll check it out but I’d rather not gamble on each purchase. Something like oneshot doesn’t work on Linux. Their native build is broken and the proton version has some sort of mouse mapping bug last I checked. https://www.protondb.com/app/420530
So if it’s not at least playable according to steam deck rating, I won’t gamble.
Only 13% of my Steam library is verified. That’s still plenty of games, but it’s a lot more limited than “all games on Steam.” More than half of the top 20 games on Twitch are unplayable or run terribly on Linux.
It opens some doors if you’re willing to accept “playable” games. That’s another 14% of my library. The vast majority are a crapshoot for me on the Deck. Most of the issues revolve around text illegibility and clunky controls.
There’s a bunch that doesn’t work for my Steam Deck.
It does open. It does play. But controllers dont map correctly or there’s weird layering UI issues, where the game is unresponsive because its waiting for a keyboard event somewhere else, and the player can’t actually get there using a controller because the devs assumed people would only use mouse+keyboard. Not even switching controller setups make it work.
That’s my bad; I automatically read “Steam Deck” in the parent comment as “Linux” which is obviously a much different story. I’ve definitely had my share of issues getting certain games to work properly on my Steam Deck that otherwise run flawlessly on my desktop.
Reminder to install ProtonDB Badges on your Steam Deck (via Decky Loader). ProtonDB has a vastly larger database of reports, with hints how to improve performance or e.g. fix issues with cutscenes.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe ProtonDB Badge and PowerTools are both plugins for Decky Loader. Still both useful, but PowerTools isn’t required for ProtonDB Badge to work
I’ve been very confident for awhile now that I can just buy games on a whim and not have to check if their compatible. I just assume they are. So far haven’t had any issues, and if I did, then Steam let’s you do an easy auto refund so there’s no risk at all.
Even the online game I play that I had to keep Windows around for (Genshin Impact), they randomly made their anti cheat compatible with Wine so I have zero reason to use Windows now. I have no more games anymore that don’t work on Linux.
There’s just a few super popular shooters with aggressive anti cheats that don’t really work. Its always the anti cheats that demand direct kernel access! Which people really underestimate how massive of a security flaw that is, even if you don’t care about Linux.
People said “never buy 1st gen”. But I thought the steam deck has been completely solid since launch with no major problems or flaws. (Unlike the ROG Ally with the microSD slot overheating).
Yup. I rarely preorder things, but I made an exception for the Steam Deck and haven’t been disappointed.
Gaming is so seamless on Linux now, even compared to just a year ago.
The amount of tweaks or fiddling I have to do now with games is basically zero.
Nearly every game I play literally just works. Not just on Proton either, but with regular Wine through Lutris, Windows games just play without issue.
I’ve never been happier with Linux than now.
I see this type of comment all the time on here. I tried switching over completely a week ago and had nothing but problems.
I went with Kubuntu after hearing success stories of gaming on Ubuntu and the great GUI of KDE. R5 5600X and 3080 Ti.
Framerate on Arma 3 was abysmal. It’s mostly CPU locked so NVIDIA drivers aren’t as critical. Max 30 FPS in a location I’d usually get 75+.
Lutris was unable to install the blizzard launcher. It was giving me an error about using a 64 bit version of WINE instead of 32 despite Lutris pulling the dependencies. I manually installed the supposed packages and had no option to manually select them in the installation process. Lutris automatically selected the wrong one and I gave up after that - about an hour of trying to install it.
Gaming on Linux is nowhere near ready for most people. There’s just too much troubleshooting and frustration.
If you only tried two games, one of them was launcher problems on Blizzards end (fuck Blizzard), then you can’t really comment on much. ArmA is notoriously CPU entensive, and it may not work well with Linux. Is it marked on Steam as Linux compatible?
I played about a dozen games and most of them worked great through steam.
Arma is gold rated on protondb.
What I don’t understand is why everyone talks about how easy Linux gaming is when it’s clearly not as simple a process as Windows.
I’ve been playing Arma3 on Linux for about a year and a half now, works perfectly for me.
Frames are high and smooth, graphical settings all work well, no crashes.
I’m on Nobara Linux with a 6700xt and a 5800X3D. I just run it through Steam, I think with the default Proton version, possibly experimental.
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This is great news. I’m really hoping to switch to full Linux for my gaming PC because I really don’t want Windows 11.
It’s still not click and play, but most of the time it is. I wish companies stopped shipping game launchers, I’ve been pulling hairs with 2K, tweaking here and there to be able to launch a game.
Do it. I did it years ago, never looked back, and it’s only gotten better since then - Proton has been off like an absolute rocket lately, and publishers considering the Steam Deck a ‘first class’ target should mean an end to them bundling the broken anticheat that stops 100% compatibility.
That’s just Steam Deck. I’ve noticed for a few of my games, protondb having reports that they don’t work well on the deck but play fine on other Linux devices.
Well, steam deck is pretty limited in terms of GPU compared to a regular desktop and even then tons of games that would work on it weren’t simply tested yet.
Watching this progress is what finally pushed me into choosing Linux as daily driver. The other factor is Microsoft is a bag of ass.
I’m close. I was looking at SSDs the other day so that I can install Pop!_OS and dual boot. I used to be at least somewhat interested in the latest version of Windows but I have zero interest in 11.
I had the same idea, though I’m a bit apprehensive about it. I’m not that technical, so it’s kinda difficult for me. Do you have any resources you care to share?
I don’t have any. I’m technical enough that I’m confident I can figure it out. For me it’s more about finding the time and energy. There’s only one application that may give me trouble and that’s the cloud backup solution I use.
I did it a few years ago. Haven’t looked back. Once you embrace and get used to using the workspaces and window tiling and you won’t be able to go back to Windows clunky window management.
The future is running Windows in a VM under Linux for the few Windows programs you need. No need to reboot into Windows except for very few exceptions.
This was totally my plan for when I inevitably switch to Linux as a daily driver.
It’s a solid plan if you just wanna play older PC games and don’t want to go through the hassle of trying to get them to install using a program like WINE.
Yeah, and if you need to use Windows-only external hardware, just pass through a couple of USB ports. I thinks it’s the ultimate solution.
Pop is my choice as well. Seems like a solid starting point without feeling too close to Windows.
Including emulation, way more.
And still no SteamOS3 for Desktop. Oh, Gabe, you fat liar…
Not sure why you would want a locked down OS on your desktop that overwrites your changes and uninstalls custom drivers every time it updates.
Not OP but I’d like a “just works” experience if that’s the deal with SteamOS 3.
I guess if everything just worked, that would be fine, but as of now they don’t have drivers for wireless Xbox controllers, so you are stuck installing them manually after each software update. Plenty of software just plain isn’t available via flatpak, so you have to reinstall it every software update as well, since anything you do via package manager gets deleted each time it updates.
I just don’t think they can predict everything that someone might want to do, which is why additional software exists.
Just install Nobara, with Steam.
Wouldn’t that just be bare bones Linux with steam included? Not sure if steamos actually has tweaks over other Linux distro for gaming.
Well SteamOS is Arch based but running a LTS kernel with backported changes in a ummutable way with everything sandboxed in Flatpak so it’s quite unique but idk why anyone would want to run it on their desktop, if the immutable aspect is so interesting ro you you can try Fedora Silverblue, Vanilla OS and co. but none of those is in a state that I would recommend as “just works” for a desktop experience, if that’s the majore goal Debian or Fedora with Gnome are probably your best options.
Would be cool for a “console box”.
There’s a few forks of SteamOS that do the job at least.
Seems like this could really be a long term hit for Valve, and well deserved considering the effort they’ve put in to make it happen.
I generally avoid praising any company, but they deserve credit for what they’ve done for Linux gaming as a whole, and not trying to lock things down to the degree that other companies would’ve.
Absolutely. I preordered partially because I wanted to support them for everything they’ve done for desktop Linux gaming (I almost never preorder anything), but it ended up being a better product than I expected so I don’t have even a little buyer’s remorse.
I’ll probably preorder the Steam Deck 2 as well.
Valve has earned my business, and they get most of my gaming money. I started using Steam when they released their Linux client, and I really started buying a ton of games when they released Proton. I’ve been with them every step of the way, and they’ve earned every penny I’ve given them.
By now probably all games in Steam are playable on the Steam Deck (minus those explicitly banning Linux users)
11000 games aren’t nearly close to the total games on steam. I have a large library of 1,000 games and some aren’t playable. The original Max Payne is listed as unsupported.
I am not knocking valve’s progress here but I am saying that they aren’t nearly done yet.
Max Payne works with a platinium rating, see in winehq: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=661 and also in protondb: https://www.protondb.com/app/12140?device=any
Just because a game hasn’t been verified by Steam does not mean it doesn’t work.
It’s explicitly marked as unsupported. I wonder why though. Maybe I’ll check it out but I’d rather not gamble on each purchase. Something like oneshot doesn’t work on Linux. Their native build is broken and the proton version has some sort of mouse mapping bug last I checked. https://www.protondb.com/app/420530
So if it’s not at least playable according to steam deck rating, I won’t gamble.
Only 13% of my Steam library is verified. That’s still plenty of games, but it’s a lot more limited than “all games on Steam.” More than half of the top 20 games on Twitch are unplayable or run terribly on Linux.
It opens some doors if you’re willing to accept “playable” games. That’s another 14% of my library. The vast majority are a crapshoot for me on the Deck. Most of the issues revolve around text illegibility and clunky controls.
I regularly play games that are not verified.
Pretty much. Out of the ~380 games in my library, there are only a handful that outright don’t work (excluding those which use anticheat).
There’s a bunch that doesn’t work for my Steam Deck.
It does open. It does play. But controllers dont map correctly or there’s weird layering UI issues, where the game is unresponsive because its waiting for a keyboard event somewhere else, and the player can’t actually get there using a controller because the devs assumed people would only use mouse+keyboard. Not even switching controller setups make it work.
That’s my bad; I automatically read “Steam Deck” in the parent comment as “Linux” which is obviously a much different story. I’ve definitely had my share of issues getting certain games to work properly on my Steam Deck that otherwise run flawlessly on my desktop.
Reminder to install ProtonDB Badges on your Steam Deck (via Decky Loader). ProtonDB has a vastly larger database of reports, with hints how to improve performance or e.g. fix issues with cutscenes.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe ProtonDB Badge and PowerTools are both plugins for Decky Loader. Still both useful, but PowerTools isn’t required for ProtonDB Badge to work
You’re 100% right, thanks. I’ve corrected my comment.
Would love to see this incorporated as something like ‘Community Verification Status’, but this works great as well.
Gabe Newell > All those other people in the news that I can’t seem to get away from
Excellent although the actual number of playable games is plenty higher :)
And many of the “unsupported” games work just fine, sometimes with a small tweak like forcing a specific Proton version.
And even more are playable on a non-Deck Linux! It’s glorious.