One of many important strengths of the Steam Deck is its pick-up-and-play nature. Video games which can be accessible on Steam are likely to work out of the field. What about video games which can be solely accessible on different launchers? Can they even be performed?

Let’s take a look at easy methods to set up many well-liked recreation launchers in your Steam Deck.

Which Recreation Launchers Work on the Steam Deck?

As a result of the Steam Deck natively runs on a Linux working system, the provision of various recreation launchers can get a bit muddy.

Linux has had an answer for working nearly any Home windows program you may think about earlier than the Steam Deck even launched. Lutris is an open gaming platform that may be engineered to run nearly any Home windows app.

You can comply with Lutris guides for getting completely different recreation launchers to run, however many customers discover Lutris to be a fickle or sophisticated program to cope with.

As a substitute, we have now options designed particularly for the Steam Deck.

Heroic Video games Launcher for GOG Galaxy, Epic Video games Launcher, and Amazon Video games

Heroic Video games Launcher is a frontend for 3 completely different recreation launchers, letting you achieve entry the Epic Video games Launcher, GOG Galaxy, and Amazon Video games App with one set up.

Hop into Desktop Mode and open up the Uncover retailer. This will probably be discovered within the All Purposes menu if you have not already used it.

Seek for Heroic and hit Set up.

When the set up is completed, you will discover this system within the All Purposes menu, identical to the Uncover retailer.

As soon as in this system, you may need to log in earlier than anything. The Log In possibility is on the market on the left-hand facet of the window. You may have 4 choices. Two login strategies for the Epic Video games Launcher, in addition to choices for GOG and Amazon Video games.

When you’re logged in to any of the providers, you may begin seeing video games seem below the Library tab. At this stage, video games could be put in and will probably be robotically managed by the Heroic Video games Launcher. Related Proton layers will probably be downloaded and utilized to make sure compatibility.

Even the free video games supplied by Epic will present up in your library, so make certain you are grabbing these freebies from the Epic Video games Launcher in case you’re not already.

One final change you may need to make is to move into Settings and allow Add video games to Steam Routinely.

This may add shortcuts to Gaming Mode, permitting you to launch these video games with out worrying about Desktop Mode.

NonSteamLaunchers for Battle.internet, EA App, and Extra

NonSteamLaunchers generally is a little bit tougher to put in. This is not accessible within the Uncover Retailer, so you may have to enter Desktop Mode and navigate to the GitHub web page for NonSteamLaunchers.

Comply with the obtain and set up directions accessible on that web page, taking care to execute the file and never merely open it.

You may be offered with many alternative launchers to select from. Some launchers can have particular directions subsequent to their identify indicating present points, resembling black screens or requiring desktop mode.

Epic Video games Launcher and GOG can be found right here, however it’s beneficial you utilize the Heroic Video games Launcher model of those as an alternative.

Make your choice and hit OK. You may be prompted to enter customized URLs, however that is non-obligatory and just for customers who want to add web site shortcuts to their Steam Deck. Hit OK on this window and the set up will start.

After the set up script has completed, you may discover a new shortcut added to your Steam video games listing. All it’s important to do is launch this shortcut to achieve entry to your chosen launcher.

Simply word that these installations require the consumer to pick out a particular Proton compatibility layer via Steam, not like Heroic Video games Launcher which manages this for you.

Play Non-Steam Video games on the Steam Deck

Whereas it is probably not a seamless, out-of-the-box expertise, working non-steam video games on the Steam Deck could be very doable. It is effectively well worth the effort as the quantity of video games you may have entry to is important, and you will not have to fret about double-dipping a recreation you may already personal on one other storefront.