A couple games popped up on my Steam wishlist at really low prices so I was thinking of getting them, but I’ve also had a few older computers recently that are losing Steam client support. This got me thinking I should really try to compare and get more games on GOG so it doesn’t matter if a client stops working on older hardware. But also following this community has had me thinking a Steam Deck makes a lot of sense for me, so maybe I’ll try to get one in the next year or two. It seems like Steam tries to keep things open to other sources on the device, but have you been playing non-Steam games, and how much hassle has it been?
Also the games I was considering are Donut County and Planet Coaster, if you have any thoughts on those.
Installing heroic game launcher allows for easy use of Ubisoft, gig, epic game stores. Note not all games work, but hey. That’s part of the fun.
I’ve had good success so far with it.
This launcher breaks for me all the time. I must be doing something wrong…
Heroic has definitely had some brown-paper-bag releases. I’ve had to roll back and hold off on Heroic for a lot of their “major” updates.
How does it break? The app doesn’t open? Or games do not work? Are you able to log into the gog store? Can you install a game?
The app does not launch. Have to wipe it and reinstall
Weird. Are you installing from the discover store is desktop mode?
Most games I bought are from GOG and I play them easily on my Steam Deck using Heroic Games Launcher.
Step-by-step:
- Switch to desktop mode
- Open Heroic Games Launcher
- Install game from GOG
- Log in to GOG if you’re not already
- Add the game to Steam launcher using Heroic
- Switch back to gaming mode
- Play
I’ve played non-Steam games no bother. Heroic Launcher and Lutris are your friends and can handle everything from downloading and installing to tweaking settings and adding it to Game Mode.
Most games that I play after pretty old so ymmv. Check any games in ProtonDB - if they are well-rated you’ll be fine.
and adding it to Game Mode
Wait, waaaaaat? Lutris can do that? Okay, time to download it on my Steam Deck, like, right now. (Okay, not actually right now, I am at work, but today in the evening.)
Both Heroic and Lutris have the capability, iirc.
I’ve played Yakuza 0 with Heroic on the Deck. The game ran well, no problems. Just had more issues with cloud sync between desktop and Deck (manually activate a sync), and achievements not working. Eventually got so fed up that I rebought the game on Steam to get those two working again…
Yeah lack of proper Linux launchers from other platforms for saves and achievements has pushed me towards Steam since I switch between desktop and deck frequently.
Cloud saves is the biggest issue for me. There’s some cloud save options via Decky plugins, but I haven’t given those a fair shake, yet.
It’s not difficult at all to install GOG games on the steam deck. The games that typically show up in GOG aren’t bleeding edge and tend to work well with its limited hardware. If you understand that a steam deck has a “console” mode and a “desktop” mode… I don’t get the source of the confusion.
It’s a pc. You’re good.
Most of the games I play on my Deck come from other sources. I install them via Lutris (because that’s what I’m used to) in desktop mode and then add them to Steam. Heroic or Bottles should work as well if you find them easier to use.
I’m running a Steam OS like experience on my Lenovo Legion Go. Not quite a steam deck, but very similar.
You should be able to use the heroic launcher. And you should be able to install it as a flat pack or a snap. That will make your GOG games as easy to download and install as a steam game. If I recall correctly, it even automatically adds entries for steam.
I regularly play Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on this device using the GOG edition.
I’m conflicted bc GoG has no DRM but also no Linux support. But yeah I try to remember to check it before buying on Steam and I have several games I play on SD.
You don’t need a client to play games bought on GoG you can just download the install file, that’s usually even better than a proprietary client.
The client manages cloud saves.
Yes I using gog games on my deck, they work fine! Think about it this way, windows is shitting the bed and if it takes a second to navigate a linux desktop to install a program… well you are helping your future self out who is going to have to learn linux anyways lol.
“Jokes” aside once you add a non-steam game to the steam launcher, you are good to go. There is even a decky plugin called decky-SteamgridDB that lets you very very quickly add community/fan artwork to your non-steam game entry to spruce it up with artwork, icons and a custom banner so it looks like an official steam game does from the steam launcher in Gaming mode.
https://github.com/SteamGridDB/decky-steamgriddb
Check out the hero launcher
https://heroicgameslauncher.com/
Also the Decky plugin junkstore
https://github.com/ebenbruyns/junkstore
Recently I have been experimenting with running all kinds of professional software outside of gaming contexts on my Steam Deck (using gyroscope to make mouse driven interfaces a breeze). I have made videos in Kdenlive, edited images in GIMP and Inkscape. I threw a geology paper into GIMP, extracted some figures and pulled them into Blender and created a three dimensional visualization for a paper about plate tectonics. I got Emacs and the Emacs distribution Spacemacs working totally fine on my steam deck to take notes in org mode (and have a decent letter input keybinding scheme that doesn’t require touchscreen input). For more sane human beings, Logseq also works amazing on the Steam Deck in gaming mode (and is an awesome piece of software in its own right).
Jupyterlab works great on my Steam Deck, and I have used it in conjunction with seismic signal analysis python packages to mess around. GNU Octave works great too.
QGIS and JOSM (java based open street map editor) both work totally fine on the Steam Deck too.
I am using all this software mainly by adding it to steam as a non-steam game and staying mostly in Gaming Mode just because I actually much prefer the focused nature of its windows to a normal desktop with fiddly windows you have to click all over the place on to do basic shit (I like window managers on desktop OS like I3 or whatever). I can also work on ideas anywhere in the house without having to literally be at my desk.
So yeah… in my opinion? Not a hassle. Not perfect, but good enough that any friction you encounter isn’t going to stop you if you end up loving the experience of using the deck. I am a weirdo, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I am not someone with a superhuman amount of patience to DIY everything myself. I wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff if it was frustrating past a certain point… and honestly it just isn’t that frustrating to do especially when you compare it against the constant enhittification and bullshit non-free operating systems are constantly making you tolerate more and more these days.
