Gaming on Linux
Posted on 2025-12-20 in Blog
After several unsuccessful tests last year, I decided to retest gaming on Linux in April 2025 with a new setup. And I have to admit that it works really well. I had almost no problems and only one game would have required switching back to Windows while waiting or a patch that eventually fixed it. There are, however, a few points on which I got a little stuck and which deserve to be detailed. That’s what I'm going to do in this article.
I tried to make clear sections to allow you to read only what interests you.
TL;DR: It works great and I don't play Windows at all anymore. You can still have small problems that end up corrected after a few months (at most). If you want to be sure you can play any game as soon as it comes out, it's probably best to keep a Windows just in case.
Context
First, a little context. I tried it last year around December after colleagues told me they could play Linux without problems. Unfortunately, on my previous config with an old Nvidia GTX 1070, I never managed to launch Steam games due to an error relating with the graphics card. My searches turned up nothing and after several tests, I gave up and went back to gaming on Windows.
I suppose the problem was not hardware or OS because my GOG games worked without any apparent problems (I didn't push my tests very far).
At the start of 2025, as several games I wanted to play were about to be released and my machine was starting to age, I decided to redo my setup. It was especially the graphics card that posed a problem: I bought a 1440p screen at the end of last year and the GTX 1070 showed its limits on recent games. On 1080p, I find that it still works very well and the games, even recent ones, remained beautiful. Beyond performance issues, kernel updates had a tendency to fail under openSUSE Tumbleweed (my distro) because drivers are not updated quickly in the Nvidia repository.
I decided to go with an AMD RX9070XT card, largely because of these support issues for Nvidia cards under Linux. From what I understand, on more recent models, the official driver is better integrated into the kernel and thus avoids all these hassles. I still think AMD is a better choice, if only for their good Linux support for many years. Everything is more simple: nothing to install, everything comes directly with the kernel.
I must still point out a problem I had with the card: the sound could produce some kind of crackling sound when used via Display Port when playing music (I never had a problem in game strangely). A kernel update to a new version resolved the issue. As the card is a recent model, I’ll forgive it. This remains something to keep in mind: if you take recent hardware, it is better to have a rolling release or a distro like Fedora that is always up to date.
Once the config was set up, I started by checking that everything seemed good under Windows by playing a little. I quickly had the impression that the system was not very stable with several games crashing much more than with my old GTX 1070. Probably, because I didn't reinstall Windows after changing cards. I simply uninstalled the Nvidia drivers and installed the AMD ones. I suppose a clean installation of Windows would solve the problem, but, since I can play Linux without problem, I'm not going to bother with that. Windows will stay installed just in case, if only to debug my printer.
Towards gaming on Linux
With Steam
As in my tests at the end of 2024, I had problems with Steam, even though that's what all the Linux players I know sold me as a panacea. I decided to use Flatpak so that games would not have access to system documents for security. Maybe it's because I remember a big Steam bug that deleted all files from $HOME a few years ago.
By default, only native Linux games can be installed and launched. To launch any games, you must activate Steam Play for all games in the settings "Compatibility" section. Once I did that, I downloaded a game and tried to launch it.
And… Nothing happened. Not even an error message.
I tried with another game, and same problem. I tried with a different version of Proton (the Valve compatibility layer for playing Windows games on Linux that can be configured in case of problems). Again, without any success.
I figured I might be missing some packages. I tried to install several related to Mesa or AMDGPU. Still no success.
I tried a GOG game installed via Heroic Game Launcher which worked correctly with Wine.
Finally, I tried to install the Steam package provided by the repositories. The package manager added several more packages and, hooray, I could play. I tried the Flatpak version again which also works correctly once these system packages are installed. I decided to stay on the Flatpak version. To separate my activities and be sure that no game will have access to my personnal files, I also created a dedicated user for the game. But maybe that's just me being a little paranoid.
After several months of playing Linux, I no longer see myself launching Windows for gaming. It works too well! I'm even surprised by how well it works, including on games like Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, Assassin's Creed Shadows that came out this year.
I even managed to play Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Dragon Age Inquisition which requires this 🤬 EA app. Note that I use Steam to launch the games: Steam installs and launches the EA app automatically and it works just as well (or poorly) as under Windows. You just have to log in to the EA app. Unfortunately, after an update of the EA app, DA:I no longer launched (same for Mass Effect. Manually deleting a cache file fixed the problem. To do this, you must: find the Steam id of the game (visible in the game settings in the "Update" section) then delete the folder ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<APP_ID> (this is the path with Flatpak, it should be something like ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<APP_ID> for the standard version). This confirms my idea that the EA app sucks.
A few small problems though:
- On Dragon Age the Veilguard, some characters' hairstyles started to sparkle after a system update. The game remained playable, but looked weird. Another system update some time later fixed the problem.
- With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I had to wait several months before the game launched properly. Textures were not rendered correctly and the game was unplayable. This is the biggest problem I've had and the only case of non-playable game.
And with GoG?
In addition to Steam, I also have a nice library on GoG. Even though it doesn't have a Linux compatible app, it's still my store of choice: the games don't have DRMs and it's based in Europe. To make my life easier, I chose to go through the Heroic Game Launcher installed via Flatpak (this app also manages Epic Games Store games). This is why I like Flatpak: being sure to have not very common software correctly packaged for Linux by its developpers.
In itself, it’s very close to Steam: you can install the games and launch them. The app takes care of keeping them up to date and tracks playing time. Achievements are not visible in the app, but are correctly unlocked (I checked under the GoG app on Windows).
Small configuration point for native Linux games to launch: you must configure the link to the Steam compatibility files. Without it, some games cannot launch because they require an old version of openSSL. To do this, you must ensure that the "Default path to Steam" parameter points to ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam (I assume that it is ~/.local/share/Steam for the standard version). This should be the case by default.
The games
Finally, here is a list of games I played this year on Linux with the release date of the game, the application used (Steam or Heroic) and some comments. That’s mostly my playing time and whether I had any problems (and in this case, which ones).
Dragon Age: the Veilguard, 2024, Steam: almost complete (I started on Windows). The game is more stable at high settings than under Windows. Some crashes when using ultimate power or during very big fights. Reducing ray tracing solved the problem. I had exactly the same problem in the same place on Windows with my old config.
The cursor is not the same as in Windows and appears to have holes. Strange, but not impactful.
More serious, I had a problem with the rendering of the hair after an update: it was sparkling. The game remained playable, but was very ugly. It took several weeks to return to normal with a system update.
Pillars of Eternity, 2015, Heroic: complete base game, on my laptop. I used the Linux version with Steam compatibility to avoid issues with the old version of openSSL that the game needs. It works very well.
Avowed, Steam, 2025: works well in max settings, as soon as it is released. I didn't have a single crash in the entire game. Only small problem encountered: graphic freezes from time to time, generally after a change of zone. These gels disappear after a few seconds. It's more annoying than anything else.
Age of Empires IV, 2021, Steam: I played several dozen hours of solo and multiplayer without problem.
Age of Mythology Retold, 2024, Steam: I played several dozen hours of solo and multiplayer without problem.
Indiana Jones and the Old Circle, 2024, Steam: I played several hours without problem after a complicated start. When I first tried it, the textures were completely broken. It ended up working after a system update. I have slowness when the camera runs even in medium texture or with high or medium fsr and textures. This is the only game with this problem and the one that works the worst. Since I didn't like it, I didn't look any further.
Mass Effect Legendary, 2021, Steam: full game, no worries. After having problems because of the EA app with Dragon Age Inquisition (see the next game), I tried to restart it and had the same behavior. The same solution corrected the problem.
Dragon Age Inquisition, 2014, Steam: full game, including DLCs. I've had a few quest bugs that validate over and over again. The quest ends up being validated correctly after several "tries". I also had a crash before the end boss.
More serious: following an update of the EA app, the game no longer launched at all. I had to clear the cache by deleting a folder by hand. See the details in the section with Steam.
Baldur's Gate 3, 2023, Heroic: a few hours, works fine.
Dragon Age Origins, 2009, Heroic: I only did the prologue, works fine.
Witcher 3, 2015, Heroic: several hours of games, works fine.
The Outer Worlds Spacer Choice edition, 2019, Heroic: full game, works fine.
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, 2021, Heroic: a few hours, works fine.
Assassin's creed Odyssey, 2018, Steam: a few hours, works fine.
Assassin's Creed Shadows, 2025, Steam: base game, played upon release, works fine.
Horizon Zero Dawn, 2017, Steam: full game, works fine.
The Outer Worlds 2, 2025, Steam: full game, played upon release, works fine.
Horizon forbidden west, 2022, Steam: a few hours, works fine.
Spellforce 3 versus, 2017, Steam: a few hours, works fine.