So, your favorite game isn’t available on Linux. What now? It might come as a surprise that there are plenty of excellent games that run on Linux through Wine or Steam’s new Steam Play feature. You can get up and running with them quickly, and enjoy decent performance.
Now, before you get started, Lutris is easily your best bet for handling Wine games outside of Steam. If the game is a Steam game, enable Steam Play on your account to play your Windows games like native through Steam for Linux.
Overwatch
Overwatch may just be the most popular competitive first person shooter on the PC, and that’s really saying something considering the competition that it’s up against. Since it’s release, Overwatch has been wildly popular among casual and hardcore PC gamers alike. Its fun animated style paired with quick and varied gameplay makes it an instantly likable and accessible game to pick up.
It’s not just mindless fun, though. Overwatch is a major player in the eSports scene, proving that there’s a great deal of technical aptitude that goes into truly mastering the game. Whether you want to casually mess around or dive into the competitive ladder, Overwatch will have you engaged for years to come.
This one is available through a convenient Lutris installer that’s regularly updated.
Witcher III
This game was practically destined to be a beloved favorite for years to come. The Witcher series is easily one of the best in the modern RPG world, and with this third installment, it’s cemented itself in gaming history.
Witcher 3 is an 3rd person action RPG unlike any other. The world is open, alive, and allows you an insane degree of choice. The multiple stories running through this game are deep, meaningful, and really raise the bar in quality storytelling in games.
Until recently, Witcher 3 has been a sore spot among Linux gamers(there was supposed to be a port), but Steam Play makes playing it a breeze.
Doom
What’s not to love about DOOM. It’s got demons, explosions, space, and more gratuitous violence than you could ever need. It’s wonderful, and now, you can play it in all it’s gory glory on Linux.
DOOM lets you shoot your way through the hordes of hell in the single player campaign that brings you through a moderately challenging story filled with all sorts of demonic terrors. Since its release, DOOM has only added to the amount of single player content too.
Multiplayer is a huge portion of any good FPS, and DOOM delivers here too. DOOM features several multiplayer modes packed with action and creative ways to blow up your friends.
DOOM is best played on Steam with Steam Play.
Dark Souls III
The Dark Souls franchise has earned a meme-worthy reputation for being impossibly difficult. While that might be an anomaly for younger gamers, grizzled veterans fondly remember the days when every game was punishingly hard, and it was a legitimate accomplishment to beat one. Dark Souls III brings back those glory days.
Dark Souls III is set in a Gothic fantasy world haunted with everything from animated skeletons to gigantic monsters just waiting to crush you like a tin can in your pathetic armor. This game is challenging in all the best ways, and it’ll keep you playing, however aggravated you may be.
Dark Souls III is playable through Steam Play.
Skyrim
Skyrim has made the rounds to just about every platform and console you can think of except for Linux. That’s probably because it’s been playable with Wine for quite some time.
If you somehow haven’t heard of Skyrim by now, it’s the latest installment in the Elder Scrolls series, taking place in the Norse-inspired northern lands of Skyrim. Explore the epic open world as the Dragonborn, a legendary hero built for fighting dragons. It’s a good thing you’re there too, because Skyrim’s got a serious dragon problem.
Aside from the nearly endless side quests that Skyrim offers, there is a massive and active modding community around the game, creating everything from the fantastic to the truly bizarre to keep your game fresh for years.
It’s easiest to play Skyrim through Steam Play.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a game that pushed boundaries. It started off making lofty promises of an infinite universe and and limitless possibilities. Then, when it launched, the reception was mixed at best. Now, it’s fixing the things that weren’t well liked and shaping itself into a truly excellent game.
No Man’s Sky is a massive online exploration game that allows you to explore uncharted worlds with procedurally generated content and inhabitants, meaning that everything is dynamic, changing, and different. You’ll never find yourself “discovering” the same thing twice.
The game has a vibrant and striking art style and a ton do explore and do. This one is really just a gigantic sandbox, so if you’re more into story driven games, it might not be for you.
No Man’s Sky is supported by Steam Play.
StarCraft II
StarCraft is one of the longest running RTS games of all time, and it can be credited with the rise of eSports. StarCraft II is a massive game with two major expansion packs and a constantly growing single player content.
The real strength of StarCraft has always been its competitive play, and that’s still going strong. StarCraft II is one of the biggest eSports titles globally, and online play at every level is fun, challenging, and varied. There’s a lot that goes in to playing StarCraft well, and you can spend years exploring the depth of its systems.
StarCraft II can be easily installed and run through Lutris.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is the MMO juggernaut that doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop any time soon. WoW debuted 14 years ago, and it still has a large and active community now after its seventh expansion pack released in August.
A lot has changed in that time, but the breadth of content available for WoW players has only grown. Part of this game’s strength is its ability to allow players to decide how they want to play. Do you like raiding? Great! Would you rather beat the snot out of other players? That’s awesome too! Maybe you’d rather travel the world collecting pets and armor. Go for it! They’re all great ways to play WoW.
New quests, stories, and end game content is always coming for WoW, and that’s not slowing down. If you’re feeling nostalgic, the classic 2004 version of the MMO is arriving in the summer of 2019 and will be included in your WoW subscription, so step through the dark portal to your fond memories of Barrens chat whenever you like.
WoW has been playable on Wine since the beginning. You can easily install and manage it with Lutris.
Fallout 4
Fallout is another open world institution like The Elder Scrolls, only it’s set in a post apocalyptic world destroyed by nuclear war. You emerge from your underground vault and begin to rebuild and fight for your place with the new world.
Fallout 4 is an open world game with boundless room to explore and tons of side quests and interesting things to do in addition to the main storyline. Fallout 4 is a shooter with sci-fi elements and loads of way to customize your character’s weapons and armor.
Fallout 4 is best played on Steam with Steam Play.
Grand Theft Auto V
Do the Grand Theft Auto games even need an introduction anymore? GTA V has been a another sore spot for Linux gamers for a long time. Until very recently it wasn’t playable, despite its age.
GTA V, like the rest of the franchise is an open world criminal sandbox that lets you do pretty much anything you want in a thriving city. GTA V did take some steps to bring more substance to the storyline and customization elements of the game, allowing you an opportunity to get more invested in the game than just wanting to run people over with a stolen tank.
Like many of the games on this list, GTA V has an active modding community that pumps all sorts of awesome mods and cheats into the game to turn an already sprawling game into something bound only by imagination.
GTA V is playable with Steam Play.
Closing Thoughts
Clearly, Steam Play is already a big force in pushing Wine gaming forward. It’s only been around for a short while(still in beta as of writing this), and it’s already breaking down years old barriers for Linux gamers. It’s not too much of a stretch for future games to actually target Steam Play compatiblity, and that’s probably Valve’s intention.
While it’d be nice to have any of these games arrive natively on Linux, there’s no denying that playing them on Linux with Wine is a pretty close second.
