How to check if a Steam game works on Steam Deck

(Image credit: Valve)

Valve's Steam Deck annunciation made serious waves in the gaming space. The upcoming handheld gaming PC has a few caveats, notably that it runs Valve'due south own Linux distro called Steam Os. And since it's Linux, that ways that not all games will work on the Steam Deck.

Luckily, Valve has been working on Linux gaming for years now with Proton. We already explained a bit about what Proton is, only it'due south a compatibility layer that translates API calls from games into something that Linux tin empathize.

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Proton is a great system and revitalized Linux gaming a few years ago, and information technology's only gotten meliorate since. However, there are still several games that don't work nether it, including huge AAA games like Destiny 2 and Apex Legends.

Some games come with anti-cheat software that fails to authenticate under Linux for various reasons. Valve has said that information technology is working with some of the vendors to address this.

In the meantime, you can get a head start on seeing which games in your library will run on the Steam Deck. Here's how.

How to check which Steam games will run on Steam Deck: Search ProtonDB

How to check if a Steam game works on Steam Deck - protondb home page — (Paradigm credit: ProtonDB)

1. Caput to the ProtonDB website. This contains a listing of every game on Steam. The goal of ProtonDB, however, is to provide a rating system on how well a specific game runs under Proton.

2. In the Search field, type in the name of the game you want to check for compatibility.

iii. Click the title of the game in the search results. This will have you to a detailed view.

How to check if a Steam game works on Steam Deck - protondb game results page — (Image credit: ProtonDB)

4. Check ProtonDB'southward ratings and the user reviews to observe out if the game will open and run on Proton on the Steam Deck.

How to check which Steam games volition run on Steam Deck: Understanding ProtonDB's ratings

ProtonDB rates games using the following ranks: Borked, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Native. The higher the rank, the meliorate the game runs. Borked means the game is outright broken and will not run, or it will face significant problems if it does launch.

In that location's an additional customs aspect, likewise. Each game's rating comes from user reviews, where people list their system specs and distro and write what works, what doesn't work, and whatever workarounds they've institute. In some cases, that means using forked Proton alternatives or setting command arguments in Steam itself for when the game launches.

Between at present and when the Steam Deck launches, Valve (or the community) could keep to better Proton's viability. If your favorite game is rated every bit Borked, or even Statuary, be sure to check ProtonDB every so frequently to see if it's been stock-still.

Pay special attention to the nearly recent reviews, in the example that at that place's a quantum or gear up bachelor. And if Valve comes through on its claim that information technology'due south working on addressing the anti-cheat compatibility issue, then some of your favorite games may upgrade to a new rank quickly.

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