Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The Steam Deck may not run your whole Steam library

By

When Valve announced the Steam Deck on Thursday, the company said that the platform “can pretty much run anything you could run on a PC.” Although that’s true in most cases, the “pretty much” qualifier could make a big difference. As it stands, popular games like Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and Rainbow Six Siege won’t work on the platform.

This comes down to an issue with SteamOS, a compatibility layer known as Proton, and anti-cheat software. SteamOS is based on Linux, which is a problem because the vast majority of games available on Steam are built to run on Windows. That’s where Proton comes in. Proton is a compatibility layer from Valve that allows Windows games to run on Linux.

Factorio running on a Steam Deck.
Steam

Proton is available now as part of Steam Play, and many popular games work just fine with it. However, some big titles don’t. According to ProtonDB, only three of the top 10 most popular Steam games have native Linux support — Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 (all Valve-developed games).

Recommended Videos

Rust, meanwhile, has a “silver” rating, meaning it runs with minor issues, and Grand Theft Auto 5 has a “gold” rating, meaning it runs after tweaks. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and Rainbow Six Siege are all in the “borked” category, meaning they’re critically unplayable.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

The reason is anti-cheat software. This software has some issues with Linux and the Proton compatibility layer, which has been a problem for years for Linux gamers. The Steam Deck is bringing the issue center stage.

Most games that use some sort of anti-cheat software will either not work or will carry some significant problems. Easy Anti-Cheat, one of the most popular anti-cheat programs, maintains a list of games it is featured in. Comparing it with ProtonDB, the issue becomes clear. In addition to the games mentioned above, titles like Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Outriders, and Dead by Daylight won’t work.

There is some good news, though. Valve says it is working with Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye — another popular anti-cheat program — to bring support to the platform ahead of launch. The issue isn’t with the anti-cheat software itself, but rather that’s built to run on Windows, not Linux. If developers can include Linux support, we could see support improve.

The other option is to install Windows on the Steam Deck, which is possible. However, Valve’s own SteamOS build will likely provide the best experience, as Windows is built to run on full PCs that include more powerful hardware.

If you primarily play single-player games, you’re in luck. Games like Monster Hunter: World, Cities: Skylines, and Red Dead Redemption 2 run just fine with Proton. Many multiplayer games do, as well, including The Elder Scrolls Online, Among Us, and Rocket League.  

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Jacob Roach
Jacob Roach
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
Finally, a good vampire video game to sink your teeth into
cabernet vampire game recommendation hed

You would think with so many vampires in video games that we’d have more actual good vampire video games. Yet despite everything from Castlevania to The Sims 4 including blood suckers in some form or another, most games miss the point of what has made vampires so compelling. They lack bite.

That is, the biting commentary vampires excel at as vessels of our larger societal fears during any given moment in time. There are -- at best -- two vampire video games that successfully pull this off: 2004’s Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines and 2018’s Vampyr. With the release of narrative RPG Cabernet, that number goes up to three.
A night on the town
Vampires are social monsters. The terror they inflict comes from their ability to look like us and glide through regular society while carefully picking off prey to feed upon. While they have different powers depending on the story, mostly vampires use charm as their weapon of choice. This is the core idea behind Cabernet. Much like 2022’s Pentiment, this is largely a game about talking to people and building relationships. The caveat is that those relationships likely always come with a price.

Read more
You can try a radical new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on Steam right now
The Ninja Turtles pose together in key art from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown.

Steam Next Fest is here and you're likely about to be up to your eyeballs in video game demos. There are plenty of promising indies you can try for free during the event, and we'll coming at you with some recommendations as we uncover the gems. If you need a place to start, though, look no further than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown.

The Turtles' latest adventure is unlike any they've embarked on before. It's not some form of beat-em-up, but a turn-based strategy game by I Am Your Beast developer Strange Scaffold. The tactics genre may sound like an odd fit for our reptilian friends on paper, but it works surprisingly well. That's thanks to a new spin on the genre that gives players much more to do on a single turn. It's a fast-paced tactics game that feels spiritually linked to the Turtles' arcade days in ways you may not see coming.

Read more
Steam Next Fest: what it is, start times, games, and more
The Steam Next Fest logo.

We all have a list of upcoming video games that we're eagerly awaiting getting our hands on. Waiting is always the hardest part, but Valve tries to make that wait a little bit more bearable with its Steam Next Fest events. Hosted multiple times a year, this gives PC players a chance to play demos for a ton of upcoming PC games while the celebration is going on. This is the perfect chance to get an early look at some games you have on your wishlist, but also get exposed to some new games you hadn't heard of before. This is a major event with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it, so here are all the details you need about Steam Next Fest to make the most of it.
What is Steam Next Fest?
Steam Next Fest - February 2024 Edition Official Trailer

In short, Steam Next Fest is an event Valve hosts during select times during the year where developers can all release demos for their upcoming games at once for everyone to see. The entire Steam page will be taken over with featured demos, streams, and more to encourage people to check out these projects and add them to their wishlists.

Read more