How to Play Games on Linux

Gaming on Linux has improved a lot over the last few years. The first step is choosing a Linux distribution. In this example, I’ll use CachyOS, which is an excellent choice for beginners who want a system optimized for gaming.

Install the Gaming Packages

First, install the CachyOS gaming meta package:

sudo pacman -S cachyos-gaming-meta

Next, install the gaming applications package:

sudo pacman -S cachyos-gaming-applications

Tools

  • Gamescope
  • GOverlay
  • MangoHud

Launchers

  1. Steam
  2. Heroic Games Launcher
  3. Lutris
  4. Faugus Launcher

Configure Steam

  1. Open Steam.
  2. Go to Settings → Compatibility.
  3. Change the Default Compatibility Tool to Proton-CachyOS (version).
  4. Restart Steam.
game-performance %command%

Check ProtonDB

Visit ProtonDB to see how well your game runs on Linux and whether it requires additional launch options or tweaks.

On CachyOS, you should use:

game-performance %command%

instead of:

gamemoderun %command%

The gamemoderun command is generally unnecessary on CachyOS because the distribution already provides game-performance, which handles the recommended gaming optimizations.