Gone are the days when Linux gamers had to jump through hoops to make their favorite games work on their favorite distro. Thanks to Valve and Proton, freshest releases work day one on Linux gaming machines with little to no tinkering.

Even massive, triple-A blockbusters often work day and date on Linux, something that was considered nigh impossible just a few years ago. Here are 15 games that you can play on your Linux PC with little to no tinkering.

1

No Man’s Sky

Almost a whole decade has passed since the ill-fated release of No Man’s Sky. Hello Games, however, managed to turn the game into an absolute win during the intervening years. In 2025, No Man’s Sky is one of the best options for fans of both survival and games set in space.

The game should work on most Linux distros without tinkering. If you encounter issues, the most common tinkering steps include switching to Proton Experimental and not disabling shader pre-caching. If you have problems running the game, visit the No Man’s Sky ProtonDB page.

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2

Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight is a similar age to No Man’s Sky, and despite it being almost a decade old, the game is still regularly found quite high on Steam’s top 100 chart. Its unique asymmetrical approach to multiplayer made it one of the early “4v1” success stories, and despite most other attempts fading into oblivion, Dead by Daylight is as popular as ever.

The game runs fine on Linux in most cases, without any tinkering. That said, being a live service game means that any new update might mess things up for Linux gamers, which is usually fixed with a new Proton version. If you encounter errors, you might want to switch to Proton Experimental or Proton GE, or force the game to launch in DX11 mode. You can find more info on the game’s ProtonDB page.

3

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is my personal 2025 GOTY, so far at least. A brilliant medieval RPG that insists on realism, perfect for fans of the genre who like to talk their way out of virtually every situation. The combat is subpar, but everything else is top-notch.

I played KCD II on my Steam Deck on day one and didn’t encounter any issues. If anything, the game runs even better than it did at launch.

You might want to use the following launch option in Steam if you’re having issues with the screen turning off when playing with a controller:

gamemoderun %command%

The issue stems from Wayland, which can sometimes fail to recognize controller input, leading to the screen timing out. If you encounter additional hurdles, visit the game’s ProtonDB page to see if you can find a solution.

4

Guild Wars 2

I remember trying out Guild Wars 2 when it went free-to-play in 2015. While I’m not an MMO gamer in the slightest, I had a fun couple of weeks leveling up and exploring Tyria. A decade later Guild Wars 2 is still one of the hottest MMORPGs on the market, for good reason.

If you’re a Linux gamer searching for a Linux-friendly MMORPG to sink your teeth into, Guild Wars 2 is arguably the best choice out there. As of this writing, the game works great out of the box—you might want to switch to Proton Experimental for a performance boost. Steam Deck players should also switch to a community control layout since the game is optimized for keyboard and mouse.

Check out Guild Wars 2‘s ProtonDB page for potential solutions in case you stumble upon any other issues.

5

Lethal Company

One of the hottest co-op horror pastimes on the market can be a hilarious experience thanks to the game’s proximity chat. If you’ve got a couple of buddies to team up with and embark upon a scrap-collecting adventure taking place in abandoned industrial enclaves all across the galaxy, by all means, check Lethal Company out.

Lethal Company works flawlessly out of the box, which is great news for an Early Access game. You’ll most likely have to tinker with launch commands a bit if you want to mod it, though, as well as install r2modman. You can find more pertinent info on the game’s ProtonDB page.

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6

THE FINALS

A multiplayer shooter not made by Valve that works great on Linux? It’s more likely than you think thanks to THE FINALS. Dice veterans from Embark Studios made an excellent competitive shooter, and while the game had struggled with retaining players, it can now be regularly found on the Steam top 100 chart.

THE FINALS works great on most distros out of the box, but an occasional update might make it temporarily unplayable. You might have to use the latest Proton Hotfix or switch to Proton Experimental bleeding-edge—find Proton in your Steam Library, go to properties > betas, and enable Proton Bleeding Edge—in case the game gives you trouble. For more potential solutions, visit the game’s ProtonDB page.

7

Black Desert

Black Desert is another MMORPG that works great on Linux. The game turned 10 last December, but despite its age, it’s more popular than ever. It’s been on Steam since 2017, which is hands down the best way to play it on Linux.

It should work fine on Linux out of the box, unless you’re living in South America, since that version of the game is broken for Linux players. You might encounter longer loading times, but in most cases, running the latest stable version of Proton should give you more frames than on Windows. This is another game that benefits from the following launch option:

gamemoderun %command%

Also, make sure it runs in full-screen mode. Steam Deck owners should switch to one of the many community control layouts. For more info, there’s the game’s ProtonDB page.

8

War Thunder

War Thunder has been one of the most popular multiplayer games for years now. Its unique offering, which includes planes, tanks, battleships, and soon infantry, proved to be a winning formula for tons of gamers across the world.

In general, War Thunder works flawlessly on Linux; no tinkering is needed. The only limitation as of writing this seems to be the lack of ray tracing effects for AMD GPU owners. You might need to switch to Proton Experimental after an update, but that’s pretty much it. If you encounter unique issues, the game’s ProtonDB page will always be there to the rescue.

9

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the biggest breakaway hit of 2025 and a game that will end up on many GOTY lists. I’m playing it right now and I can confirm that it slaps. The combat is the highlight for me, but the story isn’t far behind quality-wise.

Surprisingly, the game has been running perfectly on Linux from day one. Once again, use the following launch option if you’re playing with a controller:

gamemoderun %command%

But other than that, this is one of the best games to play on Linux at the moment. As always, I recommend visiting the game’s ProtonDB page to find out how the game runs on your Linux distro.

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10

Split Fiction

Looking for some split-screen co-op action for your Linux PC? How about the best split-screen co-op game on the market, Split Fiction? The game looks great, plays even better, and even though the story’s kind of meh, the gameplay makes Split Fiction Hazelight Studios’ best game yet.

Since this is another title that plays much better with a controller, hit it with the following launch option:

gamemoderun %command%

If the game fails to recognize your controller, switching to Proton Experimental should resolve the issue. Visit Split Fiction’s ProtonDB page for more info regarding the performance and compatibility with different distros.