Want to know how to install your favorite Epic and GOG games on Steam Deck? We have a step-by-step plan for how you can add a lot of books to your library.
The Steam Deck is a lot more than just a portable game system. If you know what buttons to push, Valve’s movable powerhouse can do almost anything.
DIY fans can add SSD storage, set up EmuDeck so it works well, use CryoUtilities to improve performance, and more.
You’re in luck if you want to add a great trove of games from the Epic Games Store. You can get many games up and running with the right tools and a little bit of effort. But you should know that the process isn’t exactly easy.
Set the Steam Deck to desktop mode to get things going. Then you have to choose between Lutris and Heroic. Both will be able to do the job, so you can choose whichever one you are more comfortable with.
How Do I Get to Desktop Mode on Steam Deck?
To get to the desktop view of Steam Deck, press the Steam button and scroll down until you see the word “Power.” When you press it, ‘Switch to desktop mode’ is near the bottom. The Deck will flash, and you’ll end up on a PC. Now we only need to put Lutris in place.
We also suggest that you use a USB-C dongle to connect a mouse and keyboard. This will make the next few steps much easier.
If you don’t have any extra keys, you can use the on-screen keyboard by pressing the Steam button and the letter X. This can be done by touching the screen, using the two trackpads, or using the directional button.
If you can’t get it to work, it could be because Steam isn’t running. Steam needs to be running for the desktop mode to notice the buttons.
How to Install Lutris on Steam Deck?
Open the Start menu and look for “Konsole” to install Lutris on the Steam Deck. This will bring up a window where you need to type or copy and paste the following:
This will update the Discover app so that it now has Lutris and more apps from Flathub.
From here, use the Discover app to look for Lutris and install it.
Lutris is a piece of software that is meant to do a lot of the hard work when installing Windows-only games through Wine. It doesn’t just work with GOG and Epic. The side menu will also show how to use Origin and Ubisoft.
You can also install games you’ve bought straight from this screen. You can also use Lutris to run older games if you have the setup.exe file for them.
How to Use Lutris on Steam Deck and Set It Up
Most of the time, Lutris is easy to understand. But, just like the rest of the Steam Deck, it takes some work. If you want to add a game from your computer, you can use the + button in the top right corner to bring up a list of options. This includes game files you brought with you on an external storage device, among other things.
We need to connect our Epic Games account to Lutris, though.
Click the Epic Games area on the side menu and then the little figure. This will connect your Epic Games account to Lutris. It will log you in and keep track of the games you own.
How Do I Install Epic Store Games With Lutris?
When you use Lutris to install a game, you will be asked to install both the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect. You won’t have to do this every time. All you’re doing is making a Wine install that will start the EGS whenever Lutris is asked to install a game.
- Choose the game you want to run in Lutris.
- Load the Epic Games Store, which will ask you where to install the game.
- Follow the steps until the file starts to download.
- You’ll need the EGS open to start the game.
- When the download is done, you’ll be able to play.
How to Install GOG Games Using Lutris
It’s pretty much the same process, except that Lutris won’t make you start up the bulky EGS launcher equivalent to get your games. Since GOG doesn’t use copyright management (DRM), you can pretty much do whatever you want with these downloads as long as you’re logged in.
You could download them right from Firefox by signing in to GOG’s website and going to the download page.
The only difference is that you’ll have the choice to install from a file you’ve already downloaded. This means that if you chose to download the files yourself, Lutris will let you replace them instead of downloading them again from the GOG store.
How to Add GOG and Epic Games to Steam Deck Game Mode
You will need to add the games as non-Steam apps to your Steam library from the desktop mode. To do this, open the Steam app, go to your library, and look for a + button in the bottom right corner.
When you press this, a window will pop up asking you which apps you want to install. Let’s use a Lutris and Heroic installation of JETT (EGS) and Pid (GOG) as an example. In the window that pops up, we want to go to where Lutris and Wine have put our files. We saw it as:
/home/deck/Games/epic-games-store/drive_c/Program Files/Epic Games/JETT
/home/deck/Games/Heroic/Pid
We also had to change the ‘File Type’ drop-down menu from ‘.desktop’ to ‘All Files’. This will show the.exe file and all the other files. We only need to pick the.exe file, which is the game itself.
Warning to Save File
Before you switch to the game mode, you should know that Valve’s Proton will make a new game file. If you want to keep playing this game on your PC and it works fine when you’re not in game mode, you should switch to desktop mode to play.