How to get your Steam Deck to access the Epic Games Store and more

When it comes to building a library of PC games, Steam has the lion's share, but why would you leave yourself stranded in Valve's ecosystems when there are tons of free games and sales on other platforms? GOG is adding new games to its free library all the time, as well as giving away 89 free games in the year 2021, by the way. If you had EGS and GOG on your steam deck, you could cash in on all the extra sales you wouldn't have otherwise.

If you want to expand the library of your new handheld, it is possible to integrate these stores and make it happen. Everyone knows that paying full price for games is a bad idea.

Are you ready to get started? You will need an internet connection to make this happen, and if you grab a dedicated keyboard and mouse, you will be able to navigate the interface with ease. If you want to use wired peripherals, you'll need ausb-c hub.

If you don't have a keyboard or mouse, here are a few commands for your steam deck that you should just memorize to make your life easier.

Bring up the keyboard on the screen.

Force trackpad input is possible with steam + left and right track pads.

In gaming mode, the force program shutdown is referred to as steam+B.

You can copy and paste commands on the Deck by using the right and left trackpads and selecting the text you want to paste.

Heroic or Lutris?

There are two ways in which you can access your other platforms' game libraries on the steam deck.

The fastest and easiest way to get GOG on your steam deck is through the Heroic Games Launcher. The process involves connecting your account and installing the app on your computer. Integration with GOG is only supported by the Heroic launcher. Launching games is a little more difficult because it lacks a convenient way to create steam shortcut.

Lutris is an open-source game manager that will automatically manage the messier technical aspects of emulating stuff on Linux-based systems. If you're not familiar with console commands, setting up Lutris might be a little difficult. The Lutris interface is not as inviting as the Heroic Games Launcher, but it does provide you with an easy way to create steam saves for all of your games. In addition to the GOG, Lutris supports Origin, as well as Dolphin and ScummVM. Lutris is far more versatile and can be used by anyone who wants more control over the technical aspects of the launcher.

Getting games to run on either of these platforms can sometimes take some trial and error, so make sure to keep that in mind. In some cases, you may find games that won't work for one reason or another, so just be aware that your mileage may vary.

If you're wondering if the steam deck can handle a specific title, the official supported games lists from Valve are a good place to start. The community updated sheet outlines the compatibility of certain games as well as specific issues that players have run into.

Setting up the Heroic Games Launcher

Heroic was the one that I ended up using the most because of how easy it is to get up and running. To switch to desktop, hold down the power button on your steam deck and choose the prompt.

The icon that looks like a small shopping bag in the lower left is the Discover icon. If you want to click, press the right button.

The program you want to find should be at the top of your results if you enter Heroic. Give it a few minutes to install.

You don't have to jump into desktop mode every time you want to use it if you set up a shortcut that will appear in the steam deck's gaming mode.

To do this, you need to find the Heroic Games Launcher icon and long press on the left trackpad. You should be able to make a steam shortcut. The Heroic icon can be found in the Linux start menu under Games. Check the Non-Steam games tab in your steam library to find your new shortcut in the steam deck.

You can either log in to your GOG account or your Epic Games account once you start up the Heroic Launcher.

Once verified, you should see your library tab auto-populated with all of your existing games from the respective platform.

You can install a game by clicking on the game and following the instructions. If you are having issues with a specific game, you can always change the version of Wine you use in the Heroic launcher.

You should be able to launch your games once that is completed. That's good!

How to install and set up Lutris

Here is the process of getting Lutris to work on the steam deck. The process is the same but there are some differences.

To get started, open the Discover app, search for Lutris, and install it.

If Lutris doesn't show up in the Discover app, you need to use Konsole, the command terminal for the version of Linux that's running on the steam deck. Go to the Start menu and look for Konsole. Lutris will be visible in the games folder of your application menu if you copy and paste the following commands.

It is recommended that you install the flat hub-beta net.lutris.

If you want to copy and paste, you can open this URL in the desktop browser on your steam deck. To do that, highlight the text and use the left trackpad.

When you enter the command, you'll be presented with a couple of questions you'll need to answer before the installation can happen. This is a screen grab of what that process should look like.

Lutris will be installed, but you will need to do a few small things to make sure it runs smoothly. You won't be able to install anything if you try to run Lutris before doing any of the following steps. If you tried to run Lutris already, you don't need to worry about it.

You will have to use another Konsole command. Go to the Start menu and find Konsole if you closed the Konsole window. Press enter if you want to copy and paste the text.

Flatpak install org.gnome.Platform. Compat.i386 org.freedesktop.Platform.GL32. default.

You will be presented with a number of questions about the files you want to use. Press enter if you want to make sure you use the latest version of each file.

Proceed with these changes to the system installation. Prompt. The installation will take place if you select Y. You can ignore the fact that the terminal may mention that it skips certain files because they are already installed. You will have a working version of Lutris once you complete the project.

If you want to launch Lutris directly from the steamOS menu instead of having to go into desktop mode each time, you can set up a shortcut in your steam library. The Lutris icon can be found in the games section of the start menu. You can add the program to steam if you do a long press on the left trackpad.

You need to connect your various accounts to access your libraries after you've installed Lutris. Clicking on one of the supported sources will take you to the Lutris menu. Each source will prompt you to enter your login info and install the necessary launcher for each service.

You may be tempted to install a game in Lutris, but that won't install the game on your steam deck. If you want to install that specific game on your desktop, you have to open the launcher and do it the same way. You can use Lutris to start your games.

We can set up shortcut for our non-Steam games through Lutris by left-clicking the respective icon and selecting create steam.

The game should appear in your library under the category of Non-Steam games if you click the prompt to set up a steam shortcut and run the game through Lutris.

When you launch a non-Steam game through the SteamOS, Lutris will go through the motions of starting and logging in to get things rolling. You have to go through Lutris to change the properties of titles.

It's all done. It is time to grab a cold one.

I’m already out of space — what now?

The largest model of the steam deck can have its space eaten up in less than a day. It is relatively easy to install games on a microSD card through the steamOS, but it is not easy to find the right directory for the game. The default directory for your media is here.

What if I want to use Heroic and Lutris?

You can install both Lutris and Heroic if you have the time. If you use them in either scenario or in parallel, you shouldn't have any problems.

If you're going to add an exe from a game that you installed through another launcher, you may have to manually adjust the settings to make it work.

Troubleshooting

If you are having issues with input lag, hang in load screens, or other issues, you can change the settings in either the game or the launcher. Some titles are incompatible with the steam deck because they use anti-cheat software like BattlEye and PunkBuster Not all game developers are tweaking their games to work with Valve's easy solutions.

One last thing

Compatibility layers for Windows are included in the Linux OS. All of these emulators can be installed and added to theSteamOS using the same methods outlined for Lutris and Heroic, and they can also be integrated with Lutris for easier access from the steamOS.

If you are going to emulate old console titles, a solid option is EmuDeck, which consolidates andAutomating much of the grunt work needed to get some of these older games running properly. If you want to use it, you will have to download the installer from their website, as they aren't listed in the Discover app.

Alice Newcome-Beill took the photographs.