You can check for yourself if the games you want to play work on Linux, just look up “(game name) ProtonDB” and look for a gold or higher for a good gaming experience. Subjectively, 90% of the games I’ve tried work well. CSGO, Overwatch 2 (through Lutris), Don’t Starve, Deep Rock Galactic and Red Dead Redemption 2 are all games I know play well on Linux since I’ve tried them myself. It’s incredible what Valve has done with Proton for game compatibility on Linux.
I used to run a PCI-passthrough/VFIO Windows virtual machine for gaming, but I haven’t started it up or used Windows on my own machines in almost a year now.
I got a Steam Deck and it proved to me that Linux gaming was ready. My main beefy desktop now just runs Linux and uses Proton to do it all, and I’m extremely happy with it. I deleted my Windows VM’s partition recently. It’s run everything I want to play just fine! I play a fair mix of stuff… Indie and AAA, new and old, single-player and multi-player.
Every problem I’ve had so far is related to my own system or choices, not Steam, Proton, or the game. (eg, had a bad stick of RAM, did an incomplete upgrade, etc.)
You can check for yourself if the games you want to play work on Linux, just look up “(game name) ProtonDB” and look for a gold or higher for a good gaming experience. Subjectively, 90% of the games I’ve tried work well. CSGO, Overwatch 2 (through Lutris), Don’t Starve, Deep Rock Galactic and Red Dead Redemption 2 are all games I know play well on Linux since I’ve tried them myself. It’s incredible what Valve has done with Proton for game compatibility on Linux.
I used to run a PCI-passthrough/VFIO Windows virtual machine for gaming, but I haven’t started it up or used Windows on my own machines in almost a year now.
I got a Steam Deck and it proved to me that Linux gaming was ready. My main beefy desktop now just runs Linux and uses Proton to do it all, and I’m extremely happy with it. I deleted my Windows VM’s partition recently. It’s run everything I want to play just fine! I play a fair mix of stuff… Indie and AAA, new and old, single-player and multi-player.
Every problem I’ve had so far is related to my own system or choices, not Steam, Proton, or the game. (eg, had a bad stick of RAM, did an incomplete upgrade, etc.)
CS: GO, Don’t Starve, and many others work natively on Linux with no need for Proton. This makes for the best experience.