After my first detour to Manjaro with a very short detour to Garuda Linux I ended up with Arch Linux. Arch Linux is certainly not for beginners, but I had to do with Linux in the past from time to time. But only for testing or on servers. So I have enough knowledge to know that some things can go wrong.

But nothing has gone fundamentally wrong so far. I am a bit surprised. But that doesn't mean that I always chose the best way. On the contrary, with some things I had to try around properly.

Steam is doing well

Valve has invested a ton of money over the last few years to bring gaming on Linux forward. Of course with an eye on their Steam Machines (which are no longer sold) and the Steam Deck. Additionally Valve makes itself more independent from Microsoft.

The fruits of these investments can be reaped by all Linux users. The easiest way to do this is with Steam itself. In Steam, you can select for each game whether it should run in compatibility mode. In the end, this just means that it will run with a customized WINE, called Proton.

For many games, Proton in its various versions also works very well. If a game doesn't run, it's usually because of an anti-cheat tool. Most of them now run on Linux, but the game developer has to unlock it. Not all of them do, Bungie with Destiny 2 for example.

And as you know the Linux community there is also documentation on the runnability of Steam games on the website ProtonDB. For almost every game there are field reports and tips. If a game is not directly verified by Valve, then ProtonDB is my first port of call.

Other Games with Lutris

For games that are not available on Steam, Lutris is the tool of choice. Lutris is a program that allows you to search and install a game. The installations are created by the community. So someone sat down and tried around until he could install and play a game. The steps to do this were then put on Lutris and can be used automatically by everyone else.

Here's the problem with Lutris: Just because it works for one or a few players doesn't mean it will work for you. Often you have to read the instructions carefully and follow the steps exactly. Even then the result is not automatically perfect.

Anno 1800 works fine for me, League of Legends didn't work right away, Overwatch ran well, Overwatch 2 was unstable at release (maybe it's better now). Without fast Internet, this can be quite frustrating.

Conclusion.

If you mainly play Steam games, then you can definitely try Linux. But be sure to check ProtonDB first to see if your games work. For anything beyond that, it may work, but it doesn't have to. Here you may have to manually rework or just do without.

As a distribution I would advise beginners against Arch Linux. Arch Linux is shipped relatively lean and customizations are always necessary. Recommendations, which were brought to my attention, are Pop!_OS based on Ubuntu and Garuda Linux based on Arch. Personally, I recommend GNOME as an interface. KDE is closer to Windows and may be more suitable for newcomers.

Oh, and Valve will eventually open their Steam Deck OS to all. But there is no timetable for that. I'm also not sure if Steam Deck OS will really be a good choice for regular PCs.