On the one hand I like GOG because it has no DRM and has better prices (in my country) than Steam and I have the feeling that on the one hand it follows more the open source philosophy than Steam itself, but Steam has helped enormously to play Windows games on Linux, so I haven’t really made up my mind.
On the one hand I want to buy on Steam for the convenience, but on the other hand I prefer GOG because (in my country) is cheaper. Which platform do you prefer and why?
To give an example, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is currently $15 on Steam with regional pricing, but on GOG it’s worth just $6.
I’ve given up on GOG. No linux client means the whole process of installing/launching games is rather tedious. Also linux game dependencies can be annoying to resolve
Steam on the other hand just handles everything. If it doesn’t work at first, it probably will with proton.
I’d love to support an anti-DRM store, but it’s tough when there is so much friction when actually playing the games
Lutris makes the Linux experience easier
Sure does, though I hope it keeps improving steadily. I’ve been donating to their patreon almost as long as it’s existed.
For me, Lutris works about 50% of the time with no hassle. The other 50% of the time I get an error during installation that I can’t figure out, and I end up using steam or giving up.
Recently it was Diablo 1 that I couldn’t get working on Lutris, but got working pretty quickly with steam
That’s a shame, it’s worked pretty well for me. Probably a handful of games that won’t play ball.
Hopefully it’ll keep improving
Most users complaining about this seem to have been using innoextract or Heroic.
I don’t know what those are, but I’ll look them up.
The linux dependency thing was “Freedom Planet” , an indie retro sonic clone. Trying to use the linux version through GOG, it took me several minutes to figure out and manually install dependencies (which will remain if I remove the game) and even then I couldn’t get sound working.
I shoved the windows binary into steam/proton and it worked like a charm
The heroic launcher is the way to go here. It installs the games in desktop mode and automatically adds them to steam. Compatibility is, for me, the same as if I had installed through steam.
Edit: assumed I was on a steam deck post. On desktop I also use heroic, again, compatibility is great. There’s a checkbox to add to steam automatically if you want.
Thanks for the tip!
Have you tried adding installers/clients to steam as non-steam games, so you can use proton?
Works with windows games but not linux native binaries.
So yes, that’s exactly what I do for games that I own on GOG but not steam. I actually try lutris first, then steam if it doesn’t work.