How to Install the Epic Games Launcher to Play Games on Linux

Linux gaming keeps reaching new levels, all thanks to the community and organizations that are increasingly focusing on open source gaming software. Epic Games is a reputable digital game store mainly known for distributing Windows games to millions of users worldwide. But not everyone knows that you can also install the Epic Games client on Linux.

At the end you will know how to install and set up Epic Games on Linux and be able to enjoy your favorite game titles on your desktop.

Can you play games with Epic Games on Linux?

The most important question first: Can you really play Epic Games titles with the launcher on Linux? Yes and no. Since Epic Games has not yet released an official client for Linux, you will not be able to play games after installing the official Epic Games client on your desktop.

Still, there is a workaround that will allow you to access and play on Epic Games. And that with the Heroic Games Launcher. Based on a command line Epic Games client called Legendary, Heroic Games makes it easy for gamers to download and play Epic Games titles on their Linux desktop with compatibility layers like Wine and Proton.

If you want to play Epic Games titles on your PC, you should install Heroic Games Launcher directly by skipping to the next section.

Install the official Epic Games client on Linux

A word of warning: you cannot play games using the official Epic Games client. But if for some reason – perhaps for testing purposes – you want to download the client onto your system, you can do so with Lutris, an open-source game manager that can run Windows apps on Linux.

To install Lutris on your system, run the following commands depending on the Linux distribution you are using:

On Ubuntu and Debian:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lutris-team/lutris
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lutris

On Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S lutris

On Fedora/CentOS/RHEL:

sudo dnf install lutris

If your distribution supports Flatpak, you can also download Lutris from Flathub by running the following command:

flatpak install flathub net.lutris.Lutris

If you haven’t installed Flatpak yet, check out our in-depth guide on how to install and use Flatpak on Linux.

Once installed, launch Lutris by searching for it in the Applications menu or just typing it Lutris in the end device.

When the app opens, click the three-dot menu icon and select add games from the drop-down list. Then click Search for installers on the Lutris website and type “Epic Games‘ in the search field.

When the results appear, click Epic game store option and hit To install. If prompted, check the boxes next to Create desktop shortcut and Create application menu shortcut and continue by clicking To install.

If you don’t have Wine installed on your system, Lutris will automatically start downloading the appropriate package for you. You will be prompted to review the files before downloading them to your PC. If everything looks good, go for it To install and Continue to start the installation.

Once the Wine configuration is complete and Lutris has finished installing the required dependencies, you can click begin to launch the Epic Games Launcher.

You can now log in and access your Epic Games library as you normally would on Windows.

Install Heroic Games Launcher on Linux

Heroic Games Launcher is not currently available in the official distribution repositories. Therefore, you need to download the package corresponding to the distribution you are running from the project’s GitHub Releases page.

Downloads: Launcher for heroic games

On Ubuntu and Debian

If you’re running Ubuntu or another Debian-based distribution, download the Heroic DEB package and navigate to the Downloads directory using the cd command:

cd Downloads

Then install the package with dpkg by typing:

sudo dpkg -i heroic-*.deb

Once installed, you can launch Heroic by searching for it in the Applications menu.

Under Arch Linux

Arch users can download the launcher from the AUR using Yay:

yay -S heroic

For the above command to work, make sure you have Yay installed on your system.

On Fedora, CentOS and RHEL

Users running RPM-based Linux distributions must first download the Heroic RPM package from the GitHub releases page. Then navigate to the directory where you saved the package and type:

sudo rpm -iv heroic-*.rpm

Install the Heroic Game Launcher AppImage

If you choose not to install the client on your system, you can instead download the AppImage file available on the Releases page.

To start it you need to grant execute rights to the file by typing:

sudo chmod +x heroic-*.AppImage

Then simply double-click the file to launch the client.

Play Epic Games titles on Linux

After installing Heroic Games Launcher on your system, launch it from the Applications menu and click the Register Epic Games option on the welcome screen. You will be given the option to log into your Epic Games account. You can click either Sign in to Epic Games to manually enter your credentials or select other options to sign in with a secondary account such as Google or Facebook.

Once you’re signed in, go to library Tab from the left sidebar. Heroic will now list all the games you have added to your Epic Games library. To install a game, select it from the list and click on it To install.

Heroic will prompt you to choose an installation path, a Wine prefix, and the Wine version you want to use to run the game. If you are unsure about the options, you can continue with the default settings by clicking To install.

Heroic will now start downloading the game files and save them to the specified location. Once all files are downloaded and the game is installed, click Play Now to start it. On first launch, you may come across the Wine configuration window. Let it configure the Wine prefix and continue with the default options when prompted.

If you don’t want to use Wine to run the game, you can click wine manager from the left sidebar and install alternative versions of Wine including Proton GE and Lutris. Then change the Wine version for a game by clicking settings option on its store page.

Gaming is better on Linux with Wine and Lutris!

Epic Games is easier to install if you know the right sources for downloading Linux software. Besides Epic Games, you can also download Steam to sit back and enjoy your favorite games on your Linux PC.

Open-source projects like Wine, Proton, and Lutris have allowed gamers to consider Linux as an operating system for gaming.