Heroic Games Launcher gets more Steam Deck and Flatpak improvements

I've been using this as a combined EGS and GOG client and must say it works really well.

It's especially the "run executable on prefix" functionality that has turned out to be incredibly handy (e.g. to install some fan patches or mods) and was lacking or much more cumbersome to use in other clients.

I've been using this as a combined EGS and GOG client and must say it works really well.

It's especially the "run executable on prefix" functionality that has turned out to be incredibly handy (e.g. to install some fan patches or mods) and was lacking or much more cumbersome to use in other clients.

Lutris does this too

I have been eager to get Heroic Launcher to work at all for GOG titles. I am using the flatpak version and it seems to work fairly well for Epic stuff but nothing but a nightmare for GOG games personally. I am running Kubuntu 22.04.

In fact, it just updated yesterday or today and the new version is even more broken than the last. Something about config files. (Config file is corrupted). I checked and there is a bug reported already and work is being done.

I really want this client to get ironed out because it looks so awesome. I am excited for this and look forward to future fixes so that I can actually use it.

Edit: Every time I try to run an installed Gog Game the WINE config box pups up like it is trying to set up a new prefix every run or has to update the Wine prefix every run.


Last edited by twinsonian on 30 May 2022 at 11:53 am UTC

In fact, it just updated yesterday or today and the new version is even more broken than the last. Something about config files. (Config file is corrupted). I checked and there is a bug reported already and work is being done.

Try the post hotfix release 2.3.5 or an older one like 2.3.3.

What is your issue with gog games?
Sure it doesn't support achievements, social features or savegame sync yet but i wouldn't say Heroic is useless.


Last edited by tpau on 30 May 2022 at 1:40 pm UTC

In fact, it just updated yesterday or today and the new version is even more broken than the last. Something about config files. (Config file is corrupted). I checked and there is a bug reported already and work is being done.

Try the post hotfix release 2.3.5 or an older one like 2.3.3.

What is your issue with gog games?
Sure it doesn't support achievements, social features or savegame sync yet but i wouldn't say Heroic is useless.

I didnt say it is useless? I also didnt say anything about achievements or social features. I feel like the answer to your question is in the same post you replied to.

The more I investigate it seems like it is hit and miss GOG titles. I am going to continue installing and trying different games.

I am not interested in stalling a hotfix release since I use the flatpak, unless there is a way to install a hofix flatpak?

Again, I am excited about heroic. I think it has a much better look and feel that Lutris and allows for easier installs of windows versions of GOG games than Lutris which has to be done manually. Especially the DLCs. I am eager for the bugs to continue to get ironed about because it is a really great solution.


Last edited by twinsonian on 30 May 2022 at 4:10 pm UTC

Flatpaks update a bit later if i remember correctly.
Not always it is heroics fault if a game doesn't work, it could very well be one of the many cases where proton and wine as the emulation layer fail.
You should contact them , write a github issue, ask on their discord , supply a logfile.

I have been eager to get Heroic Launcher to work at all for GOG titles. I am using the flatpak version and it seems to work fairly well for Epic stuff but nothing but a nightmare for GOG games personally. I am running Kubuntu 22.04.

For GOG games we are trying to improve compatibility for native games, windows games should run just fine like the Epic ones when using Wine/Proton.

For Native games we are improving how Heroic uses Steam Runtime and we are thinking about having our own runtime in the future as well.
Even with that, some native games might not work since GOG has no pattern at all for their games and sometimes is a mess to figure it out how they should work.
We depend on people opening GH issues and helping us understand what is going wrong.

If possible, go to our GH and state the game issues you are having, add details like the folder structure and the content of the gameinfo.json file, this help us a lot figuring out the errors :)

The GOG implementation is still in early stages and will be improved over time :D

While it is by no means Heroic or Minigalaxy's responsibility, I still wish that we have any way to have Cloud Saves available for GOG games. For me, that's the main worth of buying games - the ability to store your progress across devices, and it is very handy for a chronic distro hopper like me.

I saw that the Linux Request on GOG development wishlist is now In-Progress status, but I'm skeptical of them until I see it materialize. Even then, I wish there's just some sort of API that can be accessed the same way Heroic can access EGS' Cloud Sync.

It's a shame, because I legitimately would have bought some games from GOG - especially VNs as they are properly uncensored there and for some, like Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa, it's not available on Steam at all.

I'm willing to stomach the horrible price difference vs Steam's regional pricing (which is the only reason why I could afford legally getting games for a long time) but if I'm not getting cloud saves then I might as well just get them somewhere else or pirate them.

Heroic has been great from what I've tested it. Definitely use it for EGS which works miles ahead of Lutris and even the official launcher. GOG is still a bit iffy, but hopefully the In-Progress Linux GOG materializes and Heroic can benefit from it.


Last edited by fenglengshun on 31 May 2022 at 3:00 am UTC

can someone please explain the hype about these launchers?
I mean, what is the advantage of using third party apps instead of just installing the native apps in steam?!
just for convenience?

As far as my experience on the Steam Deck goes Origin, Ubisoft, Battle.net, Epic Games Store all work fine with separate install.

can someone please explain the hype about these launchers?
I mean, what is the advantage of using third party apps instead of just installing the native apps in steam?!
just for convenience?

If the handling of the original launchers is ok for you, do it that way.
I think the convenience is a big factor for normal people that just want to play their games.
Integration of games directly in the steam client is nice.

Outside a mobile handheld pc , you have one app to look at instead of many. Compared to epic heroic launches faster.
If more stores get integrated into Heroic, you can hopefully set priorities and bandwith accordingly in one place instead of having multiple apps fight over it.
The opportunities are endless to make it better than the original and custumize it to your needs, almost :)

While it is by no means Heroic or Minigalaxy's responsibility, I still wish that we have any way to have Cloud Saves available for GOG games. For me, that's the main worth of buying games - the ability to store your progress across devices, and it is very handy for a chronic distro hopper like me.

I saw that the Linux Request on GOG development wishlist is now In-Progress status, but I'm skeptical of them until I see it materialize. Even then, I wish there's just some sort of API that can be accessed the same way Heroic can access EGS' Cloud Sync.

Cloud sync is tricky but we were able to sync save some games already like CP2077 and others, the problem is that not all games follows the same pattern for file saving, so its complicated to cover all cases, but we are working hard on that and I am optimistic that this will be able to go into the next major release :)

can someone please explain the hype about these launchers?

Convenience, granularity, and management.

Heroic makes it so much simpler as you don't need to fiddle with Add Non-Steam Games, deal with Non-Steam Games' proton compatdata, load SO MUCH FASTER, have all the games quickly presented to you for quick downloading/playing, and easier to backup.

Corollary to that, the tweaking options is honestly more convenient than Steam or Lutris. Steam focuses on getting things working out of the box but the weakness is that tweaking options are much less accessible and doesn't acknowledge community ratings whereas with Heroic it's all laid out in a simple fashion and even has a link that opens the game's ProtonDB in a pop-up window.

And for Lutris, I think it's finally catching up with its early design decision it made that hadn't account for Linux newbies, 2020s gaming landscape, and the Steam Deck's decisions (like Flatpak). Still, I do like using Lutris to manage my, ahem, Privateer'd games (I live in third world countries, okay, and VN prices and DRM outside of Steam and to a lesser-degree JAST sucks ass) but Heroic is just better for the free games I claimed from EGS and it's opening up a whole new option of buying from GOG if they can get Cloud Saves working (I'm just so done with losing my save data).

So yeah, there are a couple of reasons to use Heroic, Lutris, Gamehub, etc. Especially if you use emulation. The best thing is that I recently found out about BoilR (in addition to Steam-ROM-Manager so you can have the best of all worlds by installing the games on Heroic or Lutris, then connect them to Steam, so you can have the games themselves (instead of the launcher/emulator) be shown on Steam for quick launching and have Heroic and Lutris for the tweaks management/game installation.

Cloud sync is tricky but we were able to sync save some games already like CP2077 and others, the problem is that not all games follows the same pattern for file saving, so its complicated to cover all cases, but we are working hard on that and I am optimistic that this will be able to go into the next major release :)

You guys are actual badasses. I've always bitched/laughed about how GOG for Linux always being the top request in GOG Wishlist no matter what filter you use for ages, and here you are, doing it yourselves. Massive kudos.

The only thing that I could request then is some sort of shortcut to open straight to EGS' Free Games page or currently running free game. I always use Heroic to claim them anyways, because that way it's more isolated from the rest of my browser.


Last edited by fenglengshun on 1 June 2022 at 1:51 am UTC

I'm really surprised about that support for EPIC. IMHO the worst Store which is currently out there. Not Customer friendly, non existing support, doesn't care about Linux. Epic Fail is even snatching Games which where available for Linux on Steam. They drop the support for Linux and making them exclusive. I wouldn't spent money on that store, as they even more ridiculous with their accounts then Microsoft.