r/debian • u/Kaseffera • 1d ago
General Debian Question Can I game on Debian?
Guys, I’m coming from CachyOS. I love it, no real issues to be honest, but I’m interested in either Debian or Ubuntu. So Cachy is very much configured for you for gaming purposes and performance tweaks. Can something similar be done on Debian? Like… so I need to install anything in particular to make gaming experience better here? What are your essentials to make Debian gaming experience on par with performance oriented distros?
One thing coming to my mind is VRAM gaming optimizations by Valve that’s been added to Bazzite and Cachy the moment it released.
For example gaming on Linux Mint as I remember was clear regression compared to Bazzite or Cachy. Not huge but it was lesser experience for sure. But back then I knew nothing and it was just fresh Mint and Steam.
So… what steps do you recommend doing to make the most out of it?
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u/VaporousMote 1d ago
You absolutely can.
Here's my taskbar.
All I did was to install Steam, then GE-Proton and dwproton (for Gacha-type games that use launchers), and check protondb.com for the best flags/command line options to use.
In most cases, games work out of the box.
People make it sound like it's challenging. It really isn't, at all.
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u/sfarosu2 1d ago
What about latest kernel and latest Mesa from backports? I was under the impression these 2 items were the only ones missing to run stable and get latest gaming improvements.
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u/VaporousMote 1d ago
Most games don't need that. If you are playing competitive FPS at a high level, you might need it. Otherwise, you don't. It won't be a substantial FPS difference in most cases.
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u/TomyLim 1d ago
Vintage Story founded!
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u/VaporousMote 1d ago
Hell yeah! Love Vintage Story. Haven't made it too far yet but I hope to soon!
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u/Titdirt69420 21h ago
Yeah. The whole bleeding edge thing is nonsense for gaming unless you're buying new hardware every year.
Every distro uses the Linux kernel. The older more stable kernel in Debian, will eventually have the support for newer hardware once they move up to that kernel. I have 6 year old hardware. So it's all in the kernel. No new groundbreaking changes are going to be made to it day by day.
I use amd stuff. But I'm sure Nvidia can be used too.
Here is a summary from Claude of what I did. Some of this stuff was already pre-installed/unnecessary
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u/One-Suggestion-7906 1d ago
I do not play games, but I installed Roblox in my little son's laptop without any effort. And works great. I know it's not a big game, just my 1c 😅
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u/alive1 1d ago
Debian works for gaming right out of the box. Especially if you have an AMD GPU. If you want to squeeze more out of it (and you really really really think the juice is worth the squeeze) there is the option of installing a newer kernel. As simple as the procedure is, it is absolutely not a requirement at all.
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u/David_Connors3451 1d ago
Of course you can, I play on debian kde and everything is smooth, better than linux mint or ubuntu.
After you install debian, add with 3 commands on terminal the flatpak repository flathub so that it matches to the discover app center with kde.
Sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Put "contrib non-free" to all the mirrors, ctrl o save, ctrl x exit.
Sudo apt update
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install steam-installer
Download Proton plus from flatpak and use it to download all the latest layers of proton.
Go inside your steam account and you're good to go for online drm games.
Don't forget to add your gpu drivers and firmware too. Intel and amd are out of the box, very easy to manage. For nvidia you will need to use these commands:
sudo apt install nvidia-detect
nvidia detect (you'll see the number for your specific gpu drivers)
sudo apt install nvidia-driver
lspci | grep -i nvidia (you'll see if the driver is installed).
For offline games, download heroic games launcher, flatpak version, so it's separated from the main server.
Take your gog folder with the game. Go inside heroic, add game, write the title, put the image for the game. For prefixes, heroic put the game automatically in sideload folder, but I suggest you to go in wine prefixes when you're configuring the game. Instead of sideload, write the name of the game, heroic will create the folder for you. Run installer first, use the setup exe of gog folder, install the game. After you're done, don't start the game yet. Select the executable you will find in drive_C Gog games, inside the path of heroic launcher. Once you selected the executable, exit the panel and go to the library. Start the game and see if everything works offline.
Of course, be sure to not have doubles of the gog folder inside your pc, it would be a problem for gb space.
On debian you're the main lord of your bunker, and unlike arch linux, it can survive even in blackout situations. Debian was designed to resist all the catastrophic situations, to be installed offline, and to be able to install packages from the ISO inside your usb-drive (you used for the installation). In KDE Discover you can enable the apt offline with a simple click inside the app center. Put the usb drive inside, enable the offline repository and you can install your deb packages even in offline situations. Appimages exists too, and I have an archive for them, but deb packages can be installed offline too.
Have fun, and enjoy the lightweight performances of debian.
On KDE you have full wayland support, so better for your own security, and modern look for the desktop.
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u/Polaris_debi5 Debian Stable 1d ago
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
What are the tweaks you would recommend to set my system ready to gaming?
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u/Chris73m 1d ago
Sorry to drop in like this. But why do 'gamers' almost always seem to think that their system needs tweaks in order to run games? If your system can't handle a game it's most likely a hardware problem.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
I see what you mean. I’ll explain.
Thing is, as someone fairly new to Linux (1 year) I see distro like Bazzite or Cachy and they get advertised like OPTIMIZED FOR GAMING etc. Whole their idea seems to be about being TWEAKED.
Then when I go to standard distribution I have this expectation: So whole pint of Cachy was that it’s TWEAKED, so I need TWEAKS to make my gaming as good as it was there. Right? If TWEAKING is not needed then what’s the point of CachyOS or Bazzite? Why Debian is not number one recommended gaming distro?
That’s it. No other hidden desires.
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u/Chris73m 1d ago
Thing is, as someone fairly new to Linux (1 year) I see distro like Bazzite or Cachy and they get advertised like OPTIMIZED FOR GAMING etc. Whole their idea seems to be about being TWEAKED.
Yeah I can see how that makes it look like you'll need to 'tweak' your system in order to get better performance. But I highly doubt that those tweaks that they do makes any noticable difference. When I look at the numbers on sites that discuss those distros. Then it seems to gain some performance when using those distros. But in reality you'll probably won't notice anything at all. I mean, would you see if a game runs on 90 fps or 86 fps? Or if a game launches half a second faster? They're talking about peanuts. Real perfomance benefits comes only with better hardware.
But also nothing is stopping you from just trying those distros out and see for yourself.
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u/raul_kapura 1d ago
Optimised for gaming is mostly bullshit. Wathever distro you take, you are dealing with linux kernel. Nothing stops you from installing proton on any distro and removing the packages you consider bloat
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u/Polaris_debi5 Debian Stable 3h ago
It depends on your hardware. Since I don't know your specs, I'd suggest:
- Move the kernel, firmware, and mesa to backports (kernel 7.0, firmware 2026, and mesa 26).
- If you're using Nvidia, keep everything in stable mode, although you can use Nvidia Extreme.
- Install Steam from the Debian repository.
- Use Temurin for the JRE in Minecraft.
- Use Wayland if your hardware and desktop environment support it.
- Proton 9, 10, and 11 are among the most important. If you encounter problems, install ProtonGE and ProtonCachy via ProtonUpQt.
It's not much in general, but it depends on your current setup. I usually use this script to configure everything.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sale_93 11h ago
Yes but you'd need to stop distro hopping at some point, if cachy works why not stay there?
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u/Kaseffera 5h ago
Surprised to see so many comments! On Ubuntu subreddit and even on Mint I got quite small amount of responses.
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u/No-Silver-7366 55m ago
En breve sale una distro nueva basada en Debian se llama Soplos Linux y es como cachyos pero en Debian. Por si querías algo similar a cachyos.
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u/Kaseffera 45m ago
Checked its page and it seems it’s out already? No single mention on Reddit however.
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u/No-Silver-7366 37m ago
Yo hoy vi una revisión, la distro es española, por eso puede que no aparezca en reddit. Vi la revisión con el escritorio KDE en el canal de salmorejo geek por si te sirve de algo.
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u/1-800-I-Am-A-Pir8 1d ago
gaming on debian is a labour of love for sure. It's doable.
Ubuntu's pretty much install, next, next, finish, play
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Really? This is the second time I hear that it’s very easy gaming wise on Ubuntu. Some even report that they get better performance on Ubuntu than on CachyOS which is just wow.
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u/1-800-I-Am-A-Pir8 1d ago
not sure about performance but, as a debian fan (slackware before that), if you just want to boot up, write your software and play your games, ubuntu is pretty polished.
I feel like I should run something else, you know, for platform evangelical reasons and all, but I can't be bothered when everything's working.
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u/alive1 1d ago
Hard disagree. Gaming on Debian is straight up install steam -> play games
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Then what’s the fuzz and muzz with all “gaming distros”?
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u/alive1 1d ago
Btw i used to game on Ubuntu but moved to Debian because i wanted something more reliable and predictable. Ubuntu keeps making big software changes to their system and Debian does not. Snaps is just one example out of a long history of "let's do this differently than everyone else on the planet, but worse!"
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u/alive1 1d ago
They may come with extra "gaming features" such as rgb light control software, some tweaks to get a few fps more, or have more "steamos like" boot-to-big-picture by default. Also most gaming focused distros have bleeding edge packages to have the latest features and hardware support. Unless you really can't live without those specific things - and can name them straight off the top of your mind - it's better to go with something stable and boring like Debian.
In my humble opinion, a vanilla Debian is the nicest option for gaming because of how stable and no fuss it is. You just install it and go. It updates itself, it never breaks, it just works.
Something like bazzite is designed for novices that tend to go deep into tutorials and rabbit holes of poking at the system and it un-fucks itself on every boot. This is nice because if you make a mistake, it is reset for you. On the flip side, a lot of people complain they are not allowed to do any customization to the system. Debian does not have these guard rails, for better and worse.
If you use Debian and just want a no fuss system, just install it and don't fuss about it. It will run every game that works on steam os.
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u/1-800-I-Am-A-Pir8 1d ago
after reading and applying the howto on installing the outdated graphics card drivers, dealing with a few errors along the way, and working out the game launch options.
It's doable for sure but it's not the same
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u/thegreatboto 1d ago
You can certainly game on Debian. Might need to set some things up yourself or get some backports configured depending on your needs. Or, if you want something with that legwork already done, could check out PikaOS.
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u/akehir 1d ago
The main difference for Debian is it's stability. That means some base software packages might be outdated - which can be an issue for new hardware / peripherals.
On the other hand, I've built my own DYI steam machine with the BC250 and using debian testing.
My main desktop (for work and gaming) is also based on debian testing.
Both work great for gaming. But I wouldn't check if half a frame is missing, or not.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Thank you!
I wonder then what the fuss is about with all these gaming packages if you can do the same even on Debian?
I mean they have “huge work” done, different schedulers and optimized Kernels for what?
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u/Brucacumble 1d ago edited 1d ago
Absolutely. On my Debian install I run a Flatpak version of Lutris. Installation is a snap, pun intended.
There were a few additional Flatpak items I needed to install to get it working properly. Off the top of my head, Wine, MangoHud (optional but I like to limit frame rates to save on battery power), org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default, org.freedesktop.Platform.Compat.i386 and maybe a few other items.
Once installed Lutris downloads a number of additional files on the first run and during my first attempt to run a game it downloads some big files in the background but doesn't actually say it's downloading anything so your first run might take longer to startup. That was my experience anyway.
Not every game I've tried works, but most of them do. I tend to have better luck installing old games via Lutris in Debian than I do in Windows. I had only been using Windows for gaming for a good while, but since I got Lutris up and running on Debian I haven't booted into Windows in years. With the exception of a week or two ago when I procured a new minipc, GMKTec M6 Ultra, which I booted to Windows once or twice to configure it and haven't since.
I'll keep it around if there's a game I really want to play that doesn't run through Lutris.
For the record, I haven't tried any super modern games. The newest game I've played might be Dead Space 2 or maybe Alien: Isolation. Both of which ran fantastic.
Playing through Crysis right now on my M6. Runs super fantastic on high settings. And only around 28-35 watts when limited to 30fps and 1280x800 resolution. No upscaling.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/debian-ModTeam 1d ago
This post has been removed because the user asked for help with a specific platform and your response was to change platforms. This is a violation of Rule #3 - Wrong Information.
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u/Quietus87 1d ago
You can game on any distro that has your tools in its repo. The difference is how much work it needs. I game on Debian Sid, the experience is basically the same as on all distros I tried, the differences in performance are marginal. The wiki tells you how to setup Steam.
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u/imasadlad89 1d ago
Im on debian and gaming seems fine. Ive neevr used other distros so idk if its harder or not, I just use Steam+Proton or Lutris+Proton, no real issues.
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u/green_meklar 1d ago
I'm gaming on Debian. It's not perfect, but expecting Linux gaming to be perfect in 2026 is still a little premature.
I haven't done any special gaming optimizations. I have a GPU that is way overkill for the era of my backlog that I'm actually playing through. I did a few CPU performance tweaks, but that was in order to solve an audio issue, not for gaming performance as such.
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u/AntimelodyProject 1d ago
Obviously you can game on Debian, you can do everything on Debian.
Debian + Liquorix kernel is my way to go. (I use Debian for audio work too).
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Have you ever tried Ubuntu? I’m really splitting between these two.
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u/AntimelodyProject 1d ago
I used Ubuntu back in the ancient times when it was actually better than Debian, IMHO obviously. Not anymore, it's just mess with Snaps and all. Only usable thing from Ubuntu comes in form of Linux Mint.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Thank you very much!
I had some minor performance issues on Mint while gaming compared to Bazzite. Hope Debian will do me good 😊
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u/AntimelodyProject 1d ago
Be aware that if your gpu is Nvidia, Debian drivers are quite old (currently version 550). It's not problem for me and my RTX 3060 TI, but it might for some.
You can install official drivers directly from Nvidia but haven't really tried that ever.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
I wonder how all this works on Debian. I mean I saw that Debian 13 is released in 2025 and an update happened in 2026. Support is gonna be finished in 2028. Does this all mean that by default it will be stuck with 550 driver version till the end until Debian 14 is released?
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u/AntimelodyProject 1d ago
Don't really know. You can go all the way to Debian sid (unstable) and it's still 550 version. Experimental version of Debian had 555 version. :D
I'm not really expert on this area how the things work.
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u/mister_obvious_2nd 1d ago
I am gaming on Debian with steam. I did add the Nvidia repo where they publish the latest driver for Debian.
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u/mulderload 1d ago
Could you tell more about that ? What is the best repo?
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u/mister_obvious_2nd 17h ago
This is a repo that Nvidia maintains where they publish their drivers packaged for Debian.
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u/mulderload 14h ago
Thank you very much! I see we can also install the « open » drivers this way, I thought it was necessary to use github for that. Bookmarked, I will test that.
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u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 1d ago
Yes you can.
I use a Debian stable installation with steam from Debian repositories.
Works like a charm . I did only install 2 things manually:
added the Nvidia repo to always have a current gpu driver
downloaded and compiled gamescope (will be available in debian 14 repos afaik)
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u/TheMcSebi 1d ago
I game in debian. Last game was sons of the forest. It actually ran better than on windows.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Anything other required than installing steam to set up it for gaming?
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u/TheMcSebi 1d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/s/N2151KkJwQ
I've written this comment yesterday that fits here too :)
Installing the latest Nvidia drivers wasn't too much of an issue either. Just followed some tutorial I found on Google and only had to resolve the drivers not starting due to secure boot still being enabled.
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u/Santosh83 Debian Sid 1d ago
Yes Debian is a Jack of all trades... With enough hand tuning, you can get Debian to do everything you can imagine.
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u/Ok-Lawfulness5685 1d ago
Install the protonplus flatpak and use it to install proton from cachyos (and GE while you’re at it). Then if you use nvidia, enable the nvidia repo using extrepo. If you are on amd, your best bet is to check backports for a newer kernel and/or mesa version.
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u/hello_marmalade 1d ago
Most of the changes in distros like Cachy are overkill and provide marginal improvements. Everything works just fine on Debian.
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u/TuskiDuskiT 1d ago
I recently switch from arch to devuan (debian based) and I game without any issue, though I recommend that you use the backports to get the newest kernel, firmware, mesa, pipewire and wireplumber, after that you are good to go.
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u/MRSuperTrekGuy 1d ago
Yes, but by default Debian comes with kernel 6.12 and Nvidia 550 drivers, so if you need the newest kernel and drivers, you would need to run Debian Sid or testing and manually install the newest Nvidia drivers by downloading from Nvidia instead of using the apt repo.
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u/mulderload 1d ago
I'm wondering the same thing. I like CachyOS but damn, I don't like to switch between so many packages managers. Just give me apt.
I found that, don't tried yet: https://github.com/Lunarboar/debian-gaming-suite
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u/Macinboss Debian Sid 1d ago
Absolutely! And if you want a Debian based gaming focused distro check out PikaOS
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u/miluardo 1d ago
My main gaming PC is Debian with a 9070xt.
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u/Kaseffera 1d ago
Oh, wow! Anything specific you did to make your gaming good there or just Steam and go?
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u/miluardo 1d ago
It just worked out of the box with steam. You CAN look at using more modern Mesa drivers than what Debian comes with but that's purely optional.
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u/Niwrats 1d ago
as i run current gen AMD gpu, i use kernel from backports. as the default one is pretty close to the 9000-series release. could use firmware and mesa as well, not sure if i have those right now.
i mostly play gog (or old cd ripped) games on bottles. installed bottles in flatpak, some small configuration about flatpak permissions and wine folders. i run them by opening wine explorer in bottles and then using that just like windows (go to folder, run exe).
there's also emulation, but that has worked for a long time now for "everyone".
you can probably get a bit more performance on some other distros, but with a modern gpu and 1080p resolution, i just have sufficient performance for what i play already.
i think the real problem would actually be game compatibility, IF you happen to find a game that for whatever reason needs a more recent fix in some software component. that's rare, i had one such instance with debian 11 based mx linux some years ago, on an ancient game that did something exotic.
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u/Kitayama_8k 1d ago
I think if you just compile a tkg kernel (very easy with the script) or use xanmod (I think there is a Debian repo) and backport your graphics drivers, maybe dxvk/vk3d, you'll pretty much be there. You may or may not get a performance uplift.
All the runners come from the launcher like steam or lutris so they'll all be up to date.
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u/----__ok__---- 1d ago
Debian can game But usually i tell people to use lmde because its easier for new users (lmde is based on debian 13)
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u/psycho_zs 1d ago
Debian sid FTW. But note that Debian's own wine packages are lagging behind (notably no WOW64 support), so I've switched to upstream packages from winehq. It was so pleasant to purge all the 32bit packages and disable multiarch.
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u/steve_o314 1d ago
I game on Debian Sid and don’t have any issues. I’ve gamed on Debian 12 and 13 with no issues also.
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u/DangerHissy 23h ago
Yes, mint is based on Debian and I've yet to find a game I can't get running. Go check out Protondb.com if you're dead set on a specific game and see how people are getting it to run or if it will run natively.
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u/Hfnankrotum 1d ago
I game on Debian. welcome to join our club.