Software Recommendations

The following software might enhance your RetroDECK or general experience on Linux.

It is just a big list curated by the RetroDECK Team.

Steam Deck - Recommendations

Decky Loader

Allows custom plugins inside Steam Deck's gamemode for advanced features. Follow the guide on their GitHub for installation.

Plugin: PowerTools

PowerTools

Lets you tweak Steam Deck's hardware for better performance on certain games.

Plugin: AutoFlatpaks

AutoFlatpaks

Update/install/manage flatpaks directly from gamemode, including RetroDECK.

Plugin: Decky SteamgridDB

Decky SteamgridDB

Browse and manage Steam artwork from SteamGridDB or local files within gaming mode.

CryoUtilities

A utility to improve performance and help manage storage on Steam Deck.

Discover Overlay

Adds Discord integration into Steam Deck's gamemode UI.

Cleanup

Flatsweep

If you are using many flatpaks, they sometimes leave data behind. You can use Flatsweep to clean that from your system.

BleachBit

BleachBit quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there. It wipes clean a thousand applications including Firefox, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, and more.

Flatpak Mangement

Flatseal

Flatseal is a graphical utility to review and modify permissions from your Flatpak applications.

Warehouse

Flatseal

Warehouse is a versatile toolbox and provides a simple UI to control complex Flatpak options, all without resorting to the command line.

Game & Emulation Management

Flips

Floating IPS (or Flips) is a patcher for IPS and BPS files, aiming for a simple interface yet plenty of power under the hood.

JRomManager

A Rom Manager written in java that allows you to manage and verify your roms via .dat files.

RomM

RomM (ROM Manager) allows you to scan, enrich, browse and play your game collection with a clean and responsive interface. With support for multiple platforms, various naming schemes, and custom tags, RomM is a must-have for anyone who plays on emulators.

ProtonUp-Qt

Install and manage Wine- and Proton-based compatibility tools for Steam and Lutris with this graphical user interface.

BoilR

BoilR will show games from other game platforms in your Steam library. It uses the Steam 3rd party shortcuts feature and does not require you to set up anything. You can also use BoilR to download custom art manually and automatically from SteamGridDB (RetroDECK comes with built-in SRM that has similar features).

Open Source Games Lists

The lists contains different open-source video games and commercial video games open-source remakes.

Game Software Clients/Installers

Steam

Steam Flathub

Steam is a software distribution service with an online store, automated installation, automatic updates, achievements, SteamCloud synchronized savegame and screenshot functionality, and many social features.

RetroDECK and Steam:

RetroDECK uses several of Steam's functions like Steam Input for advanced controller profiles.

While Steam is not required to use RetroDECK, launching RetroDECK from Steam will enhance your experience.

Steam is available as a Flatpak or as a native installation via built-in package managers. We recommend the native version over the Flatpak version for better compatibility.

Lutris

Lutris is an interface to manage and play your games on Linux. It can integrate several different stores: GOG, Steam, Epic, Itch.io, Battle.net, and more.

Minigalaxy

Minigalaxy is a simple GOG client for Linux. It lets you download, install, and play your GOG Linux games without getting in your way.

Heroic Games Launcher

Heroic is an Open Source Games Launcher. Right now it supports launching games from the Epic Games Store using Legendary, GOG Games using our custom implementation with gogdl and Amazon Games using Nile.

itch

The unofficial itch.io app, itch, lets you effortlessly download and run games and software from itch.io. All of your downloads are kept in a single place and are automatically updated. Access your collections and purchases, or browse for new games via the in-app browser.

Bottles

Bottles lets you run Windows software on Linux, such as applications and games. It helps you organize by categorizing each software to your liking and provides several tools and integrations to manage and optimize your applications.

Prism Launcher (Minecraft)

Prism Launcher

Prism Launcher is a custom client for Minecraft Java that allows you to easily manage multiple different installations of Minecraft at once and features easy mod management.

Minecraft Java Flags & Optimizations

Minecraft Java Flags

Mukul1127 has created a great GitHub page for various Java Flags and Optimizations on how to make your Minecraft Java experience more performanant.

These can be added to Prism Launcher or the Launcher of your choice.

mcpelauncher (Minecraft Bedrock)

mcpelauncher

An unstable unofficial launcher for the Android version of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on linux and macOS.

Game Streaming

Greenlight

Greenlight is an open-source client for xCloud and Xbox home streaming made in Typescript.

Chiaki-NG

Chiaki-NG is a Free and Open-Source Software Client for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 Remote Play for Linux and other systems.

Moonlight

Moonlight allows you to play your PC games on almost any device, whether you are in another room or miles away from your gaming rig.

Sunshine

Sunshine is a self-hosted game stream host for Moonlight. It offers low latency, cloud gaming server capabilities with support for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs for hardware encoding.

Steam Link

The Steam Link app allows you to stream games from your other computers. Just plug in a controller, connect to a computer running Steam on the same local network, and start playing your existing Steam games.