Knowing how to set up the Epic Games Store for Steam Deck means taking a great piece of technology and making it even better. Not only will you have the Steam store, but with this easy and relatively simple workaround, you'll be able to add one of the other essential PC game showcases to your handheld. It only takes a few steps to log into your Steam Account (or create a new one) and instantly access your library of games ready and waiting to work seamlessly with your device on the go. However, Steam isn't the only digital distribution platform available, and it certainly isn't the only one that works on the Steam Deck.
The Epic Games Store has become a major force in digital distribution, with weekly free games and a plethora of exclusive titles, a store you can quickly access on your Steam Deck device. Here's how to install the Epic Games Store on the Steam Deck.
1_ Login your Steam Deck into Desktop Mode.
First of all, you need to boot your Steam Deck with the boot option below the stock Plasma KDE Linux installation. You can do this by holding down the power button and pressing the “Switch to Desktop” option in the menu that appears. After a short transition you will be in a familiar looking desktop environment.
You can still use Steam Deck's native controller to navigate at this point (you can open a keyboard by pressing Steam+X and control the mouse with touchpads), but things will be much easier if you connect a mouse and keyboard. Via Bluetooth or USB-C.
2_ Install Epic Games Launcher
Using the default Mozilla browser already installed, go to Epic Games' website and download the Windows version of Epic Games Launcher. Once you've done that, open Steam, click "Games" from the top menu, and then go to "Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library". You'll see a list of compatible apps you can connect to Steam (Mozilla is one, it lets you launch the browser from within SteamOS), but for now, just click browse to navigate to where you downloaded the Epic Games Launcher installer.
If you haven't changed any system settings, this file should be in your default Downloads folder and accessible using the path below. If you have changed any settings, such as your system name, be sure to replace [doorstop] with the name you use:
“/home/doorstop/Downloads/EpicInstaller-13.0.0.msi”
Once connected, you should see Epic Games Installer in your Steam library. Right click and click Properties. From there, go to the Compatibility tab and check the “Force use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool” option. This will allow you to choose a Proton version to use from a new drop-down menu. Select the latest version and close the window.
From here, launch the installer from Steam like a game. An installation window should open similar to what you would see in Windows.
3_ Add Epic Games Launcher to SteamOS
Now you can stop there, but what you might really want to do is launch the Epic Games Launcher from within SteamOS. You need to work a little harder for this.
Go back to Steam (still in desktop mode) and right-click the Epic Installer entry in your library again. Click the shortcut tab and you should see two entries there: “Destination” and “Startup”, both of which should point to Epic Installer and the folder it is in, respectively. To launch the Epic Games Launcher from within SteamOS, you will need to change them to where the launcher is now installed.
This is a bit more difficult than you might expect, given the file structure created during initial setup. The easiest way to start finding this is by right-clicking on an existing game that's already installed on Steam and going to Local Files and browsing where those files are located. This will take you to your “steamapps” folder within Linux where you can start searching for the Epic Games Launcher.
If you don't have any other games installed or are just looking for the full path, you should be able to find the executable using the path below since you haven't changed any system settings. You can also use this path to find the desired file, using the folder names after “steamapps” to navigate there, if any.
Aim: “/home/doorstop/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/[numerical_identifier]/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Epic Games/Launcher/Portal/Binaries/Win32/EpicGamesLauncher.exe”
Start: “/home/doorstop/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/[numerical_identifier]/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Epic Games/Launcher/Portal/Binaries/Win32/”
Once found, copy the EpicGamesLauncher.exe path into the Target field while using the found folder path for Startup (same path without the executable at the end). Make sure both paths are pasted inside quotes, otherwise this won't work. If in doubt, copy the paths above, replacing [numeric_identifier] with the unique ID assigned to the folder created during installation (this will be the highest value number in /home/doorstop/.local/share//Steam). /steamapps/compatdata folder). You can also rename this Non-Steam game shortcut for easier identification within SteamOS, but this is optional.
The above steps were originally Gaming on Linux on YouTube It can be viewed in a great video posted by .
4_ Restoring your Steam Deck Device to SteamOS
Just click Run on this shortcut from your Steam library to test things out before switching back to SteamOS. The Epic Games Launcher should launch allowing you to log in and install all the games in your library. To return to SteamOS, open the Start Menu and log out which will immediately restore your Steam Deck to its operating system.
This isn't the only way to run the Epic Games Store on Steam Deck, but it's the easiest way for us so far. If you choose to use Lutris for your third-party software on the Steam Deck, it also has to get an update to make it just as easy. If you're still deciding whether to buy Valve's new handheld, check out our Steam Deck Review for a full breakdown of why it's such an impressive gaming device.
You may be interested in: Epic Games Free Games of the Week(September 22)
