Adding Non-Steam Games to Your Steam Deck Using Heroic Games Launcher

Valve’s Steam Deck—what a buzz it created back in the day, right? It seemed like everyone was talking about this handheld gaming wonder. Of course, now there’s a flood of these gadgets on the market. But there’s just something about the Steam Deck. Maybe it’s the nostalgia? I don’t know. Some folks think it’s only good for Steam games. Well, hold onto your hats. That’s a big nope!

Seriously, you can play way more than just your Steam collection on this thing. Sure, you gotta do a bit of tinkering. But isn’t that half the fun? Enter, Heroic Games Launcher. I stumbled across this beauty during a random Linux project (don’t ask me how I got there). It lets you dive into your GoG, Amazon, and Epic libraries. Those libraries filled with freebies that we collect and, um, kind of forget about? Guilty. But hey, now you can actually play them—whether you’re chilling in bed, on the bus, or having a chill night with friends.

Alright, so what’s my game plan here? Basically, plug Heroic into my Steam library. That way, all my games are just a couch-comfy reach away. Seemed simple enough. First thing, I had to slap Heroic onto the Steam Deck.

Step one was pressing that oh-so-familiar Steam button and picking “Switch to Desktop.” Felt like entering a low-key secret lair. Then you hit the Discover icon. It’s that rainbow-looking thing on the left. Mind blown—this is where you can dive into all sorts of apps for the Deck.

Next up, I searched for Heroic. It popped up pretty quick. With a click and a little wait, it was on my system. More waiting… closing… opening… you know how these things go. I heard TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge calling my name. Yeah, I’m that kind of person. And setting up the gaming accounts? Epic love right here.

Now, when you scroll down, look for “Show Wine settings” and hit “Proton Experimental.” It might sound buggy, but that’s where the magic happens. Installing games took me on a little patience trip, but hey, Cyberpunk 2077 was worth it—despite taking almost an eternity.

Heroic was live! But why stop there? Let’s make it snazzy and part of the Steam fam. From the main menu, a quick right-click gave me the option to “Add to Steam.” And that was supposed to be it, but, oh no, I gotta go the extra mile.

Here’s where steamgriddb.com comes in. Pop onto this site for some game-bling. Yeah, I know it sounds odd, but trust me—it makes all the difference. A bit of tinkering with backgrounds and logos, and bam! It’s looking all pretty in my library.

So whenever I fire up this trusty Steam Deck, Heroic isn’t just six clicks away or buried under a mountain of icons. With a flick of a button, I’m lost in the world of whatever game fancies me that day. Talk about living the dream.