How to play Apex Legends on Linux
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle-royale hero shooter. It was developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. Here’s how you can play Apex Legends on Linux.
Getting Apex Legends working on Linux
Apex Legends works on Linux — with some tweaks. These tweaks require the native Linux steam client. You’ll need to open up a terminal window to get the Steam client working on your Linux PC.
Unsure about how to open a terminal on the Linux desktop. Press the keyboard’s Ctrl + Alt + T to launch a terminal window. Alternatively, you can search for “terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, you can install Steam by following the installation instructions below.
Ubuntu
To install Steam on Ubuntu, enter the following apt install command.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
To install Steam on Debian, you’ll have to download the Steam DEB package. You can download it by using the wget command to download the latest release of Steam.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the Steam DEB package, you can install it using the following dpkg command.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Once you’ve set up the Steam DEB package on your computer, you’ll need to correct these dependencies to use the Steam app on your Debian PC.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
To install Steam on Arch Linux, open up the /etc/pacman.conf file in a text editor (as root). Once in the configuration file, locate the “multilib” line and remove the # symbol from in front. Then, remove the # symbol from the line directly below. Save the edits when done.
After saving the edits, close the editor and run the pacman -Syy command.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install the Steam app using the pacman -S command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
If you use Fedora or OpenSUSE Linux, the Steam app can be installed through software repositories included with the operating system. However, we suggest installing the Flatpak release instead, as it works better on these Oses.
Flatpak
To install Steam as a Flatpak, you must first enable the Flatpak runtime. You can do that by following this guide on the subject. After enabling the runtime, enter the two commands below to install Steam.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
With the Steam app installed on your Linux PC, open it up and log into your account. After logging into your Steam account, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get Apex Legends working on Linux.
Step 1: Find the “Steam” button, and click on it with the mouse. When you select this button, you’ll open up the Steam menu. Look through the Steam menu for the “Settings” button, and select it to access the Steam settings area.
Inside the Steam settings area, check both the “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” box.
Step 2: Find the “Store” button inside of the Steam app and click on it with the mouse. After selecting this button, click on the search box and type in “Apex Legends.” Press the Enter key to view the search results.
Look through the Steam search results for “Apex Legends.” Once you’ve found it, click on it to access the Apex Legends Steam Storefront page.
Step 3: Select the green “Play Game” button on the Apex Legends Steam Storefront page. When you select this button, a Steam pop-up window will appear. Using the pop-up window, install Apex.
Step 4: After downloading and installing Apex Legends to your Linux system, click on the “Library” button to access your Steam library. Then, locate “Apex Legends” in the sidebar and right-click on it.
In the right-click menu, select “Properties.”
Step 5: In the “Properties” window, select the “Compatibility” option, and check “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.” Set the version of Proton to “Proton Experimental.”
If you have issues using “Proton Experimental,” try using Proton GE instead. For help getting Proton GE, check out our setup guide.
Step 6: Find the “General” section of the “Properties” window, and select it with the mouse. Then, find “Launch Options” and paste in the following code.
-preload -dev +fps_max 144
Step 7: Find the green “PLAY” button inside the Apex Legends Steam library page and click on it to start the game. Assuming you’ve configured everything correctly, Apex should launch and be playable on your Linux system.
Troubleshooting
Apex Legends has a Gold rating on ProtonDB. Still, it can be buggy and may not run correctly on your Linux system. For help with the game, check out the Apex ProtonDB page.
