How to play ASTRONEER on Linux
ASTRONEER is a sandbox adventure game developed and published by System Era Softworks. The game was released on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Here’s how you can play ASTRONEER on your Linux desktop or laptop PC.
Getting ASTRONEER working on Linux
ASTRONEER is not a native Linux video game, sadly. However, it is still possible to play the game on your computer using the Proton runtime in Steam.
To use Proton with ASTRONEER, you will need to install the Linux Steam client. Setting up the Steam app requires the Linux terminal. You can open up a terminal by pressing Crtl + Alt + T on the keyboard or searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, the installation of Steam can begin. Follow the installation instructions below that correspond to the Linux OS you use.
Ubuntu
On Ubuntu, the Steam app is installable via the apt install command.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
On Debian, you must download the Steam DEB package directly from the Valve website to install it. Using the wget download command below, grab the package.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the Steam DEB package to your computer, use the dpkg command to install the software to your Debian system.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
With the package installed, you may need to clean up any dependency issues during the installation process. To fix this, run the apt-get install -f command.
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, you’ll need to enable the “multilib” repo before attempting to install Steam. To enable this repo, open up the /etc/pacman.conf file in a text editor (as root). Then, find “multilib” and remove the # symbol from the first and second lines.
After you’ve finished editing, save the text file, and run the pacman -Syy command.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install the latest version of Steam on Arch Linux with the pacman -S command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
Those on Fedora Linux or OpenSUSE Linux can install Steam using software repositories that come with the operating system. However, the Flatpak version of Steam tends to work better on these OSes, so we suggest following those instructions instead.
Flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
With the Steam app installed, open it up through the app menu and log into your account. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get ASTRONEER working on your Linux PC.
Step 1: Open the “Steam” menu in the Steam app, then select the “Settings” option to load up the Steam settings area. Once inside the “Steam” settings area, select “Steam Play.”
In the “Steam Play” area, check all three boxes available on the page. Then, set the version of Proton to “Proton Experimental.” Click “OK” to confirm your settings.
Step 2: Find the “Store” button inside the Steam app and click on it to load up the Steam storefront. Then, select the “Search” box, type in “ASTRONEER”, and press the Enter key to view the search results.
Look through the Steam search results for “ASTRONEER,” and click on the game once you’ve located it.
Step 3: After selecting “ASTRONEER” in the search results, Steam will load up the game’s Steam store page. From here, find the green “Add to cart” button and click on it with the mouse.
Once your game is added to the Steam cart, click on the Steam cart. You’ll then be able to purchase the game and add it to your account.
Step 4: When you’ve purchased ASTRONEER, find the “Library” button in the Steam app, and select it with the mouse to load up your Steam games library. Then, from there, find the search box.
Click on the Library search box, type in “ASTRONEER,” and click on the game when it appears in the search results.
Step 5: After selecting “ASTRONEER” in the Steam Library search results, find the blue “INSTALL” button, and click on it with the mouse. When you click on “INSTALL,” Steam will download and install the game to your Linux computer.
Step 6: When ASTRONEER is done downloading and installing to your Linux PC, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Select this button to start up the game on your Linux PC.
