How to play Payday 2 on Linux

Payday 2 is a cooperative FPS developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 games. In the game, players team up in a group of 4 to do bank robberies. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get Payday 2 working on Linux.

Payday 2 on Linux

Payday 2 works on Linux thanks to the Steam for Linux client. To play this game on your Linux PC, you will need to install the official Steam client.

Insstall Steam

To install Steam on Linux, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Once the terminal window is open and ready to go, follow along with the command-line installation instructions outlined below that corresponds with the Linux OS you currently use.

Ubuntu

On Ubuntu Linux, the Steam app is best installed by using the Apt command in a terminal window.

sudo apt install steam

Debian

If you’re a Debian Linux user, the best way to get Steam working isn’t by installing it through the Debian software repositories. Instead, the best way to get Steam up and running is by downloading the Steam DEB package directly from the Steam website.

To download the latest Steam DEB package to your Linux PC, use the wget download command below.

wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb

After downloading the Steam DEB package to your Linux PC, the installation can begin. Using the dpkg command below, install Steam on your Debian Linux PC.

sudo dpkg -i steam.deb

During the installation of Steam on Debian, you may notice some errors appear in the terminal. These errors are dependency issues. To fix them, enter the command below.

sudo apt-get install -f

Arch Linux

Arch Linux has the Steam app in the “multilib” software repository. To install the app on your Arch Linux PC, start by ensuring you have the “multilib” software repository enabled in /etc/pacman.conf.

After enabling the repository on your Arch Linux system, you’ll be able to install it using the following Pacman command.

sudo pacman -S steam

Fedora/OpenSUSE

Both Fedora and OpenSUSE have native Steam support. However, installing Steam via an RPM package is quite tedious on both operating systems. For this reason, we highly recommend skipping the RPM installation of Steam in favor of the Flatpak version.

Flatpak

Steam is available as a Flatpak package, which is nice as not every Linux operating system has support for Steam out of the box. To start the installation of Steam via Flatpak, you will need to set up the Flatpak runtime. To do that, follow along with this guide.

After setting up the Flatpak runtime on your computer, it is time to set up the Flathub app store. Using the flatpak remote-add command, set up Flathub.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Once Flathub is configured on your Linux PC, the installation of Steam can begin. Using the flatpak install command, get Steam working.

flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam

Install Payday 2 on Linux

Now that Steam is installed on your Linux PC open it up and log in using your user account and password. Then, follow along with the step-by-step instructions below to get Payday 2 working.

Step 1: Click on the “Steam” menu in the top-left corner of Steam. Once inside the “Steam” menu, find the “Settings” button, and select it. By selecting “Settings,” you will open up the Steam settings area.

Inside the Steam settings area, locate the “Steam Play” section, and click on it with the mouse. From there, find the “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” boxes and check them.

Click “OK” when done to apply the changes. Your Steam may restart after selecting “OK.”

Step 2: Find the “STORE” button at the top of the page and click on it with the mouse to access the Steam store. Once inside the Steam store, find the search box and type in “Payday 2.” Press the Enter key to view the search results.

Look through the search results for “Payday 2” and click on it to access the Payday 2 Storefront page.

Step 3: On the Payday 2 library page, there’s a green button that says “Add to cart.” Click on the “Add to cart” button to purchase the game to your Steam account.

After purchasing the game, locate the “Library” button in Steam to access your Steam library. Then, find the Steam library section’s search button and use it to search for Payday 2.

Step 4: Once you’ve located Payday 2 in your Steam library, right-click on it with the mouse. Then, select “Properties,” followed by “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.

Select “Proton 5.13-5” in the drop-down menu. Then, close the “Properties” window to apply the changes.

Step 5: In your Steam library, click on Payday 2 to access the game’s Steam library page. Then, select the blue “INSTALL” button to download and install the game on your Linux PC.