How to play Frostpunk on Linux
Frostpunk is a city-building survival game. It was developed and published by 11 bit studios, and takes place in 1886, in an alternative time-line where volcanic eruptions block out the sun, causing a volcanic winter. In the game, the player must create a new civilization to survive this new apocalypse.
Frostpunk was released on Windows 10 in 2018. In 2019, it was released on PS4 and Xbox One in 2019. At this time, the developers have no plans to port the game to Linux. As a result, if you wish to enjoy Frostpunk on the Linux platform, you must make use of Proton and Steam Play. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get it working!
Getting Frostpunk working on Linux
Frostpunk has a “Gold” rating on ProtonDB. That said, the best chance users have to get it working on Linux is through Steam Play and Proton. To get the game working on your system, follow the step-by-step instructions outlined below.
Step 1: To play Frostpunk on Linux with Proton, you must make use of the Steam Linux client. However, the Steam Linux client does not come pre-installed on any Linux operating system, for obvious reasons. So, we must demonstrate how to set it up. Launch a terminal window and follow the instructions outlined below.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu Linux is one of the easiest OSes ever to get Steam working. To install it, simply use the following Apt command below in a terminal window.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
When the Steam Deb package is done downloading to your computer, the installation is ready to begin. Using the dpkg command, install the latest Steam onto your PC.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Arch Linux
Those on Arch Linux should have zero issues setting up the latest release of Steam for Linux. The reason? They carry it in the central software repositories. Using the pacman command, get the app working.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
Both Fedora and OpenSUSE have a downloadable Steam client. However, it’s not worth using, as its installation involves adding special third-party software repositories, and stuff like that. An easier way to install Steam on these OSes is just to set up the Flatpak one instead. Follow the Flatpak instructions to get Steam working.
Flatpak
Steam is in the Flathub app store as a Flatpak, which is excellent, as not every Linux OS makes it easy to get Steam working. With the Steam Flatpak, anyone can enjoy Steam games with little effort. To start the installation, follow our guide on how to configure the Flatpak runtime. Then, execute the remote-add command below.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now that the Flatpak runtime is set up on your system, and the Flathub app store is set up, enter the flatpak install command below to get the latest release of Steam working on your PC.
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Step 2: Now that the Steam app is installed on your Linux PC, launch the app and log in. Once logged in, find the “Steam” menu, and click on it. Then, select the Settings” option to open up Steam settings.
Inside of the “Settings” area, look for “Steam Play” and click on it to access the Steam client’s Steam Play settings. In the “Steam Play” area, you must select two boxes. These boxes are “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” and “Enable Steam Play for all other titles.”
Once both boxes are checked, close the “Settings” window.
Step 3: Find the “STORE” button and click on it to access the Steam Storefront. From there, locate the search box, and type in “Frostpunk.” Press Enter to search.
In the search results, click on “Frostpunk” to access the Frostpunk Steam Storefront page. Then, click on “Add to cart” to purchase the game.
Step 4: After purchasing Frostpunk, find the “LIBRARY” button, and click on it with the mouse to access your Steam game library. Look through your game library for “Frostpunk” and click on it.
Step 5: Find the blue “INSTALL” button and click on it to download and install Frostpunk on your Linux PC. Keep in mind that this download takes a bit of time to complete.
When the download is complete, the blue “INSTALL” button becomes a green “PLAY” button. Click it to start up the game. Enjoy!
Troubleshooting Frostpunk
Frostpunk has a Gold rating on ProtonDB, which is pretty good, but not perfect. As a result, you may run into issues playing Frostpunk. For troubleshooting purposes, please head over to the Frostpunk ProtonDB page.
