How to play Wolfenstein: the new order on Linux
Wolfenstein: the new order is an action FPS video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game centers around a universe where Germany won WW2, and the player fights to defeat the German army as US Soldier B.J. Blazkowicz.
Wolfenstein: the new order was released in 2014 for PC on Steam, and a Linux release has never been considered. However, thanks to Valve’s Steam Play technology, it is possible to enjoy this game on Linux.
Play Wolfenstein: the new order
Playing Wolfenstein: the new order on Linux means getting the official Steam Linux client working.
Install Steam
If you want to play this game on your Linux PC, the first step is installing this app. To start the installation of Steam, launch a terminal window, and follow the command-line installation instructions outlined below.
Ubuntu
If you’re using Ubuntu Linux, the Steam app is incredibly simple to install. Just run the following Apt command to get it working.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
Steam is a closed-source, proprietary application. Debian, as an operating system, promotes open-source ideals. As a result, Steam is not available to users without enabling the ‘non-free’ repo.
Enabling the ‘non-free’ repository can be tedious if you’re new to Debian. If you want to get Steam working, a much easier way to get everything set up is to download the Steam DEB from the internet with the wget command below.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the latest Steam DEB package to your computer, it is time to start the installation of Steam. Using the dpkg command below, get the app working.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Arch Linux
If you’re using Arch Linux, you’ll be able to quickly get the Steam application up and running with the following pacman terminal command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
On Fedora Linux, users need to install and enable RPM Fusion to be able to install Steam. On OpenSUSE Linux, it can be tedious too. If you’re trying to get Steam working and use either of these Linux OSes, the best way to go is to follow the Flatpak instructions instead.
Flatpak
Flatpak’s version of Steam is super useful if you’re using a Linux operating system that does not make it easy to set up the Steam app natively. To get the official Steam client up and running through Flatpak, you need to install the Flatpak runtime.
After setting up the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC, it is time to add the Flathub app store to your Linux system. Using the flatpak remote-add command below, set up Flathub.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now that the Flathub app store is set up on your Linux PC execute the flatpak install command to get the official Steam Linux client working on your Linux PC.
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Install Wolfenstein: the new order
With Steam set up on your Linux PC, launch it by searching for “Steam” in the app menu. Then, log into your account using your user credentials and follow the step-by-step instructions below to get Wolfenstein: the new order running.
Step 1: Find the “Steam” menu, and click on it. Then, select “Settings” to open up the Steam Settings area. Once inside the Steam Settings area, find “Steam Play,” and click on it to access the Steam Play area.
Step 2: Inside the Steam Play area, select the “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” box. Click on the “OK” button to apply changes to Steam.
Step 3: Find the “STORE” button in Steam, and select it to open up the Steam Storefront. Once on the Storefront, use the search feature to search for “Wolfenstein: the new order.”
Select “Wolfenstein: the new order” in the search results to go to the Wolfenstein Storefront page.
Step 4: On the Wolfenstein Storefront page, find the “Add to cart” button, and click on it to purchase the game for your Steam account. Then, click on “LIBRARY” to access your Steam library.
Step 5: Inside of the Steam Library, look for “Wolfenstein: the new order” and click on the blue “INSTALL” button to begin downloading and installing the game to your Linux PC. It may take some time to download, as it is a big game.
When Wolfenstein: the new order is done downloading to your Linux PC, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Select it to start up the game!
Troubleshooting Wolfenstein: the new order
Wolfenstein: the new order has a platinum rating on ProtonDB, so you’ll likely have no issues running the game on most Linux operating systems. However, if you do run into trouble, be sure to check out the Wolfenstein: the new order ProtonDB page. There you’ll be able to check out fixes from fellow Linux gamers and submit your issues as well.
