Hi, in this post I will share my way of playing pirated games in linux. There are various methods to pirate games in linux, this post will not cover all of them, just the one that works for me.

In short, I download cracked preintstalled windows games from trusted websites and run them using heroic games launcher (HGL).

In details below.

Getting the game files:

There are numerous websites that offer preinstalled games. For up to date and trusted list by the community always check fmhy. Visit the websites that offer preinstalled files. Extract the game files in a folder. I use a dedicated /games folder.

Running the game:

I use heroic game launcher to run the games. It uses wine/proton under the hood. Let's see how to setup heroic launcher.

STEP 1: Get the application. As far as I know, the developers recommend the flatpak version, it has to be given permission to access the the game folder using flatseal (or kde application permission manager if using kde). I have granted it access to the /games folder.

STEP 2: Download the latest proton-ge runner from the wine manager tab.

STEP 3: Click on "ADD GAME" in the library tab in HGL. If the name of the game is entered accurately in the title section, the launcher will autofill the cover art. Then select the GAME.EXE that launches the game. Then proceed to run game.

HGL can also be used to install and play games from epic game store, so the free games from epic can be played in linux as well. Repacks can be installed through HGL, but that didn't work for me, there are some decompression error. So I use preinstalled games instead and have faced no errors yet. This seems to be the easiest method for me. Eager to learn what other methods others use here.

edit: fixed some formatting