Adding Non-Steam Games to Your Steam Deck Using Heroic Games Launcher

Valve’s Steam Deck dropped like a bomb in the gaming world. It’s the peacekeeper, the ultimate handheld—everyone said so. But, I mean, they kinda forgot about it after all those other gadgets showed up. Can’t blame them, really. The issue? You’re stuck with just Steam games on it, right? Uh, nope.

Way more options exist. Seriously, did you know there’s a thing called the Heroic Games Launcher? It’s like a secret path or something. This cool app lets you dive into your GoG, Amazon, and Epic game collections. You know, those stacks of games you snagged for free just ’cause? Yeah, them. Now they’re just chilling in your hand wherever you go—on the bus, in bed, whatever.

Anyway—so there I was, knee-deep trying to get this thing to work. Let me tell you, it’s not as simple as tap and go. Start by popping that Heroic thing onto your Steam Deck. You dive into the Desktop mode first. Strange choice, right? But hang on. Click around until you hit the Discover app, which kinda acts like an app store. Look up Heroic there. Install takes ages, maybe it gets bored. Who knows.

So, then I go and fiddle with Wine settings? Yeah, it’s Proton Experimental or something. Sounds slick, but buggy too. Kind of like choosing between a flashy sports car and a reliable old van—risky but fun.

You install games, watch them load forever—Cyberpunk was a nightmare while Shredder’s Revenge just zipped through. Then comes the sweet moment of truth. Fingers crossed!

Heroic is in there on your Steam now. Looks all dandy. I got carried away and added artwork to make it feel legit. Seriously mattered more than I thought—like dressing up a character in a game, only it’s real life. How bizarre is that?

Oh, and before I forget—yeah, launch Steam again but in desktop mode (pardon the déjà vu). Right-click it, set custom stuff. It’s more fiddling, but kinda worth it in a weird way. Makes things look slick.

And that’s that. In no time, you’re just one button away from a whole different world of gaming on your Deck. Kinda cool, right? Who knew a little chaos and a lot of patience could get you so far?

Is it perfect? Nah, not really. But that’s half the fun of it, wouldn’t you say?