The relationship between games and Linux has improved a lot in recent years, beyond the occasional technical quirk. The solid progress in Wine development and the official arrival of Steam significantly expanded the available list, but that also creates the need to manage all those titles efficiently. That's when Lutris comes in, an open-source platform that can organize Linux, Windows (via Wine), emulated, browser, or Steam games.
I admit that my gaming sessions on Linux have been very limited. I never had luck with the graphics chips within my reach, and there are times when I simply don't have the patience to smooth out their rough edges. The Windows "double-click" is as tempting as placing a disc in a console, however, it would be a mistake on my part not to recognize that the situation has improved. Steam is available on the main distros, many developers released compatible builds, stores like Good Old Games and the Humble Store offer a large number of titles, and some names are very high-profile (Civilization VI, RimWorld, Kerbal Space Program, Rocket League, Borderlands 2, Amnesia, XCOM… the list goes on). Steam can manage games that are bought and/or installed through it, but what about the rest?
What is Lutris?
For those cases there is Lutris, an open-source platform that is at version 0.4.12. Lutris allows us to manage games regardless of their technical condition. Whether they are "native" titles, run with Wine, online, or through emulated consoles, Lutris can handle them. In fact, the program includes more than 20 emulators that are installed with just a couple of clicks, and also has the ability to open games in Steam. This is probably one of the most important points: Lutris doesn't seem to intend to replace Steam (for now), but rather complements and expands its offering.
Features and Installation
Some of the features that its developers have planned for Lutris are full support for GOG and Humble Bundle, general ROM import, save game management, a polished interface to configure gamepads, and social elements like friend lists and internal chat. The installation of Lutris depends on the type of distro we use. According to its guide, openSUSE, Fedora, and Arch Linux offer the most direct path, while Debian-Ubuntu require manual configuration of the repositories.
