Anticheat check – which competitive games actually work on Linux?
Anticheat check – which competitive games actually work on Linux?
Publish Date: 2026-05-21 06:54:00
Source Domain: www.gamingonlinux.com
Want to switch from Windows to Linux / SteamOS but concerned about games with anti-cheat on Linux? Here’s all you need to know on what you can play.
Unlike most other games, anti-cheat is a special case when it comes to Linux / SteamOS gaming that comes with its own set of issues. Unfortunately, plenty of games do currently (at time of publishing) completely block Linux and prevent you from playing.
There’s a lot of different anti-cheat systems out there to be aware of too. There’s the likes of Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye, Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC), Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE), EA Javelin Anticheat, Nexon Game Security, RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, NetEase Game Security and a great many more. Quite a few developers also use their own specialised anti-cheat systems that don’t have a specific name attached to them. And all of them work differently!
On Linux there’s also multiple ways to play games – there’s Native Linux games (those built for it) and then there’s also Valve’s Proton compatibility layer to run Windows games. Anti-cheat will work differently between those versions of games as well. You may find if a game has a Native Linux build, the anti-cheat might only work there (which is the case for some Valve games).
Some games that absolutely will not work (and likely never will) include some big hitters like Fortnite, Valorant and Warzone. But there’s a number that do work great like Counter-Strike 2, ARC Raiders and Marvel Rivals.
You also have to take into account the way these anti-cheat systems interact with your system. Some are purely server-based so they don’t touch your system. Some are installed into your local filesystem and others go hook directly into the kernel. On Linux though, kernel-level anti-cheat is not a thing (it’s all user-based). This is part of why many games choose to block Linux, because they can’t get into the kernel to provide the level of protection they specifically want.
Some games even allow SteamOS / Steam Deck, but block other forms…
