Valve has released a new Proton Experimental update that improves compatibility for several Windows games running on Linux and Steam Deck.
The latest build adds support for three more games and fixes issues affecting Borderlands 4, STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT and titles that use the EA App. Wine Mono has also been updated to version 11.2.1.
If Proton Experimental is already installed on your Steam Deck or Linux PC, the new version should download automatically through Steam.
| Change | Details |
|---|---|
| Newly playable games | 8bit Fiesta: The Drinking Game, Bloody Zombies, Soul Land: Awakening World |
| Borderlands 4 fix | Removes the command prompt appearing during first launch |
| STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT fix | Restores missing character voice lines |
| EA App fix | Corrects splash images for affected games |
| Wine Mono | Updated to version 11.2.1 |
Three more games are now playable with Proton Experimental
The update expands Proton Experimental's compatibility list with three additional titles.
8bit Fiesta: The Drinking Game, Bloody Zombies and Soul Land: Awakening World are now officially listed as playable through the experimental compatibility layer.
Proton is the technology that allows many Windows games to run on Linux through Steam. Steam Deck relies heavily on it because a large portion of the Steam library was originally developed for Windows.
Proton Experimental receives fixes and compatibility changes ahead of the more stable Proton branches, making it useful for games that have recently launched or still have specific Linux related problems.
Borderlands 4 gets a cleaner first launch
Borderlands 4 receives a small but useful fix in this release.
Previously, starting the game for the first time through Proton Experimental could cause a command prompt window to appear. The latest version corrects that behavior.
The change does not represent a major performance or graphics improvement, but removing unnecessary windows helps make the launch process cleaner on Steam Deck and Linux systems.
For handheld players in particular, unexpected desktop style windows can interrupt the normal console like SteamOS experience.
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT voice lines are restored
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT also receives an audio related compatibility fix.
Some character voice lines were missing when the game ran through Proton Experimental. The new update addresses the problem, allowing those voices to play correctly.
Audio and video playback can sometimes present compatibility challenges for Windows games running through Proton because titles may depend on specific Windows components, codecs or multimedia frameworks.
Updates to Proton frequently address these individual issues as they are identified.
EA App titles get the correct splash images
The update also fixes an issue affecting games that rely on the EA App.
Some titles were displaying an incorrect splash image during startup. Proton Experimental should now show the expected artwork.
While this is primarily a visual correction, third party launchers remain an important part of Proton compatibility because many Steam games still depend on additional software from publishers such as EA.
Valve continues to make adjustments that reduce problems introduced by these launchers.
The update also moves Wine Mono to version 11.2.1. Wine Mono provides an open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework for Wine based environments and can be important for applications and game components that depend on .NET technologies.
Steam Deck owners who already use Proton Experimental do not need to manually update it. Steam should handle the new release automatically. If it is not installed, Proton Experimental can be found through Steam and downloaded like other compatibility tools.
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