> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Running One of My Favorite Windows Game on Linux: Here's How It Went - URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/windows-game-on-linux-experience/ - Published: 2024-07-06T03:33:19.000Z - Updated: 2024-07-19T11:30:05.000Z - Description: Curious to know how it looks like to run your favorite Windows game on Linux? We share our experience here. - Author: Sourav Rudra - Tags: Gaming 🎮, News, #Import 2025-11-08 21:15 I vividly remember the day back in 2018, when CD Projekt RED showed off the trailer for [Cyberpunk 2077](https://www.cyberpunk.net/?ref=itsfoss.com). I was super excited about it, the world, the lore, the characters, and the best part, an open-world to play around in. All this was thanks to the hard work [Mike Pondsmith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%5FPondsmith?ref=itsfoss.com) had put in over the years, creating a unique dystopian world. When it came out for pre-order, I immediately got it for PC, in the hopes of getting early access, playing it before any spoilers started popping up. Since then, **I have learned to never pre-order a game again**. As many of you might already know, its [launch was a disaster](https://www.vox.com/culture/22187377/cyberpunk-2077-criticism-ps4-xbox-one-bugs-glitches-refunds?ref=itsfoss.com), with performance issues across all platforms, and Sony even delisting it from their game store. Luckily, in the months following the launch, **the developers were able to turn this sinking ship over**, with timely updates, and clear communication. Slowly, but surely, the game became what it was originally intended to be, and the [Netflix series](https://www.netflix.com/title/81054853?ref=itsfoss.com) spinoff just helped it become more mainstream. For me, I have been playing it on my Windows PC since early access (*December 2020*), completing all the side-quests and the main quests, even the recently introduced [Phantom Liberty](https://www.cyberpunk.net/us/en/phantom-liberty?ref=itsfoss.com) DLC. A few months ago, I got a new laptop, got rid of Windows 11, and went with an Ubuntu setup on it. As expected, the gamer in me wanted to play games on it, so I installed Steam, and got started with a few native, and non-native games. Join me as I take you through my experience with Cyberpunk 2077. 🚧 This is an “M” (**USA*) rated video game intended for mature audiences. ## Cyberpunk 2077 on Ubuntu: How Did It Turn Out? ![a screenshot of the cyberpunk 2077 start screen](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_a.jpg) If you were wondering, **Cyberpunk 2077 is not a native game for Linux**, but the [Proton](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton?ref=itsfoss.com) compatibility layer makes it possible to run it on distributions which have the necessary utilities. Thanks to that, any benchmark I ran showed that I was running Windows 10 Pro as the operating system. The test system used in this article has the following specifications: - **RAM:** 16 GB - **CPU:** Intel Core i5-13450HX - **GPU:** NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB - **Driver:** NVIDIA 535.183.01 - **OS:** Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS - **DE:** GNOME 42.9 - **Session:** X11 - **Mods:** No Initially, when I ran the game, I was surprised to see that the save games from my previous play through on Windows (*\~170 hours of gameplay*) were synced, meaning that I could pick up where I left off. I then turned all the graphical settings to their maximum settings (*except a few RT-related ones*) by using the “*Ray Tracing: Ultra*” graphical preset and ran a benchmark. As expected, the game performed bad on this entry-level card. See for yourself. 👇 ![a screenshot of a cyberpunk 2077 benchmark with the ray tracing ultra preset selected](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_b.jpg) So, I proceeded to tweak the settings to make the game more playable. I completely did away with any kind of Ray Tracing, kept DLSS on the Auto setting, changed the *Hybrid CPU Utilization* setting to prioritize P-cores by default, and disabled VSync. ![a screenshot of the cyberpunk 2077 graphics settings menu](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_c.jpg) And, to my surprise, the game was running smoothly, fluctuating between \~50-60 fps, with the occasional micro stutter and FPS drop when I moved through the game world too fast. One more thing I noticed was that when I turned on V-Sync @60 FPS, the game felt slightly less smooth, compared to when it was off. ![a screenshot of the cyberpunk 2077 graphics settings menu](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_c2.jpg) Plus, when I tried using the 30 FPS setting for it, the game would still run with the FPS unlocked, even when I turned on the dedicated “Maximum FPS” setting on, and the benchmarking tool would start reporting erroneous FPS numbers. ### As for my gameplay experience… 🎮 🐧 Only screenshots can't do justice to the wonderful experience I had. But, I have attached some fairly eye-catching ones in the gallery below to give you an idea. 👇 ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_d.jpg) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_e.jpg) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_f.jpg) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2024/07/Cyberpunk_2077_Ubuntu_g.jpg) I did all kinds of shenanigans, be it angering the cops, or going into a scav base guns blazing, the game didn't bug out, even the photo mode was working as expected; *Don't ask me what I did to anger the police.* ☠️ Before I wrap this up, **a note for users of multiple monitors**, there's a chance that the game will run slightly slowly in terms of FPS (*it did for me*) when an external/additional monitor is connected. For entry-level GPUs, you may face an FPS drop issue, for high-end GPUs, I doubt that will be a problem. Another thing that **slightly soured the experience** for me was that when I alt-tabbed in/out of the game, the game would sometimes crash, without an error. It would happen more frequently if I aggressively switched between multiple workspaces with a few applications open. So, that's something to keep in mind when playing. **Suggested Read** 📖 [Gaming On Linux: All You Need To KnowCan I play games on Linux? What are the games available for Linux? Where to find Linux games? This comprehensive article answers all your questions on Linux gaming.![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/12/android-chrome-192x192.png)It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2015/10/Gaming-on-Linux.jpeg)](https://itsfoss.com/linux-gaming-guide/) ## Try Gaming On Linux! I was very delighted to see that Cyberpunk 2077 was running so good on Ubuntu, even better than on my Windows PC, which couldn't pass the \~45 FPS mark on all settings turned up to the max, without Ray Tracing. Although, I admit my gaming PC has an older GTX 1070 Ti GPU, but I still liked what I saw on Ubuntu. Many users, who want to switch to Linux, I tell you, [gaming on Linux](https://itsfoss.com/linux-gaming-guide/) has improved a lot, and my experience here is a proof of that. You should definitely give your favorite game a try on Linux! *⭐ Lastly, stay tuned, as I have a few more such gaming-centric articles lined up where I will take you through my experience on Ubuntu.*