Heroic Games Launcher is an open-source game launcher that allows users to access and manage libraries from the Epic Games Store, GOG, and Amazon Games without relying on their official clients. It includes built-in Wine and Proton support for running Windows titles on Linux, and is also available on Windows and macOS.

How does Heroic Games Launcher run Windows games on Linux or macOS?

Heroic Games Launcher uses Wine as a compatibility layer to run Windows-based games from the Epic Games Store and GOG on Linux and macOS. When you launch a game through Heroic, it wraps the game's executable in a Wine environment, which mimics a Windows system so the game can run natively on your OS without needing Windows installed.

Do I need to download Wine separately to run games first?

No, you don't need to install Wine system-wide before using Heroic. The launcher includes a built-in Wine Manager that lets you download and manage specific versions of Wine, Proton, or Wine-GE directly from the app. This means each game can use its own Wine version without affecting your system. However, on macOS, you may need to install some extra dependencies like XQuartz, and Heroic will guide you if anything is missing.

Do I need to install Epic Games or GOG Galaxy first?

No, Heroic does not require the official launchers to work. It accesses your library directly using API integration.

Can I install and play all Epic/GOG games?

Most games work, but some may have compatibility issues due to DRM or Wine/Proton limitations. Online multiplayer and anti-cheat protections may not work on Linux.

Is Heroic Games Launcher safe to use?

Yes, Heroic is considered a safe and secure game launcher. It does not collect any personal data from your computer, and it's open source, so its code is publicly available for anyone to review.

Can I add other games to Heroic?

Yes. You can add custom executables using the "Add Game" option, similar to Steam's custom shortcuts.

Features

  • Login with an existing Epic Games, GOG or Amazon account
  • Install, uninstall, update, repair and move Games
  • Import an already installed game
  • Play Epic games online [AntiCheat on macOS and on Linux depends on the game]
  • Play games using Wine or Proton [Linux]
  • Play games using Crossover [macOS]
  • Download custom Wine and Proton versions [Linux]
  • Access to Epic, GOG and Amazon Games stores directly from Heroic
  • Search for the game on ProtonDB for compatibility information [Linux]
  • Show ProtonDB and Steam Deck compatibility information [Linux]
  • Sync installed games with an existing Epic Games Store installation
  • Sync saves with the cloud
  • Custom Theming Support
  • Download queue
  • Add Games and Applications outside GOG, Epic Games and Amazon Games
  • Define your categories to organize your collection

More Features

Game Page

Check game details like description, publisher, download and install size, time played and more.

Platform Selection

On Linux and on MacOS you can select to install the Windows version of a native game. This might be handy in case the native version is not supported anymore. On Linux you can choose that for GOG games only.

Access to the Stores

Go to the Epic, Amazon Prime or GOG store without even leaving Heroic. Get free games or buy new ones directly from Heroic's interface!

Organize your library

Add games to favorites or simply hide the games you already played or will never play at all.

Themes

If you don't like the default colors, you have the ability to change them. It also includes the famous Dracula theme.

Wine Settings

Besides using the right Wine version, it is important to setup everything to have the best gameplay experience on Linux and on macOS. Under the Wine Settings it is possible to auto install tools like DXVK, VKD3D, FSR and also to run WineCFG, Winetricks and Run EXE on the prefix, so you can install games pre-requisites in a easy way.

Multi Language

Heroic was translated by the community in more than 40 languages, from Portuguese to Korean, from Farsi to French. You can also help with translations by accessing our Weblate Page.

Wine Manager

On Linux, download the latest version of Wine-GE, Wine-Lutris or even Proton-GE using the Wine Manager. These selection of Wine version are focused on improving the gaming experience and compatibility.

What's New

Hi!

This new Heroic release brings amazing and exciting new features!

We now have a brand new console-like fullscreen mode built for joystick/TV navigation, a new Deals page showing current GOG promotions (and a reminder that buying games from inside Heroic helps Heroic development ), and achievements support for GOG games right on the game page.

Game covers can now be picked directly from SteamGridDB on the sideload dialog (when an API key is set on Heroic settings), the Wine manager screen has been cleaned up and gained a dedicated settings screen, Electron was updated to 41.1, How Long To Beat data is working again, and the release includes many other fixes and quality improvements.
There is also a native Windows Arm64 Build now (Linux next?!)

Highlights

  • New Fullscreen "Console-like" Mode for joystick navigation (#5490)
  • New Deals page with current GOG promotions (#5497)
  • Achievements on the game info page for GOG games (#5208)
  • Pick covers from SteamGridDB directly on the sideload dialog when a SteamGrid API key is set (#5213)
  • Wine manager screen cleanup + new Wine settings screen (#5306)
  • Electron updated to v41.1.1 (#5467)
  • How Long To Beat data fixed (#5466)
  • Import button moved next to the Install button for better discoverability (#5339)
  • GitHub Sponsors link added to the sidebar (#5499)

What's Changed

  • [UX] Allow disabling GOG Presence updates by @arielj in #5249
  • [FIX]: address some issues with Zoom Platform implementation by @imLinguin in #5033
  • chore: harden workflow permissions and standardize GITHUB_TOKEN usage by @niStee in #5141
  • tech: add github copilot instructions by @imLinguin in #5373
  • Update bug report template with latest release by @github-actions[bot] in #5371
  • [FIX] Clean up release notes by removing URLs and usernames by @flavioislima in #5372
  • [DOC] Minimum MacOS version by @arielj in #5380
  • [UX] Allow picking .avif images in add game image selector by @arielj in #5382
  • [FIX]: include mod type as displayable by @imLinguin in #5385
  • [ZOOM] Fix multi-file installation of games by @arielj in #5374
  • Bump immutable from 5.1.2 to 5.1.5 by @dependabot[bot] in #5391
  • Bump fast-xml-parser from 4.5.3 to 4.5.4 by @dependabot[bot] in #5390
  • Bump axios from 1.13.2 to 1.13.5 by @dependabot[bot] in #5307
  • [feat] add achievements to game info page by @lmReef in #5208
  • [UX] Cleanup general logs by @arielj in #5386
  • [UX] Cleanup game logs, add config file path by @arielj in #5381
  • [FIX] Fix inconcistent login state switching stores by @arielj in #5383
  • [UX] Hint at 4-char codes in preferred language by @barraponto in #5402
  • [Fix] Check if game install folder exists before anything else by @arielj in #5317
  • [Refactor] Reduce the number of requests that we do at boot time by @arielj in #5161
  • fix(gamepage): prevent achievement list overflow by @imLinguin in #5407
  • [Mac] Update DXMT in installed Wines if new version detected by @arielj in #5427
  • Bump @xmldom/xmldom from 0.8.10 to 0.8.12 by @dependabot[bot] in #5447
  • Bump undici from 7.8.0 to 7.24.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #5408
  • Bump fast-xml-parser from 4.5.4 to 5.5.7 by @dependabot[bot] in #5419
  • Bump undici from 6.21.3 to 7.24.7 by @dependabot[bot] in #5453
  • [FIX] Don't look for anticheat file if not present, don't check DXMT if not M chip by @arielj in #5436
  • Add Windows ARM 64 Native Build Support by @talynone in #5389
  • Fix typo on TwoColTableInput component style by @JavMatz in #5476
  • [Tech] Update electron to v41.1.1 by @flavioislima in #5467
  • fix: clear GOG presence when disabling the setting by @reverb256 in #5472
  • [FIX] Load wine versions on first run by @arielj in #5432
  • [UX] Fix mix between default prefixes dir and shared prefix dir by @arielj in #5336
  • [i18n] Updated Translations by @weblate in #5376
  • [FIX] System info and game settings in logs for native sideloaded games by @arielj in #5492
  • [FIX] Use dpaste.com instead of 0x0.st to upload logs by @arielj in #5491
  • [FIX] Use mirror for latest Wine-Crossover version by @arielj in #5488
  • [FIX] How Long To Beat 🎶One More Time...🎶 by @flavioislima in #5466
  • [Feat] Use SteamGrid API to select covers on sideload dialog by @flavioislima in #5213
  • [UI] Wine manager screen cleanup and add wine settings screen by @flavioislima in #5306
  • [FIX] Always pick staging asset instead of devel for Wine Staging on MacOS by @arielj in #5483
  • [UI] Add GitHub Sponsors link to sidebar by @flavioislima in #5499
  • [Feat] Add a new Deals page with current GOG promotions by @flavioislima in #5497
  • [Feat] Add a new Fullscreen "Console-like" Mode for Joystick navigation by @flavioislima in #5490
  • [UI] Move import button to the side of the Install one by @flavioislima in #5339
  • [TECH] Update legendary binary version to 0.20.43 by @flavioislima in #5502
  • [i18n] Updated Translations by @weblate in #5494

Previous Release Notes:

It is being a wild 5 months since the last Heroic release in August and some people thought the project was dying but far from it, we never had received so many code contributions as in recent months from people fixing bugs or implementing new features. Of course we suffer a bit from AI slop here and there but it's part of the new way of development and no coming back and has its goods and bad as all things in life.

About the new release, called "Punk-01 Shaka", one of the Vegapunks sattelites in One piece. This is mostly a transitory release since we are working hard in adding new integrations, long asked features and more for the next release that it will be big for sure.
But this one has some nice features and a lot of background work for all platforms that will prepare the road for what is too come for Heroic's future.

Highlights

  • Added experimental integration for games from the Zoom platform, Linux only for now. Next release we will bring it to the others.
  • macOS - Added support for DXMT
  • Added new Launch Options setting for games that supports it.
  • Added Import button to the game page so its easier to find it.
  • Added some Sync-Saves options to the Game page as well.
  • macOS - Removed the ability to install Steam with a button since it is not working anymore, we are investigating other ways of automate that, but for now we preferred to remove it.
  • Cleaned up several options that are not relevant for Linux and macOS anymore.
  • Improved gamepad navigation in general
  • Linux - Added initial support for AppImage auto-update.
  • Windows - both the Setup and Portable versions are signed with certificate now.
  • Updated Electron to v39
  • Updated gogdl and legendary with fixes for a few bugs related with game listing, updates and more.
  • Several other fixes and improvements.