Max Payne is a movie-like game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games for PC. It was one of the games that really put Rockstar Games onto the map. The gritty storyline and revolutionary gameplay set a pace for even their future titles, such as Grand Theft Auto. Max Payne was first released in 2001. The story is about a New York detective Max Payne who seeks revenge on the ones responsible for the death of his wife and child.
As you may already know, Max Payne is a console game for Windows. However, if you want to play it on Linux, there are ways to make it work. First of all, I suppose you could try Wine. It works for some games and not for others, while some also have issues or bugs concerning performance or input lag.
Generally, the new versions of Max Payne aren’t supported on Linux. Not many people seem to be developing games for Linux, which is a shame. Because of this, you have probably asked yourself if it is possible to play games like Max Payne on Linux.
This article will explain how to get the game running on your favourite Linux distribution without any lag or bugs interfering in the gameplay.
It’s straightforward to play Max Payne on Linux. However, you will need to own a Windows game to do it. It sounds tricky, but it isn’t. Here’s what you need to know.
Installing Max Payne on Linux
For Max Payne to run on Linux, it requires you to get Steam. With the power of Steam Play and Proton, It works better than WINE or PlayOnLinux, plus it’s effortless to set up.
Install Steam On Linux
Installing Steam on Linux is a piece of cake due to the supposed official support of Steam. To install Steam on Linux, you need to fire up the Terminal. You can do this by pressing “Ctrl + Alt + T.”, or simply searching for Terminal in the app menu.
Depending on what version of Linux you fancy, we have here the list of commands that you can try to install Steam on Linux via Terminal.
Debian Linux
The easiest way to install Steam on Debian Linux based system is to directly download the Steam DEB package from their official website with the help of the wget command. (Place it in your home folder or change the directory for further commands).
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
Next, use dpkg command to install the latest version of steam on Debian Linux.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
It’s imperative that you get the latest dependencies for Steam to function. You can do this via the apt-get-install command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Ubuntu
Use the apt install command given below to install Steam on Ubuntu.
sudo apt install steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
To get Steam on Fedora/OpenSUSE, we recommend using Flatpak (software deployment and package management for Linux) release of steam.
Install Flatpak on Fedora: sudo dnf install flatpak
Instal Flatpak on OpenSUSE: sudo zypper install flatpak
After this, install steam with two commands mentioned below:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, Steam can be installed via “multilib” software repository. For this, you need to enable it first by editing Pacman.conf file from the location /etc/pacman.conf. Now, locate the “multilib” section and remove the # symbol and the lines that follow it below. Please save the file and now it’s time for Pacman to resync with the command below:
sudo pacman -Syy
Now that we have multilib configured and re-synced pacman, you can install Steam with this command:
sudo pacman -S steam
Play MaxPayne on Linux with Steam
Now that we have installed Steam, it’s time to configure it for running games on Linux. Follow along with the steps after opening up Steam App and make sure you are logged in by entering your credentials.
- Click on the Steam menu and navigate to Settings. It will grant you access to the internal settings of Steam.
- Inside the Settings, look for “Steam Play” (at the bottom) and click on it.
- Now check “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” and “Enable Steam Play for all other titles.”
- After this, your Linux system is ready to play games. Now it’s time to install one. Head over to the Store Page (Look for it on the top) and search for “Max Payne.”
- Now click on Add to cart and purchase the game. Alternatively, you can even use the steam account that has the Max Payne game purchased in it.
- Now go to your Steam Library, click on Max Payne, and then hit the “Install” button.
After the successful installation, the Play button will turn green and now you can click on the Play button and enjoy the game.
Summing Up:
Max Payne. It’s a game that is best described as noir-ish with a mix of Matrix bullet-time action scenes and something out of The Crow. There are only two games in the series, and Max Payne 3, while good, turned the series into something completely different. It is arguably the beginning of the revolution you are witnessing now, as Linux gaming on desktops took a significant leap forward. Steam is the best digital distribution service and platform for PC, Mac, and Linux computer games.