Heroic Games Launcher
An open-source launcher for Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime games, on Linux, Windows, macOS and the Steam Deck.
These buttons open the developer's own site, repository or store listing in a new tab. wares.gg does not host downloads.
5 more ways to get Heroic Games Launcher
Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by The Heroic Games Launcher team. Prefer the official page above when it works.
Package managers
- winget
winget install --id HeroicGamesLauncher.HeroicGamesLauncher - Chocolatey
choco install heroic-games-launcher - Homebrew
brew install --cask heroic - Flathub
flatpak install flathub com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl
About Heroic Games Launcher
Heroic launches games from the Epic Games Store, GOG and Amazon Prime Gaming through open-source back ends, on Linux, Windows, macOS and the Steam Deck. It browses those stores from inside the app, queues downloads with live speed and pause controls, and pulls custom cover art from SteamGridDB.
Its Wine Manager downloads and manages the gaming-tuned compatibility builds: Wine-GE, Wine-Lutris and Proton-GE on Linux, or Wine-Crossover, Wine-Staging and Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit on macOS. The project states it carries no ads, never sells your data, and keeps analytics anonymous and off by default.
Strengths
- Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime libraries in one launcher
- Wine Manager downloads and manages Proton-GE, Wine-GE and the macOS equivalents
- Linux, Windows, macOS and Steam Deck builds, including Flatpak and AppImage
- Custom cover and square art from SteamGridDB so imported titles look right
- No ads, no data selling, and anonymous analytics that are off by default
Limitations
- You still need accounts with Epic, GOG or Amazon to use their libraries
- It does not handle Steam; that is Steam’s own client
- Compatibility for a given Windows game still depends on Wine or Proton
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source under GPLv3, funded by donations.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Developer
- The Heroic Games Launcher team
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Required
- Works offline
- No
- Best suited for
- Playing Epic and GOG purchases on Linux or a Steam Deck
- Categories
- Gaming tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Gaming); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 6 sources on file.
Alternatives to Heroic Games Launcher
Compare allSoftware that can replace Heroic Games Launcher for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Lutris
A Linux gaming platform that installs the right emulator, Wine build or engine for each game and launches them from one place.
Lutris is Linux only but adds Steam and Humble libraries alongside Epic and GOG, with community installer scripts providing emulators and Wine builds per game.
GOG Galaxy
DRM-free games store and unified library that also pulls in other platforms.
GOG Galaxy is GOG's official closed-source client for Windows and macOS, selling DRM-free games and unifying other libraries through unofficial connectors, with no Linux build.
Epic Games Store
Epic's game storefront known for weekly free games and exclusive titles.
Epic Games Store is Epic's official closed-source client on Windows and macOS only, with the store and weekly free games but no GOG or Linux support.
Playnite
A Windows game library manager that pulls Steam, Epic, GOG, Battle.net, Ubisoft and emulated games into one interface.
Playnite is an MIT-licensed Windows-only library manager that links Steam, Epic, GOG, Battle.net and emulated games, but offers no Linux or Wine management.
Heroic Games Launcher as an alternative
Listings that name Heroic Games Launcher as an alternative.
itch
The desktop app for itch.io, which installs, updates and launches the indie games you bought or downloaded free.
Heroic Games Launcher is also open source and cross-platform, but covers Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime libraries instead of itch.io, and manages Wine and Proton builds.
Steam
Valve's PC gaming platform and client for buying, installing and playing games, with community features.
Heroic Games Launcher is open source under GPL-3.0 and plays Epic, GOG and Amazon Prime libraries on Linux, Windows and macOS, but it has no store of its own.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Bottles
A friendly manager for Wine prefixes on Linux, so running a Windows program means picking an environment rather than editing config files.
DXVK
Vulkan-based translation layer that runs Direct3D 8, 9, 10 and 11 games on Linux.
SteamOS
Valve's Linux-based gaming operating system for the Steam Deck and other supported devices.
