Proton Experimental Just Made Some Classic Capcom Games Actually Playable on Steam Deck
Proton Experimental got a new patch and it's promoting a handful of games to officially playable status on Steam Deck and Linux. Most of the list is whatever, but buried in there are four games that matter: the original Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Dino Crisis, and Dino Crisis 2. All four came back to Steam in 2026 after a long absence. Now they actually run properly on Deck.
The Full List
Games getting the playable bump from this patch: From Dust, Metal Gear Survive, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Resident Evil (1996), Resident Evil 2 (1998), Dino Crisis, and Dino Crisis 2. Steam Deck HQ has the patch notes if you want to dig in.
The Capcom classics are the obvious headliners. These games were gone from Steam for years. Came back in 2026. And now Proton can actually run them.
The Catch with Dino Crisis 2
There's one annoying caveat. Dino Crisis 2's FMV cutscenes don't work correctly under Proton Experimental without community fixes. So if you care about the story cutscenes, you'll need to hunt down a fix before the game is fully functional. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing before you fire it up and wonder why the video's broken.
How to Actually Get These Running
None of these are Steam Deck Verified. You have to manually enable Proton Experimental yourself. In your Steam library, right-click the game, go to Properties, Compatibility, and force it to use Proton Experimental. Takes ten seconds but it's not automatic.
That's the situation with a lot of older games on Deck. "Playable" in Proton terms doesn't always mean Valve has blessed it. It means the community tested it and it works well enough to actually play.
Why This Matters
The Resident Evil and Dino Crisis classics being back on Steam at all is the bigger story. These were just... gone for years. The kind of thing where you had to dig up old copies or use other methods. Now they're purchasable and running on portable hardware. That's genuinely good.
This could mean more old Capcom stuff gets similar treatment as Proton keeps improving. One possibility is that some of the other classic Capcom titles that have been limping along on compatibility eventually get pushed across the line too. Or not. Proton works in mysterious ways sometimes.
Either way, if you have a Steam Deck and any interest in 90s survival horror, this patch is worth paying attention to.
Source: Pcgamer