Will Sid Meier’s Civ 7 Run On Steam Deck and Linux?

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is sort of right here, and it’s shaping as much as be a significantly extra console-friendly expertise than its predecessor was at launch. With Firaxis and 2K Video games putting significance on fluid gamepad management, the way forward for Civ 7 on Steam Deck (and different PC handhelds just like the ROG Ally and Legion GO) already seemed vibrant. And at present it seems to be even brighter with the sport’s newly up to date PC necessities for the native Linux model.

Civ 7 on Linux: Minimal PC Necessities

Right here’s the baseline {hardware} you’ll have to run the official Linux model of Civilization VII. This setup ought to ship 1080p/30FPS on the low graphics high quality preset:

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04
• Processor: Intel i5-4690 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Reminiscence: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD RX 580
• Storage: 25 GB accessible area

Curiously, the minimal necessities for the Home windows model exhibits an Nvidia GTX 1050, whereas on Linux the developer lists a GTX 1060. Nonetheless, it’s refreshing to see a PC sport in 2025 that isn’t abandoning tens of millions of avid gamers with steep minimal necessities like hardware-level ray tracing.

How does this translate for Steam Deck customers? At first look, it might appear to be they’re out of luck. In any case, the equal desktop GPUs to the Steam Deck are broadly acknowledged as being the Nvidia GTX 1050Ti or the AMD Radeon RX 570. These are simply under the graphics playing cards listed for Civ 7’s minimal Linux necessities. However contemplate that Steam Deck can also be operating at a decrease decision — 1280×800 versus the desktop normal of 1920×1080. Thus, I really feel assured saying Civ 7 will run easily on Deck — it ought to even find yourself turning into Steam Deck licensed.

And don’t fear, Ubuntu is not a tough requirement. Relatively, individuals operating Ubuntu ought to guarantee they’re utilizing 22.04 or increased, and that’s primarily right down to having up to date software program libraries to make sure a dependable gaming expertise on Steam. Definitely, any present Linux distro (like Fedora, Zorin OS, Bazzite, or Mint) operating a contemporary kernel ought to match the invoice.

Does Civ 7 Even Want A Linux Model?

As Firaxis did with Civilization VI, the developer is as soon as once more gracing Linux customers with a devoted model of Civilization VII. (MacOS customers will even get a devoted port, supplied the Mac is powered by Apple Silicon). It’s truthfully a shocking determination given the state of Valve’s Proton, the compatibility layer that helps Home windows video games run (and run well) on Linux and the SteamOS-powered Steam Deck.

When Civ 6 launched in 2018, Steam Proton was in its first few months of existence, the Steam Deck didn’t exist, and the state of Linux gaming had barely begun its constructive upward trajectory. A local Linux model definitely made sense then, particularly for a sport that was — on the time it launched — a decidedly PC-forward expertise.

Firaxis doesn’t want to do that in 2025, simply as Whats up Video games didn’t want to supply a relentless stream of main content material updates for No Man’s Sky after the sport had greater than earned its years-long comeback story. However goodwill goes a great distance.

There’s another excuse, although. Proton isn’t foolproof or bulletproof. We continuously see sport updates that break the delicate state of compatibility with Linux. Typically this ends in degraded efficiency; generally it ends in the sport now not operating in any respect.

With a devoted Linux model, there isn’t a guesswork about which Proton model to make use of. No unintentional breakage. The developer is in full management of guaranteeing avid gamers have the most effective expertise potential. And with Linux gaming on the rise, it is a good search for sport builders to have.

Civilization VII releases February 11, 2025, and I’m very a lot wanting ahead to testing efficiency of each the Linux native model and the Steam Proton model. Keep tuned for that!